New Portena embraces Nord Anglia’s global challenge! Our mission: walk the distance between all Nord Anglia schools worldwide. As part of Collège du Leman, we kick-started this journey with an evening stroll after our weekly house assembly. Here’s the quick rundown.
Our diverse group of girls from around the world unites for this global challenge, promoting fitness and unity.
We are so happy to watch Aliki attending her first aerial silk lesson and feeling so comfortable in doing it. This can be a great sign that she might enjoy and excel in aerial silk, an activity which can be both physically challenging and artistically rewarding, so it’s wonderful that Aliki is off to a positive start.
Saturday and Sunday are the perfect days for students to refuel their soul and to be grateful for each and every one of their blessings.
During this weekend New Portena girls chose different activities: climbing, rafting, chess club, stretching and relaxation. Jane also helped in the community service.
Yesterday evening there was also someone who surprised New Portena family: Hanna and Miss Fana made a very tasty banana cake which was a delight for the palate of everyone. 😍
Tonight New Portena girls found another way to have a great Friday night: they invited their friends for staying together and enjoying a delicious Chinese dinner! 🥢🍚🥟
Happy birthday, Paulina! 🎉🎂🎈
May your day be filled with laughter,
love and all the happiness in the world. 🎁🥳🌟
Feliz cumpleaños!
Yesterday afternoon the students welcomed their teachers in the house.
Everyone was thrilled to have them here as New Portena is not just a place to stay
but it’s where we like building a great sense of community. ❤️
This morning, Hanna, Sayuri, Bice, and Mei Mei embarked on a mission to clean up Lake Léman. Their commitment to environmental stewardship is a part of their #NewPortenaJourney. 🌊🌿 #CommunityCleanup
Yesterday, on the 15th of September, our dear Giuliana celebrated her fifteenth birthday in style. She enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner with her close friend, Lulu, who is also a fellow boarder here at New Portena.
¡Feliz cumpleaños, Giuliana! 🎂🎈🎁
Wishing you a year ahead that’s even more extraordinary than you are! 💫🌟
This Thursday marked our inaugural “Dinner at Home” event here at New Portena, and it was a hit. This monthly gathering is all about fostering a sense of family within our boarding house.
A Culinary Treat
Our taste buds were in for a treat with lasagna, summer salad, and panna cotta on the menu. Each dish was a delight, leaving everyone satisfied and content.
Heartwarming Atmosphere
Laughter and conversation filled the room as students and staff bonded over shared experiences. These moments of connection are what make New Portena special.
Follow #NewPortenaJourney to stay updated on our adventures.
Happy birthday, dear Ashley!
May this year be filled with success, joy and new achievements.
Here’s to many more amazing years ahead!
생일 축하합니다🥳
During the last weekend, exciting activities have not taken place only in Fiesch but also in Verbier as some of the students went there to spend the mountain weekend. Trotinnetting, also known as scooter touring, as well as rock climbing, were on the agenda ! Activities that appeals to individuals seeking adventure, physical fitness and the thrill of conquering challenging routes. This includes the zipline, a funny way to enjoy the thrill of flight and the beauty of nature. Here are just a few of the moments that made this trip amazing. 😀
In the photo at the top right Paulina was on the highest zipline in the world.
In the photo at the bottom left Bice, Coco, Mei mei, Hanna and Sayuri were spending time together.
During the mountain weekend all the students took part in plenty of activities by learning new skills or improving existing ones. Knowing how to be able to perform a task or tackle a challenge successfully enhances self-efficacy, which is the belief in one’s ability to achieve goals. Small successes foster a positive feedback loop that encourages continued skill development.
The activities that the students have most appreciated are the rope course, a great way to test agility, balance, and bravery while enjoying the beauty of the outdoors in Fiesch, and mountain biking. Many students also took part in Via Ferrata, which offers stunning views of the surrounding landscape while providing a thrilling climbing experience.
Another breathtaking activity is hiking around Aletsch, the largest glacier in the Alps.
During the last day students had so much fun in the tennis court taking part in team games like sack race or wearing inflatable costumes, which created a whimsical and larger-than-life appearance.
One of the best gems of the resort is the swimming pool with windows that overlook a wonderful landscape view: a unique and luxurious feature which allows us to enjoy the experience of swimming while being surrounded by the beauty of the natural surroundings.
What more could one ask for? 🙂
September 7th, 2023
Last Thursday, Rin celebrated her milestone birthday in style at the Pavillon restaurant in Versoix, and what a night it was! With the stunning view of Lake Léman as the backdrop, Rin was surrounded by all her incredible friends from the boarding houses of Collège du Léman. 🌄
Here’s to many more memorable moments and birthdays ahead, Rin!🌟 #NewPortenaJourney
Last Friday some of the students left the campus to spend a weekend in Fiesch with a focus on relaxation and well-being. Fiesch’s mountain air and beautiful surroundings make it an ideal place for such an experience. The region also offers amazing landscapes: breathtaking views of towering mountain peaks, lush meadows and serene valleys.
Valentina, Camila, Rin, Ella and Yufei – First morning in Fiesch
September 3rd, 2023
On Sunday, September 3rd, the highly anticipated Sports House Competition unfolded at Concha, bringing together spirited teams from various boarding houses. Among the fierce competitors, our very own New Portena proudly squared off against Villa Du Lac, and the atmosphere was electric!
As we eagerly await the final ranking, which will include all the participating houses, we want to keep our readers informed and excited about our journey in the Sports House Competition. The final standings will reveal just how well our team performed in comparison to the others.
A heartfelt congratulations to all the girls who participated and contributed to this remarkable win. Your dedication and hard work paid off, and we couldn’t be prouder of your achievements!
Stay tuned for the final ranking and more updates on our #NewPortenaJourney. We’re excited to share our progress and celebrate our successes with you all. Until then, let’s bask in the glory of this fantastic victory!
On September 2nd, Ella turned fifteen, and it was a day to remember. She spent quality time with her family. The celebration continued the next day with all the girls from New Portena, sharing a delightful cake. In these simple yet heartwarming moments, we were reminded of the power of family and friendship to make birthdays truly special. Happy 15th, Ella! 🎂🎉
After an entire week of settling into their new school routines at the New Portena boarding house, the girls decided to make the most of their first free Saturday afternoon. Their plan? A day trip to the enchanting city of Geneva. This simple yet special day allowed them to forge new friendships, share laughs, and soak in the beauty of their new surroundings. #NewPortenaJourney continues
Diverse Beginnings, Shared Journey
Excitement fills the air as we introduce thirty girls who are part of our New Portena Boarding House family. Hailing from different corners of the world, they’re ready to embark on a year of growth, friendship, and discovery. As they settle in, friendships bloom, and personal development takes center stage. Our mentors are here to guide their academic and personal journeys, ensuring a holistic year ahead.
#NewPortenaJourney Begins
From conquering challenges to celebrating successes, this year is more than just studies – it’s a voyage of self-exploration. We’re thrilled to share in their triumphs and experiences along this exciting #NewPortenaJourney.
Presenting our two House Captains…
Bice & Manuela! 👏🏼
The girls of New Portena got their first taste of local food at the Swiss Welcome Dinner!
Collège du Léman offers a well-rounded experience for the students, providing both academic engagement during the weekdays and a variety of activities over the weekends to foster personal growth and enjoyment. This approach can help students develop skills beyond the classroom and create a balanced learning environment.
This weekend our students enjoyed different activities like horse riding, cooking, tennis and some of them also went to aquapark.
This week the girls didn’t discover only the campus but also the very tasty Favarger chocolate.
We are excited to have again with us some of the students who have been in New Portena in the last years and we are looking forward to welcoming all the other returning students.
In this photo Sayuri, He he and Bice met the new lovely students Hanna, Yufei and Xinyuan.
So happy to have all of you in our New Portena family.
Terri, Perrine, Irene and Iola
First Night at New Portena: Where new journeys start, friendships bloom, and excitement fills the air. 🌙 #NewPortenaJourney
Hello and warm greetings to all our lovely students, both familiar faces and newcomers, at New Portena Boarding House! As we embark on the journey of a new academic year here at Collège du Léman, we are brimming with excitement and anticipation. On behalf of Mrs Terri from England, Perrine from France, Irene from Italy, and Iola from Ireland, we extend our heartfelt welcome to each and every one of you.
The corridors and rooms of New Portena are buzzing with renewed energy and an air of camaraderie as we eagerly await the start of this year’s adventures. To those who are returning, welcome back! Your presence brings a sense of continuity and comfort to our boarding house family. Your stories from last year have woven the threads of our community, and we can’t wait to see the chapters that unfold this year.
And to those who are new to our cherished boarding house, a special and warm welcome awaits you. The doors of New Portena stand open, ready to embrace you in a tapestry of diverse cultures, experiences, and friendships. As you step into this wonderful abode, know that you are not just joining a school – you are becoming a part of a close-knit family that spans the globe.
The entire New Portena family are here to support and guide you through every step of this incredible journey. We understand that embarking on a new school year can be both exciting and a tad bit nerve-wracking, especially for those experiencing it for the first time. But fear not, for you are surrounded by peers who share in your anticipation, mentors who are ready to lend a helping hand, and a vibrant community that will soon become your home away from home.
So, whether you’re returning or joining us for the first time, let us make a pact to embrace every opportunity that comes our way. Let us challenge ourselves, support one another, and create a vibrant tapestry of experiences that define the essence of New Portena Boarding House.
Here’s to the 2023-24 school year – a year filled with growth, laughter, learning, and countless beautiful moments. Welcome back, dear students, to the embrace of New Portena. Let’s make this year unforgettable!
With warm regards,
The New Portena Boarding House Family
Dear all,
Today marks the end of an amazing school year where we had the change to welcome 7 new girls to our house community. Although some of them are not coming back next year, we know they will always carry with them the friendships and the memories they made during these 10 months New Portena.
Saying goodbye, even if it’s only for a few months, is not easy. But we know the girls will fully enjoy their holidays and will come back with hundreds of stories and plenty of energy.
Thank you girls for an beautiful year; we couldn’t have ask for anything better.
Happy summer, and see you soon.
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
Dear all,
Last Sunday we had one of the most anticipated events of the year: the End of Year event. For 5 hours, all of our boarders enjoyed a cloudy but warm day of spring where they participated in different activities such as a water gun fight, water slide, bubble football, and bungee trampoline.
It was a very exciting and funny afternoon were everyone ate ice cream, cotton candy and popcorns.
Later, for dinner, we enjoyed a delicious Venezuelan dinner in the Concha gardens.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
On Saturday, we celebrated our Grade 12’s graduation. Some of the girls went to support and celebrate their friends’ success.
Rei did an amazing cover of “Rolling in the deep” by Adele, and made an emotional speech as Valedictorian.
We wish them all the best of luck in their future.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna, and Fana.
Dear all,
Graduation day has arrived, and we could not be more proud of our graduating girls Cherry, Carina, Sara, and Rei.
If you cannot attend graduation, you can join them on this big day via the link below from 10 a.m.
Graduation (nordangliaeducation.com)
We want to take this opportunity to thank the girls for all the love they showed us during their time in the house and all the good memories we will always care with us.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
Last week, we celebrated Samira’s 18th birthday. We hope you had an amazing day filled with love and laughs.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna, and Fana.
Hello everyone,
In a momentous celebration, four remarkable young women bid farewell to their school years, marking a significant milestone in their lives. Today, amidst cheers and applause, they stood tall on the stage of their leavers’ assembly, embodying the culmination of their hard work, determination, and growth. These extraordinary graduates have left an indelible mark on their school, and we, their proud supporters, couldn’t be happier. Through countless hours of studying, extracurricular pursuits, and personal development, they have become confident individuals ready to take on the world. As they embark on their next chapter, we applaud their achievements and eagerly anticipate the extraordinary journeys that await them.
Congratulations, Carina, Cherry, Rei and Sara!!
Wishing you all the best!
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
Dear all,
This lovely and sunny weekend was the first real spring weekend we had this year. Sun was out, temperatures were up and the girls didn’t want to waste their last free weekend before the exams in the house (but don’t worry, we can assure you they are studying).
Luisa and Roberta spend their Saturday morning in the lake doing Wakeboard. Even if it was their first time doing this, they enjoyed it a lot, had fun, and managed to stay still (at least a few times).
Ingrid went back to physical activities and enjoyed doing some climbing (she doesn’t want to admit it, but we are sure she is training to climb the Everest).
On Monday, as it was a non-school day, some of our girls joined the trip to Luna Park, in Lausanne. For those who don’t know, Luna Park is a temporary amusement park that works all around Switzerland. They have dozens of different rides and food trucks where you can have from ice creams to hot dogs or Asian food.
Darina, Samira, Sofiia, Bice, Joslyn and Rin had lots of fun; they ate a lot, had slush and went on some rides (or all of them if you ask Samira).
But it’s Monday night and we are back in the house, preparing the coming week and studying for the final exams. Only 3 more weeks of school!!!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
Last Thursday we celebrated Ana Karina’s birthday🎂! Although we didn’t see her as she spend her day with her family, we are sure she had a lovely day full of joy and love.
Lors of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
Dear all,
This long weekend we had in Switzerland was the perfect excuse for most of our girls to go back home or to travel somewhere in Europe and enjoy the good weather.
But this didn’t stop the girls who stayed in the house from enjoying themselves to the max.
Bice, Sayuri, and Rin had a lovely time by the lake with Miss Bea on the Banana Boat activity. Despite the bad weather from the last couple of days, Saturday was sunny enough to allow us to enjoy some water activities. We have to say, the girls were not convinced at first as the water was cold. But the night before the activity the excitement was visible around the house. As you can see, they had LOTS of fun and can’t wait to do it again.
Miss Sarah, as lovely and sweet as always, baked some Banana muffins and Blueberry muffins for the girls. If you were not here this weekend don’t worry, we are sure Miss Sarah will bake again soon (right, Miss Sarah? 😉).
But this weekend is sadly over, the girls are back in the house, getting ready for the week and studying for the coming exams.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
Today we celebrated Sally’s birthday as soon as she was back from the weekend, where she celebrated her birthday with some friends and her family.
We hope you had an amazing day full of happiness and love.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Hello everyone !
Despite being in the midst of the exams the girls managed to include in some exciting leisure activities last weekend, such as go-karting and golf, aside from their usual activities like baking and body shaping!
Love,
Tarri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
Dear all,
Summer is approaching in the beautiful city of Geneva and the girls took advantage of the sun and the good weather. Some of the girls attended their beloved Saturday morning activities: tennis and cooking, where they prepared Bolognese pasta; before heading to Geneva.
But the surprise arrived Saturday afternoon when we received THE call. Mr. Usher, our Head of Boarding, was looking for 6 students to go on a speedboat ride after lunchtime. Sara, Bice, Rin, and Cherry called Coco and He from Villa du Lac and they all headed to the lake to enjoy the good weather on the boat (they loved the speed).
From all the pictures we received and the big smiles on their faces when they came back, we think they really enjoyed it. (Mr. Usher, if you are reading this, they are looking forward to the next boat ride!!).
But unfortunately the weekend is coming to an end and the girls are back in the house getting ready for the start of the weekend.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
As exam season is coming, we want to make sure our students stay active and are taking breaks from time to time. For this, Mr. Rob and Mr. Rodrigo have created the May Fitness Challenge, where every day there is a different challenge you can complete. Boarders and House Parents from all houses have been participating since the beginning of the month, challenging themselves to improve every day.
We can proudly say Defne I. won Friday’s challenge as she managed to do 23.881 steps in a single day 🚶♀️🚶♀️. Congrats Defne!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
This week we celebrated two birthdays in New Portena.
On Wednesday, Bice turned 16 years old; on Thursday, Defne A. turned 17.
We hope you had an amazing and lovely day surrounded by friends and family!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
Exam season is coming and our grade 12 girls Sara, Rei, Carina, and Cherry are getting ready for their final step in High School.
We wish you the best of luck, we are sure you are going to do amazing. We are really proud of you ♥️
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna, and Fana.
Dear all,
This weekend, some girls had the chance to go on a day trip to Lyon, a city in the south-east of France. Lyon is well-known for being at the junction of the rivers Rhône and Saône, its Roman history, and its beautiful architecture.
The girls had an amazing time traveling to Lyon by train, exploring the city, and doing some shopping.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana.
Dear all,
Last Wednesday we had the pleasure to discover a new cuisine. Albanian gastronomy is a delicious blend of Mediterranean, Balkan, and Ottoman influences, resulting in a diverse and flavourful culinary experience.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
It’s never too late for wishes!
During the Easter holidays, Sayuri (April 10th), Zoya (April 11th), Darina and Yvonne (April 16th) had their birthdays! And today, we celebrated Ingrid’s birthday!
Wishing you all the best!!
Our weekly meeting also allowed us to prepare something for the girls!
Adults had fun, too, preparing a fruit salad…
Love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
We hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!
We are very happy to have the girls back at the house.
This has been a lovely welcome back weekend, the girls are happy to be back and so are we!
“It’s the first week of April and the start of the spring holidays! The girls have left for break, which they will all be spending differently, some with friends while others return to their homes to relax and enjoy spending time with their families”.
Zoya (IB1 student)
New Portena wishes everyone a lovely spring holiday!
Enjoy your Easter break!
The boarding house will be open again from Saturday, 22.04.
See you soon!
Best wishes,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
Dear all,
The Wellbeing Pillar 4: Scams, Security, and Identity Theft has come to an end. Our girls have learned multiple things about online safety and the importance of staying safe in the digital world.
It is extremely important to make sure we are safeguarding our personal information, our identity, and our digital devices. We must be mindful of who we interact with on social media, the sites we visit, and the information we share.
For this, our girls created this TikTok to share with everyone some tips on how to stay safe.
Best,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna
New Portena is a place where our girls can develop their creativity to the maximum and decide what they want their future to be like. It is home to 28 women, but has been home to thousands more. We are proud of each one of them and the people they are becoming.
Thank you for creating a home in which to share experiences, a home full of laughter, emotions, and good times.
New Portena is home, today and always.
Best,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Hello everyone,
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
The Sandwich Club made a come back this weekend with some delicious chicken sandwiches.
We got to spend quality time with the girls while enjoying these delicious treats.
More than 10 girls attended the club this weekend!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna
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.
Dear all,
Yesterday we celebrated Skyler’s 16th birthday!
We hope you had an amazing day full of happiness and gifts 😉
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
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.
Dear all,
As every week, we discover a new cuisine during our international dinner evening. This week we celebrated Nowruz with our students to welcome the new year.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
Dear all,
This month we celebrated two birthdays, Defne I on the 3rd and Coco on the 19th!
We hope you had a lovely day full of presents 😉
Best,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
Dear all,
Last night our amazing kitchen staff cooked some traditional Portuguese dishes. We have to say the kids loved (a lot) the dessert, pastéis de Belém.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
March 8th Happy international women’s day!
We are so proud of our inspiring young women!
Love,
New Portena team
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.
Good morning!
Enjoy this mid term break! We will see you again on February 25th!
Love
New Portena team
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
Good evening everyone !
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Lots of love,
New Portena house!
Dear all,
Last night a few of our boarders had the opportunity to attend the concert “Grand Choeur et Orchestre de L’HEMU” at Le Rosey.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Hello everyone!
For the cold nights of February, nothing better than sweet potato and tomato soups from Ms Fana!
Thank you Ms Fana!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria, Ioanna and Fana
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.
Dear all,
Tonight, for our weekly international Wednesday dinner we were delighted with Japanese food.
We are sure our girls enjoyed this dinner🤩
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
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.
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.
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:
There are several options to discuss with our students:
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.
Good evening!
Tonight during our weekly international dinner we celebrated the Lunar New Year. This day will officially be celebrated on the 22nd of January and it indicates the beginning of a lunar calendar.
We hope our girls enjoyed this delicious meal!
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
Good afternoon everyone!
Today Defne came back from school with this amazing art work she did in class. We are extremely proud of our talented girls!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna.
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.
We are very pleased that we welcomed our girls back home. The house has been quiet without you..
Love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María
We would like to wish you happy holidays and a year full of health and joy!!
Enjoy your break and your beloved ones. See you in January!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna
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.
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”.
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.
Good afternoon!
Last night Darina, Defne A, Defne I, Luisa, Manuela and Amaliya joined forces and built this beautiful gingerbread house for the House Competition.
You did an amazing job; let’s see the results of the voting 🤞🏼
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María.
Good evening!
While some of our girls when to Europa Park, the rest stayed here in Collège du Léman and attended different activities during the weekend. On Saturday they made the most of the good weather and enjoyed some shopping in Geneva.
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María.
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 🤩
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María.
Good evening,
Last week we celebrated Nastia’s birthday with all the girls from the house. We hope you had an amazing day full of joy❤️
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, Ioanna and María.
Good afternoon!
Yesterday Raquel, Roberta, Joslyn, Defne I, Venüs and Taisiia participated in the High School Drama Showcase. Well done girls, thank you for showing the world your talent🤩
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Ioanna
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.
Good afternoon!
We are pleased to introduce you to our new House Tutor Ioanna. She comes from Greece and she is looking forward to meet the girls and get to know them!
We are really happy to have you in our team!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah and María
Good afternoon!
The weekend was full of activities for our girls! Between Saturday and Sunday, the girls divided their free time between tennis, meditation, sandwich club and a trip to Montreux’s Christmas market.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah and Maria.
Good afternoon,
This weekend Amaliya went to Paris to visit the Mona Lisa and The Louvre, enjoy the views from the Tour Eiffel and eat lots of Pain au chocolat.
À bientôt 👩🏼🍳
Terri, Sarah and María.
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.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah and María
Good afternoon!
Last Wednesday Luisa, Defne and Darina participated in a volleyball tournament in Leysin. They finished in second position. Congratulations 🥳🥳
Much love,
Terri, Sarah and Maria.
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
Good morning everyone,
On Wednesday we celebrated Rei’s birthday with all the girls in the house. In exchange, Rei bought the girls some chocolate to enjoy during the house assembly.
We hope you had an amazing day xx
Much love,
Terri, Sarah and Maria
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.
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.
Good afternoon everyone!
We are very excited to welcome back our girls after the October break. We hope you had a lovely week and are ready for the second half of the term!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah and María
We want to wish everyone a lovely October break!
Make the best out of the last bit of summer and look forward to the lovely autumn colors.
See you in one week! Enjoy your well-deserved holidays!
-The New Portena Team
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.
Good morning everyone!
On Saturday, Roberta Luisa and Rei went on a day trip to Fribourg, where they visited the Art and History Museum. Once the visit was over, they had a few hours to explore the city and do some shopping (and even climb a hill).
Much love Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Boring Thursday night? More like board games night!
Last Thursday we had an incredible Monopoly game going on in New Portena where Ingrid, who was slowly building a huge hotel empire, won the game for no one’s surprise.
Much love Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Good evening!
Today Darina, Luisa and Defne participated in a volleyball tournament and guess what… Their team won both games they played! We are really happy and extremely proud! Congrats!
Much love Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
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
Hello everyone,
Yesterday we celebrated Venüs’ birthday with all the girls in the house. We hope you had an amazing day xx
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
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
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
Today we were informed that Rei has been accepted into CDL‘s National Honor Society (NHS), we are extremely proud of her!
-Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
This Wednesday and Thursday, the New Portena team organised another cooking activity in the theme of the first pillar « heathy bodies, healthy minds »
We made egg sandwiches, carrot soup, granola bars and smoothies.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
Hello everyone,
Last night we enjoyed a lovely pancake night made by Sarah. The girls were really excited as they got to spend time together eating and chatting.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, Maria and Marie
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.
This weekend we celebrated Cherry’s birthday.
After a lovely lunch in Geneva, the girls came back to surprise Cherry with a cake and all the best wishes!
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie.
Hello everyone!
Tonight Luisa and Manuela got the chance to try a traditional Portuguese dish called “Bifana”, made with pork, onion, tomato sauce and bread.
Next week, we will be cooking Italian food!
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
A nice relaxing evening playing a variety of card games in our cozy living room.
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie.
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
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/
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
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.
Today Skyler, Sally, Joclyn, Roberta, Ingrid and Amaliya visited Lausanne as it was a bank holiday in the canton of Geneva. It was a lovely sunny day and the girls enjoyed some shopping and the amazing food Lausanne had to offer!
Happy birthday Sara and Rin! <3
Much love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
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!
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
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
Thursday night is games night!
During Scrabble, one of our competitive girls Ingrid ended up in a rather challenging position…
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
All of our girls arrived!
Last night we had our first house meeting during which we did a small quiz to break the ice and get the know each other.
Today, they had their first day of school and some of the girls will join their first activity tonight!
Lots of love,
Terri, Sarah, María and Marie
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
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 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.
The girls are gone and the house is closed, Thank you all for being part of the New Portena family this year it has been such a wonderful journey!!
best of luck next year and have a great summer holiday!!!
lots of love,
The New Portena team
xxxxx
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 to this legend, we hope you have a lovely day and year
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
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
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!!!
I hope you had a lovely day sweetheart!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
We threw a water fight and ice cream party. The girls had a fantastic time and cooled off on the hot summer day. Here are a few captured moments from the day. Enjoy!
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
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
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
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
A lovely sunny Sunday nature walk with some lovely students by the lake.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
x
Some of the girls went on a lovely boat excursion this weekend to Yvoire and had a lovely time.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Happy Birthday to our lovely Defne we hope you have the most wonderful day!! You are such a gem to have in the house and we really appreciate your presence.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
This weekend our girls participated in a range of activities like tennis, badminton, nature walks, art and baking.
A few of our girls also volunteered to take score at the volleyball tournament held in CDL this weekend.
Lots of Love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
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
Boarding is officially open!
We’re excited to welcome back our girls and hear all about their holiday adventures.
Lots of Love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
All the girls are off on their holiday adventures and we hope that you can all enjoy spending time with your family.
See you all in two weeks after the spring break !
lots of love,
The New Portena Team xxx
Happy Birthday to our lovely Sofiia, dance icon and future fashion designer.
19 is a big age and we are so proud you go into your first choice university to do an art foundation!!
lots of love,
The New Portena team
xxx
Our girls participated in a variety of activities this weekend that they really enjoyed.
There was a relaxing visit to the spa.
A few girls went to the chocolate festival and sampled some Swiss chocolate.
Other girls went on a beautiful nature walk.
Lots of love,
The New Portena team
xxx
Happy Birthday to out resident superstar, we hope you’ve had the most amazing day !!!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
The girls had a lovely weekend where they went to Chamonix ice cave, Nature walk, tennis and cooking.
They were also able to enjoy the warming weather to study outside for the warming spring season.
lots of love,
the New Portena team xx
Here is a video that has been made by the Student Advocate Group.
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
Our lovely Sofiia had her AP art show this evening with some pieces about childhood and imaginary friends 🥰
We are so proud of you Sofiia and I had a great time at the art show.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team xxx
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.
Our lovely Sabine and Sara led our meetings using the above video and poster
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
Mary competed in a badminton completion this weekend and came in 3rd place.
We are incredibly proud.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
We had a fantastic game night this week. A couple of the girls brought out different types of cards and taught each other how to play different card games from different countries.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
Happy Birthday Defne!
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxxxx
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
Our first international dinner after coming back was a delicious Senegalese meal, thank you so much it was wonderful!
Lots of love,
the New Portena team
xxx
After a lovely week of rest and skiing for some we’re happy to welcome the girls back to the house!
We are so excited to have everyone start coming back and can’t wait for the house to be full again.
lots of love,
The New Portena team x
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
As part of our friendship wellbeing pillar, a few girls painted some rocks to symbolise what friendship means to them.
“In the cookie of life friends are chocolate chip”
Have an amazing break and gets lots of rest.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
The beginning of crochet art club at new portena joined by some of the kids from champs des bois.
we had lots of fun painting and relaxing as well as finding out Carina is a natural at crochet !
lots of love,
The New Portena team xx
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
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:
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:
Tips for Supporting Friends
NOURISH YOUR FRIENDSHIPS !
The boarders all went to Crans Montana this weekend for a lovely little getaway.
The girls had fun skiing and snowboarding, they enjoyed the town of Crans Montana and the city of Sion as well as an escape room!
we can’t wait to go back in March!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
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.
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
Rei, Sara and Sabine all received academic awards for having achieved high honours for the last semester.
We are all very proud of them.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team xxxx
After a long week of school we are all incredibly excited to welcome everyone back for a new year and semester.
Everybody enjoyed their fun weekend activities from skiing to wood crafting.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
x
We are very happy to welcome a new addition to New Portena house. This is Maria-Clara and we all look forward to getting to know her.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
xxx
We can’t wait to welcome our girls back and hear all about their holidays.
lots of love,
The New Portena Team xxx
Happy Birthday to our resident photographer! We hope you have the most amazing day!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
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
Bice, Sara and Sabine enjoyed a well deserved day of relaxation at Le bains blu spa.
We got all dressed up and attended the annual boarding Christmas dinner.
The venue was beautifully decorated and the dinner was great.
We had a great time and can’t wait to do it all again next year xxxx
At new portena we love playing UNO after school to unwind. It’s our favourite game to play together and reminds us of when we used to use UNO to get to know each other at the beginning of the year.
lots of love,
The New Portena team x
We had our annual Christmas dinner and exchanged some gifts.
We all ate and were merry xoxo.
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
Ms. Rym came to the house this weekend to give us a healing sound bath and a chance to relax.
Thank you! We and the girls are all very grateful!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team
x
Bice gave an astounding performance at our monthly Boarding Assembly.
We are so incredibly proud of her.
Lots of Love xxx
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
Our lovely volunteers enjoying some hot Chocolate after decorating the Christmas Trees!
Lots of Love,
The New Portena Team x
It snowed this weekend and the girls were very excited.
Coco and Cora visited Gruyeres and the Cailler Chocolate Factory
Fun fact Coco is a descendant of Daniel Peter who is the inventor of milk chocolate at Nestlé.
Rei and Yvonne enjoyed a nature hike.
Happy thanksgiving from our New Portena family to you all.
Tonight we were all thankful for the chefs who prepared an amazing thanksgiving dinner.
Congratulations to our football champion Joelle !
Her team received 3rd place after a tournament in Lausanne today, she is really pleased and the trophy is on display in New Portena!
lots of love,
The new Portena Team
x
Lots of our girls were in Paris this weekend and having so much fun and we had some incredible painting with lights and nature walks with the others! Another fun weekend at New Portena!
lots of love,
the New Portena Team
This weekend the boarders went of their way to give back. CDL Boarding have compiled 58 gift boxes to be distributed to children in need, in eastern Europe.
This weekend we continued our weekly Community Service by tidying up our campus and the local area.
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 Rei!!! Hope you had the most amazing day !
lots of love,
the New Portena team x
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.
better together!
lots of Love,
The New Portena Team x
some of the lovely girls in the house hanging out with their friends!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
Our resident Ana Sofia Welcoming the lovely Ana, it’s so nice to have you with us!!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
A Truly spooky and wonderful weekend at New Portena !!! We hope you had a lovely Halloween 🎃
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
We had our first house meeting back from mid term and modelled our house hoodies.
We are so excited and happy to say the girls have had their first day back at school after arriving over the weekend.
Welcome back girls we missed you!
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
Happy Birthday, we hope you had an amazing day !!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
The Girls were under some stress because of the amount of summarises they had in the last 2 – 3 weeks but it is now time to leave that all behind. We hope they have a wonderful and restful break because they honestly deserve it.
Happy Birthday To our gem Joelle!
We hope you had an amazing day!
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
This was a great weekend for activities in the New Portena house. We had girls doing Zumba, golfing, canoeing, woodwork and STEAM projects. Enjoy some of the photos!
Our wonderful Mary has a certificate of membership for the national honor society of secondary school!! We are so proud of her !!
Lots of love,
the New Portena Team x
We hope you had an amazing day and that you have a really positive year ❤️
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
Happy Birthday Cherry we hope you have an amazing day!!!
lots of love,
the New Portena Team
xx
Today is the Mid Autumn festival in China, our amazing Mary showed a video about the festival to all our girls and then we all shared some delicious mooncakes 🥮🥮🥮
thank you Mary for sharing the story of the festival and a small piece of your culture!
lots of love,
The New Portena team x
Yesterday a lot of our new Portena girls volunteered to help the lake Geneva Cleanup project. They were there to help with setting up the equipment and tents for divers and volunteers that would be the ones actually cleaning the lake. Here are some pics from the day.
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!
Some of our girls teachers came to visit us today and it was so nice to have a chat and for them to see the house. It was great for us to meet them and share some cakes !
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
This weekend our lovely ladies went to the Leysin Mountain weekend with all the boarders. It was a full weekend of fun where they did a range of activities from acrobranching and castle visits to mountain biking and Hiking.
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
Bice, Sayuri, Sara, and Sabine did some shopping in Lausanne and then visited the Olympic Museum.
It was a big week for cooking and baking in the New Portena house.
Sara, Sayuri and Sabine made some delicious pasta arrabiata.
Sakura baked some chocolate chip cookies.
Both Defnes, Anya and Cora made some apple crumble as well.
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!!! we hope you had a lovely day and enjoyed your sushi and cake ❤️❤️❤️
lots of love,
The New Portena Team x
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.
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!
We would like to formally welcome Ana Sofia aka Molina to our boarding house. She taught us a new card game and we taught her our very strict uno rules. She already fits in so well and we are really happy she has joined us.
Anya, Coco and Cora made some deliciously delightful mint chocolate chip cookies for the girls once they got back from Geneva on Saturday and we can personally attest that they were incredible
Lots of love,
The New Portena Team
