Melissa invited her friend Julie for a play at CDB, the girls are just adorable xoxo
We
One of our older boarding students, Chady from Leman Boarding House (Grade 9), was kind enough to step in as Coach for our young football enthusiasts. It was great to see them all running drills, listening to his advice and most of all having fun!
After a delicious Sunday brunch we went for a lovely stroll through the trees. We followed the stream and then detoured to the Sports Centre, where we did some laps, worked out a bit and played some more football.
Here is a wonderful video of Melissa showing off her horse-riding technique.
A quiet but fulfilling day overall!! a milder weather today we sat and finished our stone painting activity, please stay tuned for the end result:-) As always there is always something for the students to enjoy, from baking brownies, climbing, tennis, Olympus court, afternoon movie and some gardening. Fun Fun Fun…
Fantastic day out in Geneva sightseeing, shopping and enjoying a delicious artisanal ice cream by the lake. The boys invited their best friend James for a sleepover. Overall we had an enchanting day together 🙂
What an awesome time we had at Jin’s birthday party. We bounced and bounced and bounced until we couldn’t bounce anymore.
Today we are celebrating Jin’s 11th Birthday, he was delighted to have a slice of his cake prior to the big party on Thursday. We wish him an amazing day with his friends and may all his dreams come true.
Luca put in some great times on his laps around the circuit. It was a wet race but Luca did his best to not slip off the track!
At CDL we manifest the acronym ”RISE”, ”I” stands for Internationalism. CDL International Day was a magnificent event planned by the PFA to raise money for charities. CDL families from as many as 25 nationalities set up food stalls with their home country’s cuisine for all to try. It was amazing to see an incredible mix of all cultures and everyone enjoying themselves.
”The best part of climbing is when it all clicks and gravity ceases to exist.” – Chris Sharma
On Monday May 7th, 2023 it was a pretty sunny day and Melissa and I enjoyed being outside, on the grass, listening to music and singing together.
It was very hot, so she enjoyed snacking on a watermelon popsicle.
Today, on Sunday May 7th 2023, we celebrated Cinar’s 11th birthday.
We shared a delicious double chocolate cake, sang happy birthday and wished him all the best for the year ahead. It was pretty fun!
Jin, Cinar, Nicholas, and Donny were all having fun.
Cinar was practicing his shooting’s skills with Nicholas.
Nicholas also was practicing his goalies’ skills with Jin.
Donny was also enjoying being with the boys and Mr. Zac.
The boys are having fun by playing football.
The kids really liked the trip today. The weather was beautiful and very sunny. Cinar bought a white Nike t-shirt, some Japanese snacks and a white water bottle, to go with his t-shirt. Donny bought some Pokemon cards, a skateboard in miniature, a miniature basketball ball and other little things. Finally, Nicholas bought some shoes and some Japanese snacks.
They had a lot of fun doing this activity.
Climbing Club is always a success with our young climbers. This week the boys had fun in the climbing gym and made sure to put enough chalk on their hands to stick to the wall.
Jin started getting artsy this weekend using some spray paints and experimenting with new techniques of art that he hadn’t tried until now.
Every Wednesday we have older boarders visiting for a couple of hours, we are delighted to have them around so the students were busy baking cookies for them!!!
Students are enjoying outdoor activities, Melissa and Nicholas attended their photography workshop at the lake, and the remaining boarders had a great time playing in the garden.
We had a nice stroll together down to the lake again after a big brunch. We skipped stones, played with the water and said hi to the ducks.
The amazing views across the lake are only a short walk away from Collège du Léman. We went for some fresh air and to throw some stones.
Horse riders and wall climbers!
A wonderful first few days back to Boarding, from new hairstyles, baking, stone painting and a good game of badminton.
A warm welcome to Shirley our new House Tutor
We are excited to welcome back our young boarders from their Easter Break. We are embarking on the last leg of the school year, and we will try our best to provide them with a rich experience, filled with exciting summer activities and lots of fun!!!
Climbing is a top choice for the boys on the weekend, they like to attend this club together and have really helped each other improve by pushing themselves to do harder climbs.
Also, we love going to Olympus sports gym to play whatever sport that we feel like. Today we tried a bit of table-tennis, basketball, football and even some improvised dances by Donny.
Melissa and Hannah love spending time at the stables with their favourite horses and ponies. It was a bit rainy this weekend but still nice under the shelter that the stables provided.
Today we spent our afternoon in Villa Franconis and helped Mr. Tarun set up a microscope. We then used tweezers and other tools to collect things from the garden and around the house to put under the lenses and investigate. We tried pollen from the flowers, onion peel and even a hair from Mr. Tarun’s head!
The students enjoyed a fierce Easter hunt in the house this afternoon, then we had a little tea party and of course they were discussing their findings 🙂
At CDB we covered the topic of Online Safety for over 2 weeks, To conclude this pillar students completed an online game and a quiz. Then we discussed their safety during their online activities. This led nicely to explaining the rules at Champs Des Bois on devices and why they are in place.
Let’s celebrate our Community and School Spirit! A day packed with great activities 🙂
The second part of St Patrick’s Mishap,
This has been by far the best St Partick’s quest the students have encountered, it kept us all very much entertained these past 3 days.
A massive Thank you Mr Gordon from Champs Des Bois Students, we truly enjoyed this mystery mission and solving the clues was fun! The reward was super generous and we shall enjoy every bit of it immensely.
CDB
If one place can do Brunch, CDL can! Every Sunday our Boarders and House Parents look forward to this wonderful selection of food. Our chefs and kitchen staff are incredible Thank you 🙂
A massive thank you to Senior House Parent Mr Gordon for engaging CDB students in this quest, they truly enjoyed receiving a hand-delivered letter this morning to begin this St. Patrick’s Day Mishap, their curiosity and eagerness to solve the mystery were enchanting. We agreed to continue this quest and wore something green for dinner. We collected a box left in our pigeonhole, and the boys were keen to open it as soon as we got home, challenge 2 was complete we drew our Leprechauns on the mini canvas provided. STAY TUNNED, the quest continues…
The boys meant to perform on stage this evening but unfortunately, stage fright changed our plan. Nevertheless, we came up with a plan B, You can watch the video below which captures that moment. The fastest challenge to solve a Rubik’s cube goes to *Jin 41 seconds*, *Nicholas 54 seconds* and *Luca 1 minute 30*You can watch the video below that captures that moment.
A short drive from Collège du Léman and we are in such an awesome park. We had a great time playing tag, swinging on the swings, climbing on the jungle gym and whizzing around on the zip-line!
The boys remembered the skateboards that were tucked away in the house and wanted to try skateboarding this weekend. With a few helpful tips they manged to get on the boards and ride. So cool guys!
Jin and Donny made some mini boats together and went to the stream to test them. They managed to float and they had a little race against each other. It was a lovely walk down to the lake were the boys stopped to take in the scenery.
The boat trip tied in nicely with Jin’s IPC homework as a nice experiment of the topic that they are studying in his class.
Well done boy!
CDB students learned how to make these lovely crumpets, they didn’t know the difference between a crumpet and a pancake? Crumpet batter is similar to a pancake batter but with a raising agent which makes it bubble and become thicker, light and fluffier than a pancake.
We started painting these tins for our planting project at the start of the week, and now the students added details to their tins, we are extremely happy with the results!
Originating from France in late 1950, scoubidou is still a very popular knotting craft! we all had a go-to unwind 🙂
Another great start to the weekend. Luca and Nicholas did a fantastic job representing Champs des Bois in our inter-house ski competition, Hannah was reunited with her favorite pony Candy and Cinar, Donny and Jin improved their climbing skills. What a fun day!
Lazy snooze this morning for some boarders after an intense week at Crans Montana, the weather was splendid today we decide to start planting our seeds in line with the spring early planting guide. Jin had a marvellous time on the trampoline, Whilst the others were busy building a new lego kit! Later in the afternoon we went for a stroll in the area and pick up some sushi treats. After dinner, we decided to have a little game in Olympus. Overall it was a chill day doing what we enjoy most 🙂
We would like to wish everybody a lovely ski break. We are looking forward to seeing all the children back again soon!
We were able to share a few techniques to release stress with Ms Marina this afternoon. The boys had a good giggle, and a great social activity. Thank you
CDB students arrived this afternoon to find this wonderful addition to our garden, and they were thrilled with this superb trampoline. A massive thank you to our head of boarding for purchasing this trampoline for the kids. They love it
This afternoon, Melissa’s mother came to teach us how to make the perfect dumplings, she catered for all including the vegetarians, and it was truly an amazing experience with all the students. Sharing a culinary experience on Sunday with several visitors who filled the house with such a warm homey feeling. We agreed to repeat this again with another dish from around the world.
Despite a cold start here in Versoix, the weather changed and we had a lovely sunshine today 🙂 We enjoyed a long cycle in the area, then we picked up Donny from woodcraft. After lunch, we left for Geneva for some more treats!!! In the meantime Ms Erika took the girls horse riding. Overall it was pretty good day!!!
As always, Friday evening our young boarders can stay later than usual, the weekend mode is on, and the boys love playing in Olympus so much. We captured that moment, some fierce games were on last night!!!
A real treat for us this evening, Sushi, Dumplings, Mochi, Steamed Rice and all the trimmings… Students favourite food 🙂
Number 1 🙂
Nicholas made us proud this evening by representing CDB during our boarding quiz night, he was fast and knowledgeable !! He prepared well and reviewed random questions about Switzerland. It paid off!!
This weekend the children wanted to relax and play in the big garden we have here in Champs des Bois. They also had fun participating in their weekly activities and clubs such as climbing, woodcraft and ice skating!
A fantastic 2nd weekend at Fiesch, the students were able to enjoy various snow activities from snowboarding to skiing, ice-skating or trips for non-skiers. I took a group to a near town from Fiesch called Brig where we had a great time sightseeing this lovely place and we enjoyed a shared lunch at McDonald’s, students’ favourite place to eat 🙂 overall it was a fabulous weekend that ended too fast.
As part of our friendship pillar programme, CDB agreed for each student to make a pancake of choice to give to someone in the house as a caring gesture. We had two visitors who also enjoyed this yummy treat.
Tonight we discussed this wellbeing Pillar with our boarders, and we decided to conduct several games throughout the week to emphasise the importance of positive friendships. We also would like to foster these friendships qualities amongst our students in the boarding house and school. To complete this pillar we asked each boarder to make a friendship bracelet to give to their best friend as a token of appreciation.
HOW TO BE A GOOD FRIEND
“Friends share, play together, laugh with each other, a good friend cheer you up, be there for you, listen to you, makes you feel good, friends you can trust and share memorable moments”.
Low temperatures but high spirits up in the Swiss Alps. What a remarkable weekend we’ve had together.
Champs des Bois and the rest of the Boarding Houses traveled to a lovely ski resort high in the mountains. We all wrapped up warm and spent our time snowboarding or skiing, relaxing in the thermal baths, playing Bingo or board-games or even hiking to the summit at 3984m – with a little helping hand from a gondola and a chairlift.
The second part of our weekend was filled with Chess club, Escape rooms, Nature Walk, Climbing, the best Brunch ever and a birthday party all happening here in CDL. Our younger boarders picking up some new skills and having lots of fun.
Another great weekend enjoying ourselves in CDL campus and a wide range of activities on offer for our boarders to choose from.
New activities to explore this 2nd term, our student made this clay mouse which he proudly put on display in his bedroom. We played various board games after school the boarders love to compete against their House Parents.
This evening during our 1st welcome-back Assembly, these 2 students made us proud House Parents. They stood in front of an audience and read beautifully a lovely poem that we wrote about diversity. I am delighted that our senior House Parent Mr Antonio gave our younger boarder an opportunity to showcase their work.
Diversity
If I could change the world to a rainbow
What if everyone was forced to see
The world exactly like me
A world where all think as one
So, we do not judge anyone!
What if one person chose to know
In unity we stand is the way to go
What if one person desire to grow
And invites humanity to this show
What if one person’s heart sought love
To purify and unite us all
What if that person rose above
Throw away hatred, spread only love
If someday I sit on top of this world
Bring on changes with a single word
RAINBOW
A rainbow of diversity
A rainbow of beauty
A rainbow of bright happy colours
A rainbow of happiness
A rainbow of forgiveness
A rainbow sent from above with a blazing brilliant sight
A life multicoloured is a life unified
A good old classic game of Monopoly is just the perfect way to spend the afternoon when it’s too wet to go outside and play! Plus this super cool Dragon Ball Z version is great, thanks for sharing and letting us play Nicholas!
We are back in the Boarding House and have a new student joining us for this term. Welcome Cinar, he’s a fan of footy and also a keen mathlete!
This afternoon we had a lovely farewell party for our boarder Yifan, who is sadly returning home earlier. We couldn’t let her go without a proper celebration. The afternoon started with a scavenger hunt they made 2 teams, of course, boys vs girls. Followed by a sweet and chocolate search around the house 🙂 the students had a marvellous time! We had dinner at home and Hannah’s mother surprised us with a delicious cake. We had many visitors from other houses too. Yifan’s was thrilled and sad at the same time. So we took this opportunity to present her with an end-of-semester portfolio filled with many memorable moments made at CDL. GOODBYE, YOU WILL BE MISSED!!!
On Sunday, the boys took part in the traditional breaking of the chocolate Marmite. This
Geneva tradition celebrates the Mère Royaume pouring her cauldron of hot soup over the
enemies during the Savoyard invasion in 1602, keeping them from advancing any further.
This morning we had a visit from Jack Frost. There was a lovely blanket of fresh white snow covering the garden. Let’s wrap up warm today! 
At CDB the students each decorated their piece of the gingerbread house to enter another fierce competition, some boarding houses delivered some fantastic designs. Stay tuned for the announcement !! which boarding house will win?? let’s hope we made the first 3 🙂
The boarding life Award has been given to Nicholas for his outstanding contribution in day to day life in CDB and the Activities Award has been given to Hannah for her sheer commitment and hard work in attending a wide range of activities.
Jam-packed schedule this Saturday * Climbing, horse riding, Thai massage, movie and Take away, Melissa’s parents attended horse riding lessons and invited our boarders for lunch, only one student could attend a fabulous Japanese lunch and treats for all (bubble tea for House parents and students) later in the afternoon a private tennis lesson followed by a Thai massage. In the evening an older boarder from Olympus invited the boys to pick up some sushi and we happily watched a movie.
Jin and Nicholas participated in the Christmas decorating this weekend, with a little help from Mr Zach to reach the top of the tree!
Today all the Boarding Houses competed in a Bake Off Competition. Our boys decided to make a sponge cake and decorate it with strawberries, cream and lots of sprinkles! We hope the judges liked it!
This past Thursday we were lucky enough to be treated to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. The Chefs prepared a delicious meal and students and staff had decorated the dining hall very nicely. We all shared what we were thankful for and had a lovely celebration together.
We discovered Canadian food this evening, their cuisine looks fairly good and taste great! the fries were divine mixed inside a combo box with cheese, veg and sauce. DELICIOUS 🙂
Today both students had an incredible day at their horse riding lesson, the weather was just fabulous the teacher decided to take them on a ride locally, it was just perfect. We then cleaned the ponies and she taught them how to care and use all the equipment accordingly to their use . We took time to stroke other horses and truly embraced the experience immensely and that includes me.
At Champs Des Bois, we had a private session with our professional photographer Dia who came to our boarding house and taught our students how to create fantastic picture effects using various strategies. The pictures below were made by using different lights and movements then the camera captures these movements and sequences of lights, together the outcome is just incredible. We had lots of fun, messing about and creating these outstanding art pieces 🙂
A great Asian supper this evening infused with lots of wonderful flavours. We are always looking forward to Wednesdays special meals from around the world. Thank you to our great kitchen team 🙂
Our students covered a very important topic part of our wellbeing program, we took the time to watch a short video on respecting diversity and being mindful of bullying others, we then brainstorm what the words meant in real life. They all discussed how important to support and respect others despite their background and ethnicity and we came up with written quotes for our display board. We truly enjoyed this group activity helping our young boarders to understand the importance of words and acts.
On Sunday, Yifan celebrated her 10th birthday. We were very excited to be able to share this special day with her. We enjoyed playing laser tag with the other Junior Houses, classic party games like ”the floor is lava” and ”hide n seek”. Then we all gathered together to sing her Happy Birthday in the afternoon.
On Saturday, the children enjoyed their weekly activities and had lots of fun getting muddy in the garden!
Students enjoyed dressing up for Halloween tonight and trick or treat in different boarding houses. However, they were not many tricks but much more treats 🙂
We had an exceptional dinner at home last night, the kids helped to mark a special moment In CDB with our House Parent Alex! *First shopping trip to Coop * Menu agreement Chinese meal * Menu prep and table set up * scrumptious supper * games to complete the night. It was a great evening overall 🙂
Today at the primary school children dressed up to close this term and bring a flavour of Halloween. This celebration brought so much excitement and fun in the playground this morning.
We made the most of the sunshine today by taking a trip to the local park. The boys were very excited and had lots of fun, particularly on the swings and the big climbing frame!
We all had lots of fun today running around, jumping around, playing tag and trying all sorts of crazy jumps.
The children were very grateful for such an awesome birthday party.
Without a fail another wonderful brunch at CDL, we all looked forward to Sunday to enjoy a great selection of food, pastries, smoothies, breads, fruits, donuts and much more… served by our skilled chefs and kitchen staff. Thank you 🙂
A fantastic weekend at Disneyland, the students had lots of fun. I cannot wait to hear all about it this evening!!!
We were excited and looking forward to hosting an open door at our boarding house, primary teachers and leadership paid us a visit this afternoon, the students were so happy to show off their rooms,personal things and the entire house. We sat and socialized over a selection of cold, hot drinks and treats. This gave us an opportunity to share a moment to familiarize with each other. We played a quiz game to break the ice and bring a homey atmosphere throughout this visit. It was so enjoyable that we have agreed to plan a second get together but this time we will ask our students to invite a friend each from their classroom too.
Here is a wonderful photo of Nicholas and Liam. Liam was a Primary Boarder with Champs des Bois last school year, it was nice to see him looking after Nicholas and being a role model to our young ones.
At Swiss Vapeur Parc the children and House Parents were lucky enough to see the sun and ride many small trains around the park visiting lots of miniature Swiss towns and villages.
Hannah has again joined a Horse-riding lesson this past Saturday. Covered from the rain, Hannah and Candy (the horse) worked on improving her ‘trot’ and Hannah is building up the courage and skill to start to ‘gallop’.
We didn’t let the weather get the best of us this weekend. Although some might have said the weather was a bit miserable we refused to let it get us down!
On Tuesday we had our boarding house pictures taken, this is a snap look of that day!
Just after school, we take time to unwind and enjoy the outdoors, We walked back from the woodland path which our students love, then we had various board games before supper. After dinner the boys played basketball with older boarders. This led us smoothly to our Friday night movie and popcorn. The kids also wrote some ideas and posted them in our office letter box with suggestions. keep following us and I will share the outcome of the box very soon.
We
We enjoyed a lovely dinner at home, we were spoiled with a delicious marinated chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables. The students embraced the homey feeling this dinner has brought us.
Playing around in the house, horse-riding, cooking, baking, chess, music club and playdates! We have had such fun this weekend.
Today was the Jeûne Genevois, a traditional festivity that takes place every year in canton of Geneva. This meant our young boarders could enjoy some time off from school.
We made the most of this and traveled to Laussane to visit the Olympic Museum. Lots of history, knowledge and memorabilia interested the children and there was also some fun games to take part in and feel like Olympians.
This weekend our little ones took part in various activities that were on offer. On Saturday we all went to a climbing gym and Sunday started off with an adventurous walk through the nearby forest and ended with a House sports competition. What a fun weekend we’ve all had!
The Champs des Bois children have enjoyed a wonderful first week of school. During their free time after completing their homework, the children had lots of fun playing in the garden and racing their way to dinner.
We had an amazing week at Collège Du Léman settling our new students in their new environment. We kicked started the weekend with some great activities and outings, the students and House Parents were spoiled at Favarger factory sampling some delicious chocolate, ice-creams and we were given the story behind Versoix factory History.
