Message from the Head
Dear Parents,
Today we celebrate a few GES firsts. We have our first Year 12 and 13 SGIS football tournament, host our parent reps meeting at Secondary for the first time and are celebrating having two Year 7 classes next year in Secondary.
When GES Secondary opened a number of years ago with seven students on the Primary Site, the governors and staff were clear that they wanted an academically successful, warm and welcoming school that would lead to A Levels and the best Universities across the world. Through hard work, belief from our parents and wonderful teachers we have achieved this – our GCSE and AS level results last year were outstanding, our Sixth form is a vibrant and successful place for post-16 learners and the school is loved by students and parents alike. Because of these successes we have been able to fill one Year 7 class and open another, allowing more families in the local area to benefit from a GES Secondary education. If you know any families in local schools that are looking for a new school, then please do direct them to us at [email protected] and we would be happy to help.
We have continued to digest the feedback from Mungo Dunnett and his team and at the General Meeting in December I will share more feedback from the report and what we are going to do next. Whilst increasing French time at Primary was a main area, there were others too that I will share with you and explain our next steps. I shared some of these areas with the parent representatives this morning too.
One of the areas of feedback from our last parent group was to provide Primary parents with curriculum overviews for each half-term. Lots of the parent reps told us that they hadn’t seen these as they are posted on My School Portal. To find the curriculum overviews for each half term at Primary please go under School Information, Curriculum Information & resources: Primary or Curriculum Information & resources: Early Years. We will also email the documents to you next week.
I mentioned last week that we were going to start a GES Strava Challenge for Movember. We are just finalising the technical details on this and the sign up instructions will come on Monday.
And finally an additional thank you to all the parents who baked delicious Hallowe’en treats and served at the Primary Bake Sale last Monday. We managed to raise an amazing CHF 540.
Have a great weekend,
Matt Williams
Head
From Ms Fortune, Primary Deputy Head
Anti-Bullying week
GES will be taking part in anti-bullying week next week.
At Secondary, we have already run special assemblies this week to discuss this important topic.
On Monday, 14 November, it will then be the turn for our Primary children to hear about Anti-bullying week in their Monday assembly. We will also be talking about bullying in our PSHE lessons.
We would love to see all Primary students wear the traditional Odd Socks for the whole week – and donate 1 CHF, which the School Council will put towards items to enhance everyone’s playtimes.
Thank you for your support.
From your Secondary teachers
French article, from Mr Rogers (Lead Teacher of French)
Merci aux élèves de la classe 7 pour leur contribution cette semaine:
Détox numérique : idée positive ?
La détox numérique c’est quand on n’utilise pas d’appareils électroniques pendant une période de temps fixe. À l’école, le mardi et le jeudi on essaie d’éviter les tablettes et les ordinateurs pour pouvoir profiter des autres autour de nous et passer du temps en plein air. Un des aspects positifs c’est qu’on va passer moins de temps à regarder un écran et on se redirige vers les activités sociales. C’est bon pour la santé mentale et physique et la détox nous aide à être moins accrochés à la technologie, surtout après la transition de l’école primaire où l’on n’utilisait pas souvent les ipads. Par contre, il y a beaucoup de jeux (même éducatifs) qui sont sociables auxquels nous ne pouvons pas jouer. Aussi, on ne peut pas faire nos devoirs, sauf si on va sur Homework Hub.
D’une manière générale, on pense que c’est une bonne initiative.
E-textile and Design Thinking Club, from Ms Secher Fromell (Science and Art&Design Technician)
Project 1: First E-textile project – A basic sewn electronic circuit
We started the term by getting to know the materials and tools needed for sewing circuits onto fabric. We’ve worked with conductive thread, different components including a battery holder, different types of LEDs, switches, resistors, test leads as well as sewing needles, embroidery loops and of course fabric!
The first project was to sew two separate circuits on to the fabric, using a slide switch, a tilt switch, sewable LEDs and a coin cell battery holder.
We are now ready to move on to exploring microcontrollers and some basic programming with Arduino.
From your Primary teachers
Poetry Competition
Our annual House Poetry Competition sees the whole of GES Primary join together in a celebration of poetry.
This year’s theme was ‘Who am I?’, which inspired the children to write entertaining and emotive poems about themselves, famous people, animals and even plants.
Congratulations to Léman, who won the House Poetry Cup and to the winners from each year group whose poems earnt them Head’s Distinctions.
Special congratulations go to Isla Jamieson in Year 6, whose poem was entered into the COBIS Poetry Competition.
Watch this space for the results!
Storytime in the Library
On Wednesday this week the library hosted our first ‘KS1 Storytime’ at break time.
Our librarians, Lila and Disa, did a fantastic job sharing the story ‘The Slightly Annoying Elephant’ by David Walliams.
It was a really lovely way to spend a wet play time.
Primary Extra-curricular
After-School Care weekly theme
Next week from 14 to 18 November is International Education Week, and the opportunity to celebrate diversity and international work happening in schools.
Students will colour flags from countries represented at GES, listen to music in other languages, listen to stories from other countries, art and craft activities of different countries and prepare some tasty international food.
If you would like more information about After-School Care, please see the information on our website here or contact the Primary Office via [email protected].
Pupil success
Congratulations to Sathiya (Year 4) who won a silver medal at her climbing competition in Ferney-Voltaire last Sunday 6 November.
The event was the first step of the Coupe de l’Ain 2023, and open to all climbers as of 7 years old.
We love to hear about your children’ achievements outside school.
If you would like to share their personal success, whether in sport, arts or music, please email Stephanie Pillot at [email protected].
Upcoming Holiday camp
Countdown to Christmas with Mr Vavrecka
Ho ho ho! As soon as Halloween is over, Christmas takes over and it’s now time to get into the festive spirit!
Come and join Mr Vavrecka on a 3-day camp to sprinkle Christmas joy, from Monday 19 to Wednesday 21 December from 9:00 to 16:00.
Programme will include:
- A visit to a Christmas market (perfect for buying Christmas gifts)
- Christmas craft activities
- Festive baking
Registration is now open via our Holiday camps section on the website.
From 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].
Sleeping Beauty
This famous pantomime features the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, staged of course with a prince and princess, an evil witch and some surprisingly sassy fairies plus a large cast of talented children and adults.
Mrs Ball is running a Culture Vultures outing (open to GES Secondary and Year 6 students, parents and siblings) to see Sleeping Beauty on Saturday 3 December at 19:00. Please contact Mrs Ball directly for further details.
- Starring our very own Madame Bongioanni
- GAOS Musical Theatre, Théâtre de Marens, Nyon
- 25-27 November and 1-4 December
- Details and booking here
The 39 Steps
- Simply Theatre Studios, Versoix
- 12-20 November
- Details and booking here
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
- 12, 26, 27 November
- Details and booking here
