Message from Ms Matillon, Director General
Dear Parents,
This has been a week of dazzling performances at Geneva English School. We were treated to no fewer than three shows in school, plus another for charity off-site, with fabulous talent on display in each!
Our Pre-school and Reception classes put on a Christmas show called The Sleepy Shepherds. I was present at the rehearsal, which meant that I was treated not only to the brilliant performances of our littlest students, but also to the incredible support demonstrated by their older siblings and the other children. The thunderous applause at the end, and the sing-along encore were worthy of a professional panto!
The Rising Stars show saw no less than half the children in Primary – all those enrolled in music and dance extra-curricular clubs and activities – demonstrate what they’ve learnt in the GES Orchestra, the Key Stage 1 and 2 choirs, Ballet with Miss Fiona and Street Dance with Delphine. Just as was the case with their younger counterparts, I was delighted to see the children’s confidence, stage presence and, especially, the joy on their faces throughout the event.
Today, the GES Choir performed at Espace Candide in Ferney-Voltaire, alongside a display of our Primary and Secondary students’ artwork. Most meaningfully, particularly at this time of year, Christmas cards handmade by the children of the Geneva English School Art Club were available for purchase and all proceeds are destined for a great cause, the local charity, Don du Choeur!
Not to be outdone, Secondary students rounded out the week with the Key Stage 3 Talent Show. By all accounts, the broad range of acts were excellent and kept the audience very entertained. Do take a moment – or an hour – to view the photos and video clips attached to this newsletter. They’re well worth your time!
As I put the finishing touches on this week’s newsletter, I see outside my window families from across the school coming together at our Primary campus for the traditional GES Christmas Fair, complete with market stalls and disco. I’m thankful that the rain has held off and the wind has blown itself away, so our fair is sure to be a huge success. As Perry Como sang, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go, and nowhere is that more true than on the first floor of our Administration building where Santa will welcome children to his GES grotto and ask them what they’d like for Christmas – assuming they’ve been nice, of course! Definitely on the “not naughty, but nice” list are GES senior student elves who are helping out at the fair, as well as parent elves who have volunteered their time, and donated wine for the tombola and cakes for the bake sale. Not to be forgotten are those amongst you who prepared gift boxes for needy children in Eastern Europe. Heartfelt thank yous to you all!
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Secondary school parents who prepared the Staff Appreciation Brunch this week. The gorgeous and delicious dishes were a wonderful treat and certainly made teachers and administrators feel cared for. No one was more impressed with the spread on offer than our inspector from the Département de l’instruction publique (DIP) who said that went a long way toward addressing his questions about parent community involvement and feelings about the school.
I hope to see many of you at the Escalade races on Sunday, if not today at the fair. Have a great afternoon and weekend, one and all. To all of our students and staff who are heading off to Saas Fee for the Year 5-11 ski trip, happy packing! I’ll be in the Primary car park on Monday morning to see you off!
All the best,
Christina Matillon
Rising Stars
Starring our Orchestra, Choirs, Ballet and Street dancers, the Rising Stars Christmas event was a smashing success! Performing festive songs that transported their audience of parents, staff and peers into the spirit of the season, our musicians shone brightly on stage, demonstrating the progress they have made in their instrumental and voice lessons and showcasing how well they perform as ensembles.
The show continued with graceful displays by our ballet dancers who showed superb coordination and elegant movements. Our street dancers closed the evening’s events with rhythmic and perfectly timed performances that had our audiences wanting to get up on stage and dance along.
Bravo to all our participants. We really do have some Rising Stars at GES!
This week in class
In Science, Year 5 have been experimenting with the properties of different substances by testing their pH levels. Students learned the differences between acids and bases/alkalis and looked into the common uses of liquids with different pH levels. Click here for photos.
Our Secondary scientists have been getting into the festive spirit of the season in their Science classes, learning while decking their school with all sorts of beautiful decorations, including a Chemistree made of various laboratory equipment and salt crystal candy canes and adornments. Well done to all of them for their creativity!
Today, Year 2 brought their History topic about pioneering female aviators to a close by enthusiastically hosting Aer Lingus pilot, Kirsten Jones via Zoom.
Kirsten shared with us what it is like to be a pilot. This complemented the children’s learning about the legacy left behind by aviation pioneers such as Bessie Coleman, Amelia Earhart and Amy Johnson for pilots today. Year 2 learned all about how planes work and what day to day life as a pilot is like.
A huge thank you to Kirsten for sharing her time with us. What a wonderful way to bring our History topic to a close!
Cette semaine nous avons célébré, un peu en avance, la fête de l’Escalade. Les élèves ont été invités à venir en pyjama, en souvenir des Genevois qui ont été attaqués par les Savoyards au milieu de la nuit.
En Français, après avoir raconté l’histoire et parlé des personnages clés comme la Mère Royaume, Mme Piaget et Isaac Mercier, les enfants ont pu casser la célèbre marmite en chocolat (hommage à la bonne soupe de la Mère Royaume) et déguster du délicieux chocolat suisse. Nos élèves sont maintenant prêts pour la course de l’Escalade de dimanche et pour les belles célébrations à Genève le week-end des 14 et 15 décembre.
En classe 2 nous avons découvert les sapins de Noël et ce qu’ils représentent. Nous avons décoré un sapin de Noël pour la classe en utilisant uniquement des mots en français pour nous aider dans notre tâche !
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This week, we celebrated the Escalade festival a little early. The students were invited to come to school in their pyjamas, in memory of the Genevans who were attacked by the Savoyards in the middle of the night.
In their French lessons, after telling the story and discussing key figures like the Mère Royaume, Mme Piaget, and Isaac Mercier, the children got to break the famous “chocolate marmite” (a tribute to Mère Royaume’s vegetable soup) and enjoyed some delicious Swiss chocolate. Our students are now ready for the Escalade race on Sunday and for the wonderful celebrations in Geneva on the weekend of 14-15 December.
Year 2 studied Christmas trees and what they represent. Taking turns decorating a tree for their classroom, they used only French words to help adorn the tree.
Beyond the classroom
On Tuesday morning, much to the delight of parents and teachers, our Pre-School and Reception classes performed their take on the traditional Christmas nativity play, The Sleepy Shepherd. Our junior thespians took on varied roles, including shepherds, sheep and the guiding star, with a choir and dancers adding charm and animation to this delightful performance.
Thank you to all parents for providing the appropriate costumes and supporting the children as they made their début stage performances – a moment they and their parents will never forget!
Extra-Curricular Activities
Show and Tell at Public Speaking Club
Our Public Speaking Club’s final session of the term took place this week and was a huge success. Welcoming parents to a show and tell session, our orators presented their favourite objects and “sold” them to their audience using all the skills they have learned this term. Audiences were persuaded by a “disastrous football”, a “ravishing, red, remote-controlled jet” and a story of a little brother being fed to a monster in search of a lost squishy toy!
A huge thank you goes to Miss Leigh for a wonderful club and to all the parents for coming along to support our speakers.
Christmas Bake-Off at ASC
After School Care (ASC) participants took part in a gargantuan Christmas cooking session on Wednesday afternoon.
Christmas biscuits were the menu’s main item, which students carved into various shapes and sizes. From Christmas trees to gingerbread men, from snowflakes to stars, from angels to Christmas crackers, these delicious treats of chocolate and ginger spice also came with all kinds of decorations, including smarties, silver balls and sugar pearls.
Only a few remained after the afternoon’s cookout ended, with the ginger spice biscuits carrying the day as students’ (and staff’s) favourites!
Home Stretch for the Running Club
Our GES Primary Running Club had a very festive finish to the term! Rushing through the woods, our sprinters brought a dash of colour to the wintry landscape as they charged around in their Santa hats.
Well done to all our participants for their boundless enthusiasm and incredible energy all throughout the term!
School and Community News
Dancing the Night Away
Our Key Stage 3 students enjoyed a fun-filled evening of dancing and festivities at last Friday night’s disco, organised by mathematics teacher Gaetan Dupont-Panon. Year 8 student DJ Caoimhe’s selection of tunes – encompassing French rap, songs from Frozen, and old classics like the Macarena – kept the party jumping, with extra energy provided by treats from the tuck shop which was kindly organised by Parents’ Association member Sarah Wainwright with help from Sunita Sahar and Niloufer Desai and staffed all evening by Year 10 students Fali and Rameesah.
Thank you to everyone who helped to organise and run yet another successful house event, which certainly kicked off the festive season with a bang!
Secondary Staff Appreciation Brunch
Our Secondary staff were treated to a delicious appreciation brunch this week, organised by our Parents’ Association.
From breakfast rolls and sweet treats to scrumptious savory delicacies, our teachers and support staff were moved by the generosity and support of parents.
A huge thank you goes to our wonderful Parents’ Association for putting together this event!
Say Hi to Kenny!
A big thank you to Beatriz in Year 7 for organising a survey and competition to name our Science department pet tarantula. Numerous entries were received and some original names submitted.
The chosen name was submitted by Arjan in Year 9, who came up with the winning name, Kenny, after our Head of Science, Ken Maclean.
We are happy to inform you that Kenny is doing well and has already grown, shedding its exoskeleton for the first time, to the fascination of our young scientists.
GES's Got Talent
Key Stage 3 dancers, musicians, singers and comedians wowed their audiences today at the much-awaited Talent Show! Taking turns to showcase their talents to their peers, teachers and competition judges (Mr Crabtree, Mrs Newbury and Mr Shorey), performers received heart-felt rounds of applause as they took to the stage one after the other.
Competition was tight and the judges were hard-pressed to decide on winners, with the final line-up as follows:
- Gold: A sensational, rapped Teacher Roast by Isla, Caoimhe and Disa
- Silver: Beautiful songs by Mohau, Ahana and Joan
- Bronze: Superb piano renditions by Michelle, Adam and Guillermo.
A prize was also awarded to the day’s MCs for masterfully leading the competition from beginning to end, and special mention goes to the side-splitting remake of the Dead Parrot sketch from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
What a talented group of students we have at GES!
Faces of GES
Our Faces of GES series takes us to Primary this week as we shine a spotlight on Devlin van Heerden, Year 4 class teacher, who joined our school in August 2024. With a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Counselling, Devlin grew up in Geneva and is himself an alumnus of an international school.
Growing up with people from so many different walks of life and experiencing again, as an adult, the multicultural environment of a school like GES, he firmly believes that our students will have the best learning experience of their lives as they grow in potential, overcome new challenges, and achieve their goals with excellence and resilience.
For Devlin, the small class sizes of our school is what makes it a truly magical place as learners and educators can form strong connections with each other. Our students’ curiosity, imagination and eagerness to share their ideas makes learning all the more enjoyable and meaningful. Among his most rewarding experiences of teaching, Devlin unhesitatingly replies “teaching Year 4” as students are at a pivotal stage in their learning journey where their confidence grows daily as they master new concepts, develop critical thinking skills and display endless creativity.
