January

2020

Primary Assembly

As part of Asian Week, on Friday in our Primary assembly, some of the children presented some facts about countries in Asia. They worked together to research their chosen countries and shared their knowledge with the students.

Chinese New Year - The Chinese New Year marks the beginning of the Chinese calendar year, and each cycle is named after an animal. We read the tale about the great race and we talked about how Chinese New Year is celebrated all over the world.

Each week in assembly we talk about someone who is a role model to us, someone who we aspire to be like, someone we admire. Not all role models set a good example. We tend to think rich and famous people are people we would like to be like. But often it is the people who have no claim to fame that make the best role models; people who provide a good example by the lives they live and who show us love, care and support others.

This week we talked about J.K. Rowling, the inspiring British author, film producer, screenwriter and philanthropist, most famous for writing the Harry Potter series. Her perseverance, generosity and positivity are all admirable qualities that can be celebrated.

Congratulations to the children who were awarded the Resilience certificate by their teacher this week. We enjoyed listening to the teachers explain the reasons for awarding these children.

primary assembly jan2

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Categories: Academic

January

2020

What can we do to address the Climate Crisis?

This week Greta Thunberg joined more than 10,000 climate strikers in Lausanne.

Some of the children in the Primary Section went to investigate how we as a school and as individuals, are helping the environment. Anastasia, Nana, Miron and Sven worked with Danielle to report on what we found out.

Here are just some of the things we do here at La Garenne to be a sustainable school:

Reusable water bottles, recycle, use produce from the school farm, donate toys and clothes, uniforms made from a company that uses less water and ensures fair wage, second-hand uniforms, reuse food, portion control, compost bin for biofuels, meat-free days, provide vegetarian food, buy local produce, no palm in products, no single-use plastics, insulated buildings, heating on a minimum, LED lights - controlled, reuse materials when possible, products are eco-friendly, solar panels, eco-friendly wood on the ice, walk whenever possible.

How are our teachers being Global Citizens?

Most of our teachers are vegetarians and a few vegan, some ride their bike to school and most walk to school, recycle waste and clothes, donate to food and clothes banks, recycle bags and use eco bags and beeswax wraps for food, use bars of shampoo, wrap gifts using newspaper, reusable coffee cups, turn off electricity when not in use, only photocopy when necessary, switch off lights and computers when not in use, wash clothes at 30 degrees, EDUCATE EDUCATE EDUCATE our students - explore links to climate change across all subject areas. How can we continue to work together to improve what we are doing - discuss regularly in Student Council meetings.

We can all do more!

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What can we do to address the Climate Crisis?

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Categories: Academic

January

2020

MYP Teacher

Today the MYP teachers are the students! We are learning and sharing ideas about how to deliver lessons which challenge learners and equips them with the skills needed to be successful future-ready global citizens.

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Categories: Academic

January

2020

Primary children back to school

It was wonderful to welcome the Primary children back to school on Monday. During the assembly we talked about empathy and being kind to one another and our environment. We listened to the poem `New School` by Gillian Craig, remembering back to how we felt starting a new school and we discussed what we can do to help new students who join us this term.

The Primary children have been set many challenges this term; we talked about the importance of stepping out of our comfort zone into our stretch zone which is where the real learning takes place. The task may be hard, you may make mistakes but the important thing is to try your best, don`t give up and you will then be able to do things/learn things that you couldn't do or know before.

Prioritising student`s happiness and wellbeing is a fundamental part of education. At La Garenne we are continuously trying to incorporate new ideas into the school day to develop a culture of positivity and kindness. As well as teaching the academic subjects to our students, we teach the children the skills they need to look after their own mental health and wellbeing.

Happiness Challenge Monday 13th - Monday 20th January Get Involved!

For one week we have asked the children if they can do the following and we would love it if you could all get involved as a family:

● What Went Well?

You and your child/children share one thing that went well for them each day. This could be during dinner or just before saying goodnight. This helps rewire the brain to spot the positive more and savour those experiences.

● Thank you Letter or Postcard

Your child could write one letter of gratitude (thank you) to someone in their lives who does a lot for them and to whom they`d like to show gratitude. It helps if they give specific things they are thankful for. They then give the letter to the person or read it to them over skype. Children will benefit from the act of reflecting and appreciating all of the people who are important to them, plus they get to experience how powerful it can be to let someone know they are appreciated.

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Categories: Academic

January

2020

Individuals and Societies - MYP 2

In Individuals and Societies, the MYP 2 class are beginning a new unit of study entitled ‘What was life like during the middle ages? A key element in the study of history is the interpretation of historical documents and artefacts. Over the holiday, in preparation for the unit, the class were asked to look at a historical artefact of their choice and examine questions such as: When was it made? Who made it? Why was it made? How did it survive until today?

Where possible, the students were to examine an artefact that is related to their family or their home town or region. This allows us to take a personal approach to the topic, while at the same time promoting international awareness as the students come from many different places. Each student will describe and explain their artefact to the rest of the class in the form of a presentation.

The range of artefacts the students chose was astonishing, including the following: 20’000 year-old cave paintings from the Altamira cave in Spain

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