Issue: 3 | Friday 12th March 2021

Message from the Head

Dear Parents,

Over the past couple of weeks we have been talking to our primary students about keeping themselves safe through the NSPCC ‘Pants’ talks. Ms Fortune has spoken to all of the students about this and ran a session today with parents. If you would like to find out more about this important topic then please click here for more information and see here for our safeguarding policy.

On Tuesday we will be celebrating our first Journée de la Francophonie. Across the school we will be learning about and exploring the French language and Francophone culture. A massive thanks in advance to the languages team for creating such a wonderful day. We will be sharing pictures from across the school in the newsletter next week.

Early next week, Primary parents will be invited to a presentation by Ms Fortune and I on the exciting changes we will be making to the Primary curriculum next year. These will take place in the evening of the last week of term for each year group separately and we will be happy to take questions in these sessions. We are both looking forward to sharing our plans for next academic year with you.

Finally, a reminder to our Year 10 parents that Year 10 have end of term exams coming in the last week before the holidays. We would appreciate it if you could encourage your daughters and sons to revise for these following the guidance given by their teachers.

Matt Williams

FROM YOUR TEACHERS

Journée de la Francophonie: preparations

As Mr Williams mentioned, GES will be holding a Journée de la Francophonie next Tuesday 16 March across both campuses.

At Primary, children are invited to dress up. This could for example be as a famous character of the Francophone world (eg. Astérix, Tintin), as a monument (La tour Eiffel, Le jet d’eau de Genève) or with the colours of a Francophone country.

Children from Y3-6 will also need to send a photo to their French teacher of either their favourite place in France or Switzerland, or with a typical object that represents either country, in order to take part in a “Show and Tell”.

At Secondary, the students are invited to participate in a photography contest, and submit their best ‘Francophonie’ picture to Mrs Marett.

A Kahoot quiz, videos and presentations on French-speaking countries, and other activities will be organised during the day and in French lessons.

Eco-Schools: we are awarded again!

The Eco Council is very pleased to announce that GES has been awarded the second Eco-Schools Award, at both primary and secondary level.

Watch the Eco Team read the letter from the Head of the national chapter of Eco-Schools, highly commending all that has been achieved.

The jury was very impressed by the work undertaken, especially in these very strange times, and enjoyed exploring our achievements.

We will soon receive an additional Green Flag so that Secondary campus can have it proudly displayed too.

We would like to especially thank Maria Otero, Elizabeth Mills and everyone for their continued support.

Mr Fowle
Head of Outdoor Education

Next week's events

Tuesday 16 March French Day
Thursday 18 March No Sign Language club (R, Y1&2)
Friday 19 March Y5 Ancient Greek Day

Thank you from Le Don du Choeur

After our donation and participation to the project Lâche -moi les baskets, Le Don du Choeur charity sent us their thanks:

Le résultat dépasse tout ce que nous avions imaginé…. 1432 paires de baskets ont pu être livrées au Vestiaire social la semaine passée. (vidéo de la livraison ici).

Ce dernier n’avait jamais reçu un don aussi important et sa responsable nous a affirmé que nous leur apportions un immense soulagement jusqu’à cet automne.

Merci encore aux élèves et aux parents qui ont joué le jeu en offrant ces nombreuses paires de baskets. La solidarité a fait ses preuves et nous sommes heureux de pouvoir aider des enfants à Genève en ces temps de pandémie.