Years 7, 8 and 9 began their new IMYC units.

The Big Idea for the Year 7 unit is Balance    

Things are more stable when different elements are in the correct or best possible proportions.

The Entry Point involved the students taking part in a yoga lesson, examining ideas of physical and mental balance. This led on to a discussion on the broader aspects of balance, including such things as diet, work/life balance and ecosystems. The students will now to go on to further explore this Big Idea in their individual subjects.

2018-2019 is a milestone year for La Garenne. As part of our aim for constant improvement, we are moving steadily towards full accreditation by the Council of International Schools (CIS). We have successfully completed our Preparatory Study and have now been given the green light to begin the full Self Study. This will involve the whole school community and the students will be very much part of the process.

The students are at the core of any school and their input will be essential in our 360-degree overview of La Garenne. As part of the process, a comprehensive Community Survey will be undertaken in the autumn term, covering all aspects of life at La Garenne. This will involve students, parents, teachers and staff and will be available in a wide range of languages. Everyone is actively encouraged to participate, as this will be a great source of data for us as we move forward.

From September 2018, we will be introducing club activities designed to help the students develop their self-confidence as well as their public speaking and presentation skills. Communication is an increasingly important element in today’s world and we believe that developing these skills will be of great help to our students in the future.

Next year we aim to spend more time learning outside the classroom. Experiential learning will be by way of field trips, visits, outdoor lessons and ‘collapsed-timetable days’. Here the learning for a whole day will focus on a theme that will be examined by way of a variety of hands-on activities.  

We are actively working to develop the global perspectives of our students. Global Citizenship will be an element of the taught curriculum and teachers in all subject areas will be highlighting links to global issues in their individual fields of study. In preparing our students to be true global citizens we will be working hard to develop their knowledge and understanding of other cultures and different lifestyles. This will be within the taught curriculum and by way of assembles, activities and various focused events.

In the coming school year, both in class and beyond the classroom, we will continue to actively encourage the students to read as much as possible - in English and French, as well as in their Mother Language.

Study will continue to be integrated into the school day, taking place after classes and before clubs. Furthermore, it is the students’ regular specialist teachers who supervise the study. This means that more effective guidance can be given during study time. Students who prove themselves to be independent learners will have more flexibility as to how and when they study. The evenings are then free for some sports, in-house activities and personal study as well as social and personal time. These are vital elements in individual development and advancement.

The School Year 2017-2018 has come to a close. Since September, the whole school community has moved forward, learning and experiencing many new things. The students are not the same as they were at the start of the year - the wide variety of learning opportunities and activities they have experienced has allowed them all to grow and develop. 

As is the tradition, the end of the school year was marked with two days of celebrations. On Friday the parents, students, staff and teachers were entertained by two fantastic school shows – one offered by the Cubs and Minis and the other by the Junior students. This was followed by a reception in the gardens of La Garenne for the whole school community. Congratulations to all those who performed and who were involved of the organisation of this memorable occasion. 

Saturday was a more formal event, introduced by the Director, Grégory Méan. The students of the Dance Club then provided a beautiful dance performance, which was much appreciated by the audience, particularly by the very proud parents of the dancers.  The Pastoral Head, the Head of Primary and the Head Teacher then reviewed the highlights of the year and looked forward to the year ahead in each of their domains. The highlight of the morning for many was the Awards Ceremony, celebrating the achievements of the students in the various academic subjects and other aspects of school life over the course of the school year. Congratulations all those who received awards – and hopefully those who did not win a prize this year will be inspired to greater things in 2018-2019.  

A series of speeches, sometimes quite emotional, were then delivered by some of the Year 9 students who are leaving La Garenne. We wish the whole class all the very best for the future in their new schools.  The Director closed the ceremony by looking ahead to 2018-2019, outlining the themes for the coming school year and the various trips and visits that will be taking place. 

The end-of-year celebrations are always very much a family occasion, and this was no exception. May we wish you all the very best for the summer! 

The photo gallery can be found here.

This term has seen some wonderful learning for the students through their IPC units. The teachers are already getting ready for next term’s exciting units. Reception will be learning about  `Family and Friends ’, Year 1 and 2 will learn about holidays in their unit ‘Let’s go on Holiday’. Year 3 and 4 will be learning about ancient civilisations in ‘Temples and Tombs’ and Year 5 will be learning about the Romans and Ancient Greeks in ‘The Great, the Bold and the Brave’. Year 6 will be learning about how politics works in ‘Champions for Change’. This years Year 6 will be moving into the IMYC program in Year 7 with their first unit ‘Balance’.

These units will be starting after all the IPC students begin the year with a unit called ‘Brainwaves’, when students will learn ‘how’ they learn and how the brain works.

The school year 2017-2108 draws to a close…

The end of term has been extremely busy. Two weeks ago, the school had a its Preparatory Visit for future accreditation by the Council of International Schools (CIS). The process of accreditation process is about on-going development and continuous improvement for schools. We will receive a report from CIS in July summarising their impression on the school and evaluating how we match with the standards that are expected of international schools.  The report will also contain a series of commendations and recommendations relating to these standards, which cover all aspects of life at La Garenne. This will form the basis of an Action Plan for future improvement, and will be the starting point for a year-long Self Study, which will begin in September. The Self Study will involve all members of the school community – leadership, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, teachers and parents. The school will have a very thorough ‘look in the mirror’ and simultaneously take the necessary actions that will make La Garenne an even better school. We are, in fact, the second smallest school in the organisation but the whole school community is ready for the challenge.  

Julius Caesar

On Thursday evening, Years 8 and 9 took part in their final cultural outing of the year, attending an open-air production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in the Chateau de Chillon, near Montreux. The castle provides a unique setting for a historical play of this kind. As is often the case, the students were commended on their excellent behaviour and general comportment over the course of the evening. Shakespearean English is not easy, even for first language English speakers, but the students were focused throughout and appreciative of the live drama unfolding before their eyes. This was the perfect way to end their studies of English Literature for this school year.

We now have only one week to go until the end of the 2018-2019 school year. The examinations are over and the teachers are busy writing the end-of-year reports, reviewing not only each student’s performance in the examinations and the third term but also their progress throughout the year. They will also setting targets for each student regarding the year to come, and setting some preparatory tasks for September for the returning students.

The Year 9 students are suffering very mixed emotions. They are pleased to be moving on to new challenges, but at the same time they are aware that they will be leaving a school with a unique family atmosphere. They are leaving La Garenne, where they are oldest students, and they will now be among the youngest in their new schools. We are confident that they will leave us well prepared for the future, both in terms of their academic readiness and their personal development. We wish all the students leaving La Garenne all the very best for the future. Many of them will not be studying too far away and they know that they will always be welcome to come back and visit us here.