This weekend Year 9 went on Expedition to Lucerne, in the Swiss German part of Switzerland. Jérôme and Mylene led the trip. Derek Lineham, the Headteacher, also accompanied the group. The trip linked in well with their current IMYC unit of Community.

Switzerland is made of four linguistic communities, with the German speakers being in the majority. Lucerne lies in the heart of this community and the Year 9 students were able to appreciate many aspects of the culture of this region. They took part in an iPad-based Urban Game, in the form of a treasure hunt around the city of Lucerne. In doing so, they learnt a great deal about the city while having fun at the same time. 

On Saturday, the students went to the summit of a nearby mountain, the Rigi.  As well as going on a good mountain hike with fantastic scenery, the students were able to appreciate the transport methods that link the community together. This included a journey on a paddle steamer built in 1901 (the oldest of its kind in the world), a modern cable car and a classic Swiss mountain railway dating back to the early years of the 20th Century.  On Sunday, all of this was brought together by a visit to the Swiss Transport Museum. 

My name is Kirsty and I am the Pre-Reception and Reception Class teacher. I have just started at La Garenne after moving from the UK and I am really excited to be here! I am looking forward to meeting many new children and staff and to having a go at skiing when the snow comes. I also enjoy walking and music.

Today all Junior classes were straight into the swing of things, getting underway with the Entry Points for the new IMYC programme.

The concept for Year 7 is Balance, for Year 8 it is Respect and for Year 9 it is Community.

All students will follow these themes for the next six weeks across all subject areas.

As you know, we are now using the iSAMS system for the management of much of our school data, including the school reports. The teachers now create reports on iSAMS and these are sent to you electronically.

Last month, we have introduced to the parents the desktop version of the parents portal, by which they have direct online access to the academic reports and lots of other information about the school and their child(ren). 

Curriculum development for the Junior classes: We are introducing several important initiatives for the coming school year. We believe these changes will improve the learning of the students and at the same time structure their day in a way that provides a better equilibrium between their school and study time and their ‘home life’ in the boarding house. These are outlined below:  

Year 6 corresponds to the final year of the UK Key Stage 2, and this class will be integrated into the Minis section of the school, and they will continue to follow the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). The Junior Section will consist of Years 7, 8 and 9, which corresponds to the UK Key Stage 3.