Hello everyone,
Kindness is a super power!!
In last night’s house meeting, the girls were encouraged to discuss kindness and how it can be a superpower in life. The girls were given a list of qualities such as empathy, integrity, popularity and public image and were asked to organise them based on what they found most important.
Kindness and loyalty were among the most common words found on top of the girls’ lists, and some have shared why exactly these qualities were so important to them. Our House Parents then explained just how far someone can get with kindness as it allows this person to express all of the other attributes we’ve seen.
Zoya IB1
New Portena
Sandwich Club ! 🥪🥬
Weekend recap🏸
Dear all,
After a lovely, sunny, and warm week, the weekend started with lots of rain and cold, but this weather didn’t stop our girls from enjoining their free time and attend their weekend activities. The girls attended plenty of activities such as Badminton, Ski Club, Bodyshaping, Chess Club or Stretching and Relaxation.
Despite Saturday’s afternoon rain, our girls went to Geneva to do some shopping, have lunch or enjoy the views. Just one more weekend before the Easter break 🥳
Best,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Happy birthday Skyler 🎂
Saturday’s pancake night 🥞🧑🏼🍳
Saturday night can be very quiet in New Portena. Some of the girls may be studying, watching TV or walking around campus with their friends.
One of the girls favourites activities is pancake night! They always ask Miss Sarah for pancakes (the best one we’ve ever tried, to be honest) and we spend a really good time chatting and enjoying each other’s company.
Have a lovely Sunday,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Piano night🎹
Dear all,
New Portena is well known for the amazing classic piano we have in the living room. The girls love to sit around the piano and practice, either for entertainment or for study.
Tonight Joslyn played some songs, enjoy!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
International dinner
Boarding talent show 🎙️🪩
Dear all,
Last Tuesday we had the pleasure to participate in the Boarding Talent Show. Our girls, Manuela, Venüs, Defne I, Sayuri, Bice, Raquel and Roberta, did an amazing performance with lights and a choreography by Miss Terri.
No wonder with this talent we won 5th place!!
Congratulations girls!!
Best,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Birthday girls 🥳🎂
Nowruz
Dear all,
Today our Iranian, Persians, Albanian and some Turkish students will celebrate Nowruz, the New Year following the Iranian calendar. In this day, it is a tradition to visit friends and family, do some shopping, clean the house and prepare dinner for the celebration.
We wish everyone celebrating this day an amazing evening.
Best,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Portuguese dinner 🇵🇹
Volleyball tournament and more!
This weekend our girls participated of a national Volleyball Tournament, they won the third place!! We are very proud of them, as they put so much effort into going to practice and giving their best out at the court. Congratulations to Defne and Luisa for their well deserved medals!!
Our girls also had the opportunity to participate of a day at the SPA, as well as many more activities offered by the school.
International women’s day!
Proactive start!
Hello from New Portena!
The first week after the mid-season break has already passed. Our girls gave us moments of pride and reflection at our previous boarding assembly. The assembly started with Rei’s enchanted performance on “Skyfall”. Defne A., Defne I., and Venus are leading a Charity Event to raise funds for the Turkish-Syria earthquake victims and presented an overview of the disaster, and how we can make a donation. You can visit the TRENDYOL site as well as the web pages of two Turkish organizations, AFAD and AKUT. Finally, Sara shared her experience as a Prefect and how the Prefect role could contribute to the school community.
This weekend some of our students travelled to the cosmopolitan city of Barcelona. They had the opportunity to visit some of Gaudi’s masterpieces, such as Sagrada Famíla and Güell Park and, of course, the Camp Nou football field. For Those who chose to stay here for the weekend, there were plenty of activities such as badminton, ski, cooking, baking, and music club, to name a few. Here are some photos and Rei’s performance video!
https://blogs.cdl.ch/newportena/files/2023/03/IMG_4834.mov
Love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Happy holidays from New Portena!
Photo competition 🥇
Hello everyone!
A few days ago the students had to take a photo that would reflect international friendships. The girls won the first place by presenting internationalism and friendship … hand in hand.. With this photo they created a wonderful memory of their time at CDL!
We are always proud of you
New Portena team
February 14th ! ❤️
Concert night🎻
Soup night! 🍵
House competition: Switzerland🧀🍫🏔️
Dear all,
Tonight we had a thrilling house competition about Switzerland. A few months after the beginning of the school year, it was finally time to test our boarders’ knowledge about this beautiful country.
Thank you, Manuela, Bice, Sayuri, and Defne I for representing New Portena!!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, and Ioanna.
International dinner: Japan🍙
Partage food bank
At Collège du Léman we like to be able to help those who need it most; at the beginning of the school year we collaborated with the food collection at COOP supermarket and, just before Christmas, with the gift box appeal.
This February, from the 6th to the 14th, we are supporting Partage food bank, a hunger-fighting charity which supports thousands of less-fortunate individuals and families each week.
From New Portena, we encourage our girls and everyone who wants to donate to participate in this campaign to help those who need it most.
https://mailchi.mp/cdl/22-23-partage-from-pfamads
Partage_Feb2023_poster_digital
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Boarding Newsletter📰
Good afternoon everyone!
The second edition of the Boarding Newsletter is out. During the weekend you received via email the full version but in case you didn’t see it, here you have a direct link:
https://img.nordangliaeducation.com/resources/europe/permacache/a25/e04/700/e705e834cdac52ba6acd46a3cb55b93e.pdf
We want to give a big thank you to Defne A. and Anna; both of them helped contributing to this amazing project with articles and editing.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Second Ski Weekend🏔️
This weekend we had the privilege of enjoying a wonderful weather at Fiesch!
A ski resort with amazing slopes and the opportunity to admire the most incredible views.
We not only had 1, but 2 days of sun on the mountain.
The girls had the opportunity to make new friends, explore the mountain, spend time with their friends, and improve their skiing/snowboarding skills.
We hope you everyone enjoyed their weekends as much as we did!
Wishing you all a lovely week!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Well Being – Pillar 3. Building Positive Friendships🗺️
Welcome to the third pillar of our well-being programme.
This pillar is a short pillar, however it is a topic that is at the forefront of our student’s progression and development.
The Takeaway point for this pillar will be:
- What are the benefits of an international friendship?
There are several options to discuss with our students:
- How does the boarding house support and encourage international friendships, give examples
- What advice would you give future students coming into an international school environment
- Can you think of some examples of famous international friendships?
- Self-Reflection – Do you embrace the international community, or do you prefer the convenience of building friendships within your own culture and language?
Weekend in Fiesch ⛷
Good afternoon everyone!
This weekend, our boarders went to Fiesch, a little town in the Swiss Alps. There, they discovered the alpine landscape that characterises this country. They had the opportunity to do plenty of activities such as skiing, snowboarding, a visit to Brig and the thermal baths, playing bowling or enjoying some free time.
While the girls are looking forward to their return to the mountains next weekend, here are some photos of the beautiful Fiesch.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and Maria.
Lunar New Year celebration🐰
Piano nights🎹🎼
Good afternoon everyone!
Last night we got delighted with a piano concert thanks to Darina. She played “Someone like you” by Adele and Rin sang along to it. Darina has been practicing a lot over the last few weeks and it is always a pleasure to listen to her.
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Defne’s art🎨🖼
1st weekend back 🤩
Hello everyone,
After a long Christmas break the girls are back on campus with their usual weekend activities.
Within the wide range of activities to choose from, most of our girls opted for sports such as Tennis, Bodyshaping, Fitness or Stretching and Relaxation.
Others, like Venüs and Defne, cooked couscous with meatballs in Cooking or a chocolate cake in Baking as Skyler did Skyler.
As it was the first weekend back, most of our girls spend their afternoon doing some shopping and enjoying our wonderful Geneva.
We hope they did all their ski shopping, cause next weekend we are heading to Fiesch ⛷☃️
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Happy 2023!!
Happy Holidays! 🎄
Winter Dance ❄️🪩
Good evening,
Last Saturday we celebrated our annual Winter Dance with all of our Boarders. They enjoyed a lovely dinner full of joy, laughs and music.
Rei, prefect and head girls of boarding, did an amazing speech we she talked about the importance of knowing our strengths and ourselves.
To end the night, the students showed their best moves on the dance floor and they spent the last weekend together before the winter break.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María.
L’Escalade – Geneva Tradition
In 1602, Geneva was coveted by the Savoyards. Chales-Emmanuel I intended to make Geneva his capital north of the Alps.
On the night of 11-12th December 1602, one of the darkest nights of the year, a troop of 2000 soldiers launched a surprise attack. Arriving in Painpalais, the mercenaries climbed the walls surrounding the city. That is why the commemoration is referred to as “l’Escalade” (which means “the climb” in French).
The alarm was sounded at 4:30 a.m. by a watchman firing his harquebus. La Clémence, the bell of Saint Peter’s Cathedral, rang the alarm supported by all the bells in the monuments.
Armed with nothing more than courage and halberds, the citizens of Geneva, men and women alike, ran out of their houses to defend the city alongside the bourgeois militia and the city’s soldiers. They fought off the enemies using any means to hand.
A number of stories recall the courage of La Mère Royaume, who scalded one Savoyard with her pot of soup. Since 1881, chocolate cauldrons decorated with the coat of arms of Geneva have been sold and eaten at this time every year in honour of the bravery.
The enemies withdrew empty-handed, leaving 54 casualties behind.
To celebrate this tradition, each year, the youngest and oldest person in each houselhold smash a chocolate ‘Marmite’ and recite the following sentence:
“Ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République”
*Click on the link above to see a video of Cherry and Amaliya smashing the “Martmite”.
Boarding Awards Ceremony 🏅🏅
Good evening!
Last night we celebrated the first Boarding Award Ceremony of the year.
Sara, Manuela and Luisa received the boarding life award.
Skyler, Defne and Darina won the boarding activities award.
Manuela and Amaliya won the grade 9 academic award.
Bice and Skyler won the 10th grade academic award.
Anastasiia won the Première Maturité academic award.
Rei won the IB2 academic award.
We are really proud of all our girls, you are doing amazing 🤩
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María.
Gingerbread house competition 🍪🏠
Weekend activities 2nd-4th December
Europa park 🎢
Good evening!
This weekend Luisa, Manuela, Defne I, Defne A, Venüs, Rin and Amaliya went on a trip to Europa Park, in Rust, Germany.
They enjoyed the beauty of the different European countries being represented in the park and also the rollercoasters (they lost count of how many times they went on the Silver Star ride). They had plenty of food and did some shopping for Secret Santa🎅🏼
Enjoy the lovely pictures they took 🤩
Anastasiia’s birthday 🎁
Drama performance🎭
Wellbeing pillar 2 – Fighting Bullying and Promoting Diversity
Good evening.
Last week we started the 2nd pillar of our Wellbeing Programme.
Take away point 1 – Integration and diversity are part of the international agenda of the world’s most important institutions.
We talk about it at a lower level, at schools, work and public places. However, that topic is at the heart of the identity of all the major international organizations and that is something that sometimes we overlook to consider diversity something to think of at an individual level. Beyond the political message on the importance of diversity, institutions like the UN have a policy of promoting diversity in their work force and enabling all types of people to access job position within their ranks and therefore setting the example on integration and teamwork.
During our house meeting we asked the girls to celebrate diversity by creating a project where we could identify each girl and the country they are from.
The final idea is to have all the girls do something that represents them and decorate the house with this art.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
New incorporation to the team🤩
A weekend in New Portena 🌼
Paris trip🇫🇷
Gift Box Appeal🎁🧸
Christmas is the best season to give back. We are aware of how privileged we are and we want to help those in need. This year we are bringing joy and happiness to children in Ukraine and Moldova.
Thank you to everyone who donated and participated wrapping the boxes.
Terri, Sarah and María
Volleyball Tournament
Weekend activities 11th-13th November
Good afternoon everyone!
Another weekend has passed by and our girls have enjoyed different activities.
Coco, Bice, Sara, Sayuri and Rin enjoyed a lovely Friday afternoon playing Badminton; Amaliya attended horse riding on Saturday; and Sofiia, Anastasiia, Samira, Anna and Yvonne did some Tennis.
In addition, this weekend we had the chance to do a very different and funny activity: laser tag. Skyler, Sally, Joslyn, Ingrid and our House Tutor María had a lot of fun playing against some of the Villa du Lac girls (and we won!!).
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah and María
Happy birthday Rei!
Weekend activities 4th-6th November
Good evening everyone:
The girls spent this sunny but cold weekend doing some activities around campus, before going to Geneva on Saturday. Most of the girls attended Sandwich Club, where they ate some delicious sandwiches made by Miss Sarah.
Our two Prefects, Rei and Sara, did a escape room with the rest of the Prefects and Justin Usher, the boarding director.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah and María.
Halloween Party
Good evening everyone!
Yesterday we celebrated Halloween with a particularly spooky dinner and costume party, where our girls let their imagination run wild and chose some amazing costumes!
Darina and Rin dressed up as two sad girls looking for some candy.
Defne was wearing a costume inspired in the movie “The great Gatsby”
We were honoured to have Mr and Ms Bieber in the house last night portrayed by Roberta and Raquel.
Rei had matching costumes with Sofya from Vila du Lac and they’re dressed as Steve and Robin from Stranger Things.
And finally, Ingrid had an amazing vampire costume and also a really scary Raven named Edgar.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah and María.
Welcome back!
Happy Holidays !!
Weekend activities
Good evening everyone!
This weekend the girls have been doing lots of activities!
Coco, Bice, Sayuri, Skyler, Sara and Rin did some badminton, Darina played volleyball and Taisiia, Nastia, Sofiia and Samira had an amazing tennis game.
In the afternoon some of them went to Geneva and, as well as doing some pre-Holliday shopping, they also visited an art gallery.
Much love Terri, Sarah, María and Marie.
Fribourg day trip
Board games night
Volleyball tournament
Weekend 7-9 October
Good evening everyone!
This weekend, Roberta, Amaliya, Defne I, Manueala and Darina went to Disneyland, the weather was amazing and so were the rollercoasters!
Bice and Coco went to Annecy and meanwhile, back at the house, a lot of cooking and baking happened, we made an art collage and the girls joined many activities including baking, cooking, stretching, bodyshaping and the club the Sound of Soul
We‘re looking forward to next weekend!
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Happy birthday Venüs
Teachers in the house!
Hello everyone,
Today we had the pleasure of welcoming some of the girls teachers to the house. They had the opportunity to get to know the place where they live and study, meet their housemates and chat a bit (and even play some board games as Jenga and Uno!)
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Weekend activities
Good evening everyone!
This weekend, our girls attended a myriad of activities. Darina and Defne did Volleyball, Sally, Skyler and Carina attended the cooking class, Samira, Sofiia and Anastasiia baked macarons, Ingrid went climbing and Amaliya did horseback riding.
Grade 10 also attended a 5 minute night time meditation for the well being pillar healthy bodies healthy minds.
much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Congratulations Rei!
Healthy bodies, healthy minds part two!
Happy Birthday Taisiia!
Pancake night
Weekend 23-25 September
Hello everyone,
As every weekend, we had lots of activities to enjoy!
Amaliya joined her weekly horse riding lesson; Coco and Sara attended the Munich Philarmonica Orchestra’s concert in Geneva; Rei, Ana and Coco did meditation; Luisa, Yvonne, Anna, Sofiia, Samira and Anastasiia baked apple pastries, and many of the girls visited the rainy Geneva on Saturday for some lunch and shopping.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie.
Happy Birthday Cherry!
Mediterranean food club
Game Night at New Portena
Healthy body, healthy mind
Hello everyone!
Tonight we had a small cooking session in the theme of the first pillar “Healthy body and mind”. Together we made granola bars, avocado on toast and banana/avocado smoothies!
We ended the night with a 5-minute meditation session to ensure a good night rest zzz…
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Wellbeing Pillar 1 – Nurturing Healthy Bodies and Minds
We are now approaching the third week of delivering the first pillar of our wellbeing programme in our Boarding Houses – ‘Nurturing Healthy Bodies and Minds’.
Throughout this pillar we will be ensuring our students understand the importance of taking care of our bodies and our minds in our day to day lives. Furthermore, we will be highlighting sport participation, sleeping patterns, nutrition and relaxation methods, as sub topics. With the students, we will discuss and discover how all these could play a key role in maintaining a healthy balance.
This week we will be asking the students how a healthy balanced diet can help with sports performance, as well as academic performance, brain development and growth. We will show the videos below to the students.
Timur and Antoni are the student wellbeing advocates for our Boarding House and they will be presenting in our wellbeing session again this week. They will be sharing their experiences and answering a range of questions regarding the importance of good nutrition for sports and everyday life.
Nutrition is key to sports performance | Ohio State Medical Center – YouTube
Nutrition for a Healthy Life – YouTube
Here our some recent photos of some healthy dishes that we have served to our students in the Dining room. Please feel free to visit the Dining at CDL Blog Page following this link: https://blogs.cdl.ch/diningatcdl/
Weekend 16-18 September
Hello everyone,
As always, the weekend was filled with activities. Cherry and Luisa joined the lake cleaning, Venüs, Anastasiia, Samira, Sofiia and Anna baked muffins, Rei joined the running club and many of our girls visited Geneva to do some shopping and enjoying amazing meals.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Mountain weekend: Verbier
Hello everyone!
Our 11 and 12 girls went to Verbier to enjoy a sunny and funny weekend in the mountains.
We arrived on Friday, and our girls had some free time to have dinner and discover the city.
Visit to Lausanne
Double trouble B-day
House competition day!
Today was House Competition day, the day we discovered our girls’ competitive side 😀
It was a close call, but unfortunately Villa du Lac won by 3 small points, however, it is safe to say that is was a win regarding team spirit!
Saturday activities
Good afternoon everyone,
The weekend isn’t over yet, but our girls have attended many activities already!
On Saturday, Amaliya went horseriding, Luisa joined the running club, Ingrid went climbing, Skyler played beach volley, almost half of our girls joined us baking cheesecakes and Joclyn made some beautiful pictures during the photography activity.
Most of the girls also visited Geneva yesterday which included a lot of shopping and delicious meals!
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Friday is movie night!
Good evening everyone,
Last Wednesday we had a formal dinner, the food was delicious and the girls looked amazing!
Tonight, some of the girls cooked their own food and afterwards we had a movie night with popcorn! We’re looking forward to the weekend which is filled with all sorts of activities and … the first house sports competition of the year!
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María, Marie
Games night
Everyone arrived!
Lake activities
Today, Luisa, Roberta and Skyler joined us for some lake (and on shore) activities, the day started cloudy but thankfully skies cleared up after the girls came out of the water! Afterwards, we had a lovely brunch with the whole boarding family 🙂
(Click on “tubing video” to see one of the lake activities)
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
First weekend with our new students
Hello everyone!
It has been a pleasure to welcome all of the new girls.
This weekend’s focus has been on getting to each other and the surroundings of the school. Our new girls Skyler, Ingrid, Luisa, Roberta and Amaliya have attended many activities including visiting Versoix and the chocolate factory Favarger, a movie night and a wonderful tour in Geneva this Saturday.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Welcome To New Portena!
Welcome back to those who are returning and a very warm welcome to those who are new in this adventure!
We are very happy to receive you in your home away from home.
Within our team we have two wonderful House Tutors, two House Parents and an activity leader who will come every evening to organize different activities with the girls.
Together with the entire boarding community we are looking forwards to this wonderful year ahead of us.
Welcome to the New Portena family!
With love,
Terry, Sarah, Maria and Marie.
Have a great summer!!
End of year party !!!
Everybody in the house had a lot more fun than they thought they would at our super fun end of year party in concha. All the boarders were there, we had ice cream, laser tag and a variety of fun water and inflatable activities.
It was a lovely way to cool off in the heat and take a well deserved break from all the studying that has been happening over the weekend.
lots of love,
The New Portena team
xxx
Happy Birthday Carina!!!
House Assembly
Tonight we held the final house meeting where everyone would be present. We wanted to make it a special one to remember. Ms. Emily created a video collage of some our best moments. We also asked parents to send a little message or video for the students to say thank you for the year. It was very nice moment and any tears were shed.
We hope we enjoy our video collage.
aa45a21c-e37a-4fe4-884e-a1c9964bb06a
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
Quiet weekend and Copenhagen trip
It was a quiet weekend here at New Portena the majority of our girls were away for the long weekend including Maria, Defne and Venus who joined me on the school trip to Copenhagen which was very busy and a lot of fun, we saw the little mermaid, the Palace and Tivoli to name a few.
Some of the girls who stayed enjoyed a trip to Montreux and activities such as biking and Tennis.
Lots of Love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Happy Birthday Samira!!!
Cooling Off!
Hot spring weekend
With the temperatures rising and the grey skies clearing our lovely ladies have been doing their best to stay out of the sun and in the shade of the trees.
We had some fun activities like nature walk, baking, sound of soul, art club and molli did a 10k run! Carina participated in the community clean up, thankfully there was shade!
Lots of Love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
House Meeting
During our weekly house meeting today we spoke to the girls about binge drinking the dangerous effects of alcohol. We played this informative video and would like to share it with you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_N24LAHcu1I
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Beach Volleyball !!!
Really pleased I got to see Maria, Defne and Zoya in action playing volleyball against Old Portena today!
The girls boarding beach volleyball tournament has begun now that the weather has started to get warmer and the sun is shining and I’m happy to say New Portena won their first game.
Old Portena played a very good game there is lots of talent and I can’t wait to see how the tournament unfolds!
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Sunny Sunday
Boat trip Yvoire
Happy Birthday Defne
Weekend Activities
Fun in the holidays!
Coming back from the holidays, we were all tired, but happy to be home. I had a great time in Paris with some friends and visited a few museums. We went shopping and spent a lot of time walking around the city. Even though, as an IB student, I had a lot of work to do for school and a few exams, I still tried to have some fun before going back to studying. I’m a bit scared, but happy to be back at the boarding house and at school.
Sara Slaj, IB1
Welcome Back
Happy Holidays !!!
Happy Birthday Sofiia !!
Weekend Activities
Happy Birthday Ghida !!!
Weekend shenanigans
Week 4 Pillar 4 – “Online Wellbeing”
- Are you conscious of how much time you spend on your phone?
- Who really wins by you spending more and more time on your apps?
Here is a video that has been made by the Student Advocate Group.
The Art Explained
This is a picture from the exhibition of art for grade 12. The artworks that are showcased and which I am working on in AP are focused to portray childhood and telling a story of my brother living with an invisible friend. I was able to work with different mediums and techniques like digital art apps, charcoal, and monoprints and that made the overall process exciting.
I see art as a great way for people to express themselves, that is why I decided to take up this AP course. It also was a great opportunity for me to make my ideas real and create anything I wanted.
When my artworks were showcased I was worried if they would look good enough in front of others, but it made me realize how everyone is different and tells a unique story which makes it more interesting. I was also proud of having the opportunity I haven’t experienced before.
In the future, I am planning to do many more artworks using other techniques as well as and I am very excited about that.
Lots of love,
Sofiia Baran
Sofiia Art Show
Week 3 pillar 4 “Your Online Life”.
- What is our true reason for posting our pictures, videos etc online?
- Why do we think society now values followers, likes and comments on someone’s post as a measure of their success?
Here is a video that has been made by the Student Advocate Group. It may prompt a discussion which you can then use for your own students to share their thoughts.
Week 2 Pillar 4 ‘What you post….in that moment’.
- When we think we are being funny or witty or purposefully insensitive towards someone else’s post are we really aware of the potential harm or hurt we can cause.
- Posting a funny picture or video of someone or your friend can be online- forever!
Our lovely Sabine and Sara led our meetings using the above video and poster
Classical
A few of our girls were lucky enough to receive tickets for a lovely classical concert on Friday evening, with the lead solo violinist from Ukraine and with the artistic leadership of the world-renowned violinist Renaud Capuçon. The concert took place at Victoria Hall in Geneva.
The girls said they had an amazing time at the concert and treated themselves to some Starbucks.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team,
xxx
Badminton Champion
Game Night!
Happy Birthday!
Kate and Kseniia
During the boarding assembly this evening Kate and Kseniia gave a powerful presentation about the importance of peace and friendship regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Kseniia’s photograph featuring Kate is a collaboration between two friends urging everyone to come together, portrays the media silence in Russia and shows the connection between the two countries.
We are very proud of these two girls and they did an amazing job.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Senegalese Dinner
Welcome Back!
Pillar 4 week 1 – Online Safety
Our next pillar is online safety below are the takeaway points for this pillar
1) Cyberbullying
The word “addiction” has a big meaning behind it. Research is inconclusive on whether it’s truly accurate when it comes to digital device use. What’s certain, however is when we use our apps, the companies are profiting from it. Most of the apps we use are designed to keep us hooked. What is the right balance?
lots of love,
the New Portena team xxx
Friendship and Holidays!!!
Crochet art club
Weekend Activities!!
Our girls participated in a range activities this weekend.
Coco, Defne, Sara and Sabine had an amazing day on the slopes.
Molli and Rei enjoyed a lovely nature walk and a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Carina, Maria and Samira learned how to make frittatas in their cooking class.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Friendship by Nastya and Ana Karina
The Power of a Balanced and Healthy Friendship
Friendships are vital for our wellbeing and in them we create some of the most powerful bonds we can experience throughout our existence. But with that term, which is friendship, there come many broad meanings to it, that can mean different things to different people. Our overall being can impact the way we view and experience that friendship. Most of the typical friendships are formed through:
- People you know and with who you have a mutual affection.
- A sense of connection, companionship, support, and understanding.
- Sharing time, experiences, and confidences.
- Give and take such that sharing is, perceived to be a two way street.
Benefits of Healthy Friendships
Connecting with other people is one of the most urgent impulses of us humans. With examples of life experience and research, having a life with the inclusion of friends helps makes us better adjusted in life. Having healthy friends helps to deal against negative mental health outcomes. Friendships improve our confidence and self-worth, help us cope with serious life events or trauma like break-ups, illness, or losing a job, improve our feeling of belonging and encourage us to avoid unhealthy behaviors or change them when it comes to numeros things in life.
Toxic or Unhealthy Friendships
While close friendships often serve in order to bring usz positive, protective, and healthy feelings, some friendships can have the opposite effect causing antagonism, conflict, and inequality in ourselves and the overall friendship. These relationships are considered toxic, unhealthy for our us. Examples of toxic friendships include:
- Encouraging harmful behavior.
- Having an unbalanced relationship or a relationship that’s a one-way street (all give, no take or all take and no give)
- Continuing to think and repeatedly talk about shared worries, wounds, or challenges, with no solution or alleviation.
Tips for Supporting Friends
- Connect Regularly ( message or even a simple call)
- Share your own struggles in order to make them like they have someone.
- Know when they need help
- Take care of yourself ( Don’t forget to also take care of yourself while supporting your friend)
NOURISH YOUR FRIENDSHIPS !
Crans Montana
Well-being Pillar!
We are now in the second week of our third well being pillar which focuses on boundaries.
We all watched this video during our weekly house meeting and had a really enlightening conversation with the girls. They seem to understand the importance of having boundaries and also enforcing said boundaries. We hope you also give it a watch and maybe learn a few things.
Weekend Activities
Our girls enjoyed a range of activities this weekend.
Taisiia and Kate played a few rounds of tennis.
Zoya enjoyed a game of volleyball and her skills are very impressive.
Carina went to an escape room and was doing equations without a calculator.
Maria and Molli had an amazing time on donuts in the snow.
lots of love
The New Portena team
xxx
Academic Awards!
First Weekend back
New Arrival!
Welcome Back!
Happy Birthday Kseniia!!
Happy Birthday to our resident photographer! We hope you have the most amazing day!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
Happy Holidays
From all of us at New Portena we wish you a happy holiday season and a refreshing holiday and we look forward to welcoming you back in the new year. It has been a wild year filled with lots of learning and joy ❤️
We will miss you girls a lot and hope you enjoy the time you can spend with your family and friends!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team xx
Self Care Spa Day!
Christmas Dinner
UNO!!
Christmas Dinner!!!
Award Ceremony
Shout out to our New Portena Super stars who received awards tonight Sayuri, Rei and Zoya for boarding life. Sakura(not pictured) Cora and Coco for their participation and effort in activities. Rei, Bice and Nastya for their hard work at school and their excellence in academics.
Lots of Love,
The New Portena Team x
Sound Bath
Boarding Assembly
Happy Birthday Anastasiia !!!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Weekend Adventures!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Football champion!
Weekend fun!
The Spirit of Giving
Weekend Fun
This weekend was packed with fun activities.
Taisiia played some tennis on Saturday morning with a friend.
Bice, Joelle and Defne made some delicious tiramisu which they kindly shared with the house.
Sabine, Sara and Sayuri baked some delicious white chocolate chip and strawberry muffins with the Champs de Bois kids.
Happy Birthday Ana Sofia !
Happy Birthday Rei!
Volleyball Tournament
This past weekend the school volleyball team participated in the Suisse Group of International Schools tournament in Leysin.
On the Saturday they won all the matches they played. On Sunday they won all the matches except for one and they came 3rd overall.
We are so proud of the entire team and want to give a special shout-out to our very own Zoya for their incredible work.
Girls just wanna have fun
Dynamic duos or double trouble ?
Welcome Ana !
Wonderful Weekend
House Hoodies
Welcome back!!
Happy Birthday Mary
MID-TERM BREAK IS HERE!!!!
Happy Birthday Joelle!
Weekend Activities
National Honor Society
Happy Birthday Taisiia!!!
Happy Birthday Cherry!!!
Happy mid autumn festival!!!!
Happy Birthday Sabine !
Lake Clean Up!
Why is Sleep Important?
Pillar 1 of our wellbeing programme in CDL is Nurturing healthy bodies and minds. One of the takeaway points from this pillar is “How important is sleep?”. We find it a crucial topic for the students to explore when discovering how to take care of themselves and how they can maintain a healthy body and mind.
The teenage years are a formative period. The brain and body experience significant development, and the transition to adulthood brings important changes that affect emotions, personality, social and family life, and academics. Sleep is essential during this time, working behind the scenes to allow teens to be at their best. Unfortunately, research indicates that many teens get far less sleep than they need. Sleep is vital for people of any age. For teens, though, profound mental, physical, social, and emotional development requires quality sleep.
During one of our Boarding House assemblies, we asked each girl the effects that can be caused from lack of sleep, and how it can impact many areas of our lives? We got a lot of good answers and have condensed it into this poster. Enjoy!
Teacher visit
Mountain Weekend!!!
Lausanne and Olympic Museum Adventure!
Cheffing it up
Wellbeing Pillar 1 – Nurturing Healthy Bodies and Minds – Week 2
We are now entering the second week of the first Pillar of our wellbeing programme – Nurturing Healthy Bodies and Minds.
One of the takeaway points from this pillar is “How important is sleep?”. We find it a crucial topic for the students to explore when discovering how to take care of themselves and how they can maintain a healthy body and mind.
During our Boarding House assemblies this week, we will be talking to the students about the effects that can be caused from lack of sleep, and how it can impact many areas of our lives.
Lack of sleep reduces focus and it will make it more difficult for student’s to learn. Studies have shown that poor quality sleep, or not enough sleep, can lead poor organisational skills, a decrease in mood or behaviour, reduced attention span and even memory loss. We would like to outline the importance of sleep to our students so that they are fully prepared and they give themselves the best opportunity possible to achieve their full potential – in all aspects of their lives. Allowing the brain the sufficient amount of time to rest and recover means we give ourselves the best chance to succeed.
Also throughout this pillar, we are running a Daily Fitness Challenge across our Boarding Community. This is to encourage our students to get active, have fun and take their minds off things that may be causing them stress. The participation, competitiveness and enthusiasm the students have shown so far has been fantastic and we hope to see this continue throughout September with even more students taking part. Please find some photos below from the challenge so far…..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!
Weekend Hang Outs
This weekend, the girls headed into Geneva, hung out on campus and ate out and in together. Enjoy the photos of the good times had.
Kate, Taisiia and Kseniia grabbed some boba tea.
Defne and Venus shopped till they almost literally dropped them grabbed some food.
Moli and Sayuri chilled on the sports pitch.
Defne, Moli and Anya took some selfies.
Mary, Ghida, Cherry and Sofia visited one of the outside villas.
Cherry, Mary and Carina had dinner with a friend.
Movie Night!!!
We had our very first movie night of the year. We have a movie jar which was filled with 3 movie ideas by each of the girls. We watch whatever is pulled from the jar.
Defne A was the first to pick a movie and she pulled out Jumanji.
We made some popcorn, s’mores and hot chocolate for the big event and gathered together for the movie.
Can’t wait for the next movie night!
WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!
Mint chocolate chip cookies !!!
Octopus snack
First Weekend in Geneva
Home cooked meal
Back to School!
First day back
Welcome to New Portena !!!
Happy birthday, Christine!
Happy Birthday, Zitong!
Happy Birthday, Isabelle
Happy Birthday, Eva D!
Wishing you a happy summer!
Happy Birthday, Eva A!
Celebrating together
Happy Birthday, Lolita!
BBQ Dinner
End of Year Party
Our professional chefs in action!
Birthday, cake day!!
Happy birthday, Carina!
We tried our best …
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Happy Birthday, Sakura!
The friends we make at Collège du Léman are unforgettable
Wonderful day for great pictures!
Terrasses de Lavaux – Patrimoine mondial
We are very proud of you girls, CONGRATULATIONS!
Our graduates: WAN WEI (Christine) and Crystal Kung
Our graduate: KOKORO MORIKAWA
Home made dumplings
Why can’t basketball players go on vacation?
They aren’t allowed to travel…. *Ba dum chhh*
On Wednesday, we came face to face with Leman in the basketball tournament. We dodged, dribbled, passed, scored and sweated, but sadly not enough to come home with a victory. Our girls played hard and well, and we are proud of them taking part in these tournaments.
We have one more tournament to go, let’s see how we match up against Olympus!
Quiz Night
Tonight, all houses took part in an EPIC competition to find out who had the best general knowledge. We came a respectable 4th place, to Villa Du Lac’s 1st place, Leman One’s 2nd Place, and Megard’s 3rd place. Well done to Ghida and Sabine for representing New Portena and all houses. And thank you for a fun, friendly and competitive tournament.
Bonus Question: How many bones Sharks have? (Scroll for the answer!)
Answer: none, their skeleton is made out of cartilage!
Happy birthday, Miss Valerie!
Ready, set, BAKE!
A Lovely Evening
Wednesday – House Assembly
New Portena vs Leman – Basketball match
New Portena raises chefs!
Today in New Portena we were craving cookies, so we made them!
First, we needed to find the perfect recipe, Yvonne helped us with her culinary knowledge.
Next step, wash our hands properly
And we started the process:
Mixing ingredients and giving them shape
we could not forget, the less fun part, but most important, cleaning afterwards
And what goes last?
ENJOYING THEM!!!!
Thank you very much Sabine, Yvone and Liam for this fun rainy Sunday afternoon. You are great cooks!!!!
House full of chefs!
Marianne, a profesional chef!
Saturday, TREAT day!
Feeling like flying?
EID MUBARAK – 13th May 2021
Happy Eid-ul-Fitr (Eid Mubarak) 2021
The holy month of Ramadan has come to an end and the Muslim community is all geared up to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr. The religious festival is celebrated on the first day of the month of Shawwal, on which people do not observe fast on this day. Eid is usually celebrated a day after the crescent moon sighting in Saudi Arabia, which is considered sacrosanct
Observed by the Muslim community around the world, on this day, loved ones come together to break the fast. Not only that, on this day people express gratitude and pray to Allah for everything they have. They wake up early in the morning, dress up wearing new clothes and wish their loved one
We almost won!
Happy birthday, Zena!
Having a WHEEL good time
Queen Victorious were VICTORIOUS!
Saturday BBQ
Happy birthday, Alison!
Wellbeing Discussions
‘Making Safe and Responsible Choices’: Last Wednesday, we sat down in groups and discussed the positive and negative consequences of different decisions. We discussed topics surrounding; smoking and vaping; sexual activity; bullying online and in person; judging others online; underage drinking; not following your dreams.
We were very impressed with the answers and comments the girls gave us and hope they will put into practice these types of pros and cons mentally before making risky decisions.