It will soon be time for Year 9 to move on their new schools. It has been a busy year for us all. Under our guidance, the students have been visiting schools, completing application forms, writing letters of motivation, attending interviews and spending ‘taster days’ at their chosen schools. Meanwhile we have been busy giving advice to the students and their families, completing reference forms and generally facilitating the transition of La Garenne students to their schools of choice.

Everyone’s future is now settled. Eleven students will be staying in Switzerland – ten of these will be attending our partner schools and one returning to her old school. Three will be going to schools in the USA, and one will be heading north to Scotland.

We are pleased to announce that La Garenne has recently concluded a partnership agreement with Aiglon College. We now have partnership arrangements with six leading Swiss schools: Aiglon College, Brillantmont, Champittet, College Beau Soleil, Le Rosey and Leysin American School.

While the partnership arrangements do not guarantee entry for our students, these schools have confidence in the quality of our school reports and other application documents. Therefore, under normal circumstances, our students are not required to take entrance tests. This simplified application process has greatly facilitated the placement of La Garenne students in these prestigious establishments.

They went on an exciting interactive journey through chocolate right back to the 1500’s, where they learned about how the Aztecs first used to drink chocolatl and use the cocoa bean as money, up to the ingredients and techniques modern day chocolatiers use now. Of course they also had to do some work and help the chocolate factory quality control a variety of chocolates before they could be shipped off all around the world!

As if all this wasn’t enough fun, they had a great time playing in the playground at lunch time and completing an interactive chocolate quiz and cinema experience to see how much they could remember!

Today our Reception class spent the morning at Beau Soleil. They had an opportunity to take part in an art and dance workshop which was all about their unit of learning - water!

Thank you Beau Soleil, we had so much fun!

Year 1 and 2 are learning about the circus in IPC. For our 'wow' activity to introduce this unit, we dressed up as circus performers, made badges and tickets, then watched circus performances followed by a popcorn snack. As artists we have been looking closely at the expressions of performers and created clown faces to represent different emotions.

In maths we have been learning about fractions through practical activities and games.

This term we have a writing corner in the classroom and have been very busy being writing lists, letters and stories, then posting them in our special postbox.

We enjoyed a fun day out last week, related to our learning about transport last term. The children travelled from Vevey to Mont Pèlerin on the funicular and found out how it worked. Then, had a delicious lunch in Manora followed by a play by the lake in Vevey. They wrote postcards and letters in Literacy to recount and thank for this lovely day out.

This term in Reception our topics are Sand and Water and Treasure.

We have spent lots of time working in the sand and water trays whilst enjoying the lovely sunshine and in class we have been learning about islands around the world and the different habitats they provide.

One morning we came in to find a mysterious treasure chest had appeared in our classroom. It was filled with lots of different pirate paraphernalia including a hat, an eye patch, a telescope and even a parrot! On another day the school grounds were covered in gold coins and we had to try and find them all. It was very exciting!

Each day we have also found a treasure clue and when we pieced these all together the sentence said, `The treasure is at Villeneuve.`

So watch this space because it looks like we will be off on a treasure hunt soon!