Message from the Head
Dear Parents and Students,
This week has been full of festive fun. The Early Years Christmas show, Escalade, Year 3 and 4 show and the KS3 Christmas market trip have all brought Christmas spirit into school.
Meanwhile, in amongst everything, Year 11, 12 and 13 have been working hard on their mock exams. Thank you to all the teachers and staff who have given their time to invigilate exams, rehearse concerts and plan trips to make sure everything runs smoothly at the end of term.
It was my first Escalade on Sunday and, whilst not fit enough to run, I really enjoyed cheering on our students at the finish line. GES finished 5th overall out of over 100 schools from across the region: this is a great achievement and we are all very proud. Thank you to Mr Sheppard-Burgess, Ms Shibil and Mrs Pillot for organising, and if you have any feedback please contact Mrs Pillot via email ([email protected]). Personally, I found the bridges over the tracks terrifying but I’m not sure there is much we can do about this!
Tomorrow we have our first Christmas Fair in two years, taking place from 12:00 until 15:00 at Primary, and I would like to thank our wonderful Parent Community Group for all the hard work that has gone into this. Do come along and bring your friends, family and neighbours for what will be a lovely festive afternoon – make sure you wrap up warm though, it may be a little chilly.
Next week we have shows, trips, visits, parties, Christmas lunch, snow walks, ice skating and a whole host of great events to celebrate the end of the year. I hear that the teachers may also have a surprise performance in store (oh no they haven’t…)
Finally, a reminder that school finishes on Friday 16 December at 12:00 for Secondary and at 12:20 for Primary.
Bon weekend,
Matt Williams
Head
Contribution des élèves
Podcast No. 2 des ambassadeurs de français: l'Escalade
Aujourd’hui et selon la tradition, les élèves de l’école primaire étaient habillés dans leurs plus beaux pyjamas, et ont cassé la fameuse marmite en chocolat avant de la déguster.
Les ambassadeurs de français sont heureux de vous conter l’histoire de l’Escalade dans leur 2ème podcast:
Article rédigé par les étudiants: Notre voyage à Biel/Bienne
Merci à Marisa et Daniela (classes 8 et 9) pour leur contribution aujourd’hui:
Ce lundi, la première journée après nos examens de décembre, tout le monde en KS3 a voyagé en train à Biel/Bienne pour une expérience géniale dans une ville bilingue. A l’arrivée, on est allés dans la vieille ville où on a fait une chasse au trésor. La chasse avait des énigmes à résoudre en français et en allemand, cela nous a aidé à améliorer nos capacités linguistiques. Nous avons pu voir des restaurants, des fontaines, et une tour à horloge. C’était une bonne façon d’explorer cette magnifique ville, qui nous donne une perspective différente de l’architecture Suisse. Après avoir terminé d’examiner la vieille ville, nous nous sommes dirigés vers le marché de Noël. Il y avait des stands de nourriture, bijoux, jouets et autres. Le marché était authentique, les lumières, les sapins, et les chalets en bois représentaient parfaitement l’esprit de Noël. En parlant avec les habitants de Bienne, notre niveau de français et d’allemand s’est progressivement amélioré. A la fin de la journée, nous sommes repartis en train et nous remercions nos professeurs de nous avoir permis de vivre cette belle expérience.
From the teachers and students
Primary Library books and Reading challenges
Please can we ask that all Library books be returned to school ready for the holidays by next Monday 12 December.
A big congratulations to the winners of November’s reading challenge:
Connie and Jasper in Year 5 and Arthur in Year 6, who each researched a chosen animal/historical character and created a fantastic fact file about it. Look out for their fact files in the library.
We now encourage all Primary pupils to complete the 12 challenges of Christmas. All participants will receive points for their house and a reading challenge certificate.
Happy reading and Merry Christmas!
Secondary German baking and Spanish candle-making festive activities
Wir haben Lebkuchen gebacken und dekoriert. Wir haben auch Kekse dekoriert und dann gegessen. Es hat viel Spaß gemacht!
Ravi Fink und Ben Whitton (Year 7)
El miércoles, después de nuestras clases, nos reunimos en el Grand Café donde hicimos velas de cera con Señor Wootton para celebrar El Día de las Velitas. Primero, decoramos tarros pequeños con plumas, frutas secas y purpurina. Perfumamos la cera con esencia de naranja y pino y después, las echamos colorantes.
Aprendimos que es una fiesta colombiana que se celebra la noche del 7 de diciembre. Mucha gente sale a las calles para prender velas y llenarlas de luz y alegría. Es un momento para estar juntos en familia y marca oficialmente el comienzo de las fiestas navideñas.
¡Felices fiestas a toda nuestra comunidad!
Nia Kolev y Chloe Kouppari (Curso 9)
From your teachers
Secondary Football Tournament, from Ms Shibil
Secondary students have been competing in a two week football tournament in PE to celebrate the World Cup. Each year group was split up into 4 countries and students allocated to different teams. There have been some very exciting PE lessons and outstanding goals scored.
Well done to FRANCE (Paulus, Felix, Jewel, Raphaël, Aina, Kitan in Year 9) and SOUTH KOREA (Emlyn, Vivaan, Isobel, Tess, Blanka in Year 7) who were our two winners of the World Cup with 16 points and WALES who were in 3rd place.
Our competition for top goal scorers saw some fantastic results across the year groups:
- 1st place – Yanji (Year 10) 16 goals
- 2nd place – Emlyn (Year 7) 7 goals
- 3rd place – Alvaro (Year 10) 6 goals
Well done to everyone. ⚽️ ⚽️
Year 8 Penguin shelters
Listen to Cas in Year 8 explaining what the students are currently designing in their Science lessons:
From the Sport & PE Department
Spring Term 2023 Wednesday Academy now open
Wednesday Academy sessions are now open to registration for the Spring Term with two new exciting sports opportunities for our Primary students:
- Ski Academy in partnership with ESF Les Rousses. From 11 January to 8 March, 14:00 – 16:30. Open to KS1 and Ks2. 355 CHF. A fantastic opportunity to learn and develop skiing abilities at La Dôle/Les Jouvencelles ski resorts. Full details here.
- Ball Academy in the Ecole de Genthod Gym. Two sessions (12:30-13:30 for 5-8 year olds/13:30-14:30 for 9-12 year olds). 350 CHF. An opportunity to explore basketball or further develop ball skills, in a local, French-speaking environment. Details and registration here.
French and German language classes remain available. Please get in touch with Mme Durey if you would be interested in Mandarin lessons.
Schedule and registration through My School Portal, under Sport & Extra-curricular, Wednesday afternoon programme 2022-2023.
Escalade results
We are extremely proud of our GES Escalade runners – their superb races meant that GES finished 5th out of 130 schools entered!
Here is a selection of the best individual results – Congratulations to the following students:
- O’Reilly Ciara, Poussines A9 – 7th / 746 runners
- Calcat Arthur, Poussins A9 – 9th / 888
- Wainwright James, Ecoliers B10 – 21st / 768
- Schmidt Kai, Poussins A8 – 26th / 899
- Crausaz Teo, Poussins A8 – 29th / 899
- Ryan Nathan, Ecoliers A – 34th / 818
- Malloy Daniel, Ecoliers B11 – 41st / 740
- Griffith Bryan, Poussins B6 – 35th / 596
- Morgan William, Ecoliers A – 52th / 818
- Ahrendsen Jasmin, Cadettes A – 14th / 185
- Baker Austin Poussins, B6 – 50th / 596
- Gill Theo, Cadets B – 53th / 334
- Zuercher Nikko, Cadets B – 66th / 334
All athletes, including the youngest ones with their parents, who braved the cold and ran for the experience and fun of the event, deserve huge recognition.
We take the opportunity to also thank all the staff who were there to support our students, helping them achieve their best and enjoy the occasion.
From the Primary School Office
Extra-curricular activities next week
As usual during the last week of term, there will be no extra-curricular activities nor Wednesday Academy sessions next week (except for those catchup sessions for which parents will have been notified by email).
After-School Care will be running as normal every day until 18:00, except on Friday when the school finishes at 12:20 at Primary (12:00 at Secondary).
Buses will leave at 15:30 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and at 12:30 on Wednesday and Friday.
Lost and Found
A few items have been brought to the Primary School Office, and we would love to return them to their owners:
➡ White Garmin watch
➡ Green Kalenji/Decathlon watch
➡ Apple locator tag
We also have a collection of lost clothes at the entrance of the Primary Gym. If your child has lost an item, please encourage them to have a look in the lost property section or pop in at pick up.
Next week: Y12 and 13 exams
Monday 12 December
All day | KS3 Arts/MFL Enrichment Day All day | Primary Christmas Scavenger huntsTuesday 13 December
All day | KS3 Arts/MFL Enrichment Day 8:40 - 9:10 | Years 3 & 4 Christmas performance 9:30 - 10:00 | KS1 Christmas performance 18:00 - 18:45 | Primary Rising Stars concert (salle communale de Genthod)Wednesday 14 December
9:00 - 12:15 | Primary Christmas parties All day | KS3 Christmas Jura WalkThursday 15 December
8:10 - 8:30 | KS3 Morning Music Recital at Secondary 9:15 - 11:45 | KS2 Choir & French Ambassadors' Visit to local care home All day | KS4/KS5 Fun Nyon Day Trip All day | Years 11-12 Outdoor Club Snow Hike at La GivrineFriday 16 December
8:30 - 10:30 | KS3 Christmas Quiz and Karaoke 11:00 - 12:00 | Secondary Tutor Group Parties 12:00/12:20 | Autumn term endsFrom Mrs Ball (Head of Drama and Performing Arts)
Theatre recommendations
For all of our theatre and performance lovers, here are Mrs Ball’s latest recommendations for local theatre productions.
If you would like further information about any of these, you are welcome to email Mrs Ball at [email protected].
Much Ado About Nothing
Set in 1950s mafia Italy, where women’s tongues are faster than bullets, the coffee is strong, and the policemen are asleep. A play about honour, hearsay and horns.
- Hoops of Iron
- Théâtre Les 50, Grand Rue, Ferney Voltaire
- 16 – 18 December
- Details and booking here
Hansel and Gretel
Deep in an enchanted forest, everybody’s looking for something to eat. A tasty treat, a sticky sweet or maybe some children’s feet?!
- Simply Theatre Studios, Versoix
- 13 – 18 December
- Details and booking here
Grand Gala Tchaikovski
- Ukrainian Classical Ballet
- Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, 2 Place des Volontaires, Genève
- 18 December 20:00
- Details and booking here
Pinocchio
Laissez-vous transporter par les aventures extraordinaires du mythique pantin dans un univers d’espiègleries et de rires.
- Théâtre du Léman
- Quai du Mont-Blanc 19, 1201 Genève
- 17 December 14:00 & 17:00
- Details and booking here