Discipline within the boarding school has always been a subject of conversation, whether it be over a coffee with the boarding staff, a meeting with parents or a 'fun' meeting with students who forgot how to behave and what was expected of them! Discipline within La Garenne is first and foremost dealt with in a family manner, in other words, as with our own children, we discuss the situation at hand. Once discussed, we are able to decide what measures, if any, need to be taken and in the long term, how the student is expected to change and what is expected of them.

It is never easy for a group of students from different backgrounds to adapt and understand what is expected of them so to help, we provide guidance in the School Rules book as well as posters in the rooms with clear instructions concerning how to leave a room neat and tidy, as well as a score sheet for the housekeeping staff to award smiley faces if five days in a row, the room is tidy.

At the end of the term, the room with the most smiley faces goes out for dinner with their house parents! It is difficult for a student to understand what we expect of them unless we are clear, just saying,'You must tidy your room," or ," You need to behave," means many different things to different students so clarification is always needed. Discipline is the backbone to any structure and students appreciate knowing what is expected of them and striving to do their best to do so.

Express Yourself is an exciting opportunity for children to work together to express themselves using their imagination through reading, writing, speaking and listening. We have organised a range of activities and events this week to inspire the children.

What happened here?

The children found something unusual in the playground today. Very mysterious! The children wrote about the scene. Their work will be displayed in Academia.

During the school term, the students have designated reading evenings. This helps them to focus on the task at hand as well as learn a new skill whether it be time management, improving their reading skills or just learning about how to make use of their time and of course, the importance of reading within the school week. In order to help the younger students, some of whom who do not have these skills as yet, the older Junior students visit them during the week in order to read together and help them to appreciate reading. It is also an important time for the older and younger students who are able to spend time together as in any other family. The students enjoy the time together and it is always very popular whether it be with the younger students or their older visitors.

Recent research by the UK organization the Reading Agency states that the benefits of reading are more likely to be felt when children have a free choice in what they read.
Reading is not just something to be done in school, but it needs to be an everyday part of our lives, something we choose to do at all ages. There is strong evidence linking reading for pleasure and educational outcomes. We know that academic attainment is of vital importance, but the benefits of reading for pleasure go beyond this and stretch throughout our lives.
During the summer holidays all our Juniors, including those who were new to La Garenne in September, were given a recommended reading list and many of them really rose to the challenge of putting away their screens and picking up a book:

In Year 7 Yanli, Sofia D, Toku, Rio, Pablo and Arsenii all read three titles each – with Arsenii stretching himself by reading both the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Oliver Twist!

Year 8 students Anzhelika, Evgeniya, Marousia and Katya deserve a special mention for tackling classic titles including Little Women, Swallows and Amazons and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Many of the Year 9 students read classics such as Treasure Island and Jane Eyre, but contemporary fiction including The Hunger Games, the Cherub series, Holes and If I Stay were equally popular.

The summer challenge for our Juniors wasn’t just about reading – they also took part in an international online Maths challenge, and thanks to some very enthusiastic mathematicians, La Garenne finished a very respectable 32nd out of 220 schools across the world!
Well done to everyone who took part.

Next week is our Literacy week and many activities are planned, including the launch of the Book Challenge as well as Drama workshops and presentations. The Literacy Week will end with a Book Fair on Friday 13th October, and we hope that this gives our children an additional opportunity to choose their own books to read for pleasure.

Assembly - Cubs & Minis

This week in assembly we learnt all about the Ancient Greeks thanks to Year 5. The students had prepared an informative powerpoint which they presented to us. We enjoyed decoding some ancient Greek writing in groups and the students proved that the cylindrical buildings, which were used by the ancient Greeks, are very strong.

Thank you Year 5 & Jenny!

Last week it was Year 6's turn to present. Their IPC unit this term is 'Champions For Change'. Throughout the tasks in this unit, the children are working in teams to develop political party and campaign for change in their school and local area. The purpose is for the children to experience the campaign process and to learn about the systems of government in their home and host countries, as well as the varying types of government around the world.

During the assembly, the children split into two teams. The yellow team presented an argument to finish school at 15:15 each day and the blue team gave the opposing argument. Each spokesperson took it in turns, they spoke with confidence and clarity and delivered a very convincing point of view. We were then invited to vote for the team that gave the best argument.

Well done Year 6 & Gemma!