Karina, Annie, Amy and Elsa  have been having a wonderful day of celebrations and have sent us some lovely home photos of their special meals. The Old Portena girls thoroughly enjoyed the  Chinese dinner in the dining hall last night too!

Our students enjoyed a day of skiing unlike any other! In fact, the yellowish light and brown skies that you see are not a photographic error but rather a rare meteorological phenomenon that occurs around three times a year in Switzerland due to dust sand travelling from the north-west African Sahara Desert and upward towards Europe. Until next Saturday!

A lovely healthy meal, served with chopsticks!

Part of building positive friendships in our house has come from the fun games nights! After much laughter, we have made many great memories together!

Getting ready to start Speed Smarties and Trying to beat the two dice chocolate game using gloves and cutlery!

Miss Jody, the Boarding Counsellor, gave a workshop on Peer Pressure to all the Middle school students last Friday. This was followed up by some positive and negative peer pressure acting! After these scenarios, we discussed how each of us felt about being in that particular situation and how we could help others in need or promote positive friendships.

After the all day skiing and tobogganing the girls deserve a dinner in the house.

Our Chain of Respect reminds us of all the qualities that are needed to make friendships stronger by respecting each other despite our differences, in our similarities and by standing up, together, against bullying. With all of these qualities that the girls identified this evening, we see that we can build feelings of trust, safety and wellbeing. We enjoyed Chisa’s birthday cake as we learned some valuable lessons.

Paria has opened her nail salon.

This evening the girls took time to think about this month’s ‘Take-away’s’ and did a Tik Tok challenge about Peer Pressure for their Wellbeing session.

Today we had the Options meeting for Grade 8 for High School. Now the girls can choose their subjects. We can’t wait!!!

Tonight after dinner the Primary Concha boys and Chisa went to the Wellbeing space with Mrs. Jody. Thank you Mrs. Jody!!!

These are the activities that the girls have done during the first weekend since returning from the holidays. They did Tennis, Cooking, Photography, Beauty  and Chess club.

Taisiia opened her salón in Old Portena.!!!

We wish you a Happy Birthday and have a lovely day. We will celebrate in January!!

Old Portena team wish you Happy Holidays!!!!!

We are closing the Boarding House from 20th of December until 9th January. See you next year!

To our lovely Housekeeping staff, Susana and Marta, we thank you for keeping our house beautiful and clean! 

For this Pillar 2 the girls from Old Portena decided to do different indivual projects. These are a few examples.

For this second Pillar, Diversity -Bulliyng, the girls from Old Portena decided to cook some dishes from their Countries ( Iran, Japan, Mexico, China, Russia, Ukranian and Gabon. All of the plates were delicous!!!. Thanks for sharing with us (of course we serve in different plates)

We had lots of fun activities for our last weekend before the winter holidays! Such as, tennis, biking, chess, cards and drawing!

Roberta got to celebrate her 14th birthday with friends, cake, and balloons!

We wish you a very special day 🙂

Tonight we exchanged the Secret Santa gifts in the house. Everybody was so happy!  😃😃😃😃

Tonight we had the Monthly Assembly. We wear masks even though we live in the same house.

This weekend the girls were so busy from Tennis, Coop, Biking, Beauty club, Chess club, Cooking and Horse riding.

Karina and Chisa are teaching each other Japanese and Chinese. So much fun!

Paria, Rin, Taisiia, Vlad, Sasha and Oscar all volunteered at Coop Versoix supermarket today to collect food and hygiene products from customers. These products are stored by the Geneva food bank Partage and distributed throughout the year to charitable groups all over the city, which collectively provide around 900 free meals every single day to those in need, thanks in part to the generosity of the public. Great Job guys!

This  weekend the girls from Old Portena enjoyed  Tennis,Photography, Biking and the Beauty club.

Last night we had dinner in the house. The girls helped me cook Moussaka. They really enjoyed the opportunity to learn different dishes and how to make a healthy dinner. GOOD JOB!! 👏👏👏

rptnb

This weekend the girls were super sporty! They played Tennis, went Biking and took part in a Photography workshop. Healthy bodies and minds- a good balance!

Every Thursday Sakura from New Portena comes to help Chisa to do her homeworks. We help each other😀😀

Marshall Rosenberg, an American psychologist, author and trainer, who came up with the jackal and the giraffe, explained them this way: “At an early age, most of us were taught to speak and think jackal. This language is from the head. It is a way of mentally classifying people into varying shades of good and bad, right and wrong. Ultimately it provokes defensiveness, resistance, and counterattack. Giraffe bids us to speak from the heart, to talk about what is going on for us, without judging others.”

One of Marshall Rosenberg’s key points is that it’s not just about communication. It is about two different worldviews: One that sees the world in terms of conflict, constant struggle, and competition; and the other, while recognising that conflict exists, sees the world in terms of harmony, empathy and cooperation.

So, which one would you choose? The Jackal or the Giraffe?

This past week we celebrated ‘Spirit’ from our school motto and each section of the school did a project to demonstrate their Community Spirit. Within the Boarding Community, we aligned this with our Wellbeing Pillar 2- Promoting Diversity and Protecting Against Bullying. We believe we have a strong bond as a Boarding Community and that together with the diversity among us we bridge cultures to come together and show our community spirit. To demonstrate this we created a video.

This weekend our girls enjoyed Tennis, Photography, and Biking on Saturday.

On Sunday they did a Beauty and Fashion club along with Tennis!

Our girls did Tennis, Photography ,Horse Riding and Biking. They had a fun time.

Paria helps Chisa reading a book. We are a family.

Chisa, Yustyna Victoria and Mrs. Joanne have fun playing basketball.

Today after lunch we went to Villa du Lac to do a workshop in Halloween. We did scary masks and make up. Thank you Villa de Lac for hosting it. This is the result.

Today Paria,Raquel,Chisa,Liam and Yuto went for a ride with Mr George in the forest.

Today we visited the Olympic Museum and Lausanne.

Today Paría, Raquel, Chisa and Hectorine went to Bern.

After baking a Banana Bread we decided to go to Olympus and then play Uno.

Today Rin, Karina, Roberta, Raquel and Arina enjoyed the activity of Climbing. They had so much fun.

Chisa inagurated the new corner that we have for relaxing and chill for them.

Today our girls did Tennis and Biking

Thanks to Champs de Bois for hosting the dinner.

Afther the dinner we came back to Old Portena to celebrate with the girls in the Boarding House.

Today some girls from Old Portena visited Montreux and the Château de Chillon. Of course during the visited of the Château all the students were the masks.

Today we celebrate Taisiia’s Birthday . We have so happy to celebrate witth you one more year!! Enjoy your day!

This weekend our girls did , Hip Hop,  Horse riding and Tennis.

Tonight as a part of the community project of the Wellbeing pillar 1our girls decide to cook. They decide the menu wheat pasta with tomatoe sauce, garlic bread and salad.They also set up the table. We served their plates individually. Good work!!

Last night in during our house meeting we talk with the girls about the plans for the weekend, the timetables, school while they having a hot chocolate.

For the Wellbeing program Pillar 1 (Healthy Mind and Bodies) our girls from Middle and Primary school made a diary about how their nutrition affects their sleep patterns and backed it up with the science that they researched.

Today it is Paria’s birthday and all the girl from the house decided that it was a lovely day and they had the cake outside in the terrace.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARIA

Our girls enjoy a lovely and sunny Saturday.Anna and Taisiia did donut Boat. Paria,Roberta,Rin and Chisa did Kayak and Hectorine did Tennis. Before we went to Geneva.

YUSTYNA and Chisa spent the evening with Mrs. Bea cooking a apple pie.

This Saturday the girls went to shopping and then on to BlackTap for some milkshakes and burgers!

Last Wednesday Mrs. Jody, our school Councillor, organised a workshop for our Wellbeing series on ‘Emotional regulation.’ The Middle and High school students that attended really enjoyed learning more about this topic.

Last Thursday was the Jeune Genevois and we celebrated it today with cake and ice cream! We also completed another Wellbeing session on Diet, Nutrition and Emotions. Everyone was also excited to hear about the nomination of our new House Captain- Paría!! Congratulations!!!

Taisiia spent her social hour in Villa de Lac doing her nails for Olga.

The first pillar of our Well Being programme is now being launched.

We consider Well Being a core element of what we do in Boarding. Well Being is the basis to everything and even above grades and academic or sport achievements we care and strive to ensure all the students are feeling well, in their bodies, in their minds, with their choices and with their friends.

The Well Being programme is scheduled to run along the school year and for each term, a different pillar will deserve our focus and work.

In this first half-term of the year, we will direct our energies, particularly to Nurturing Healthy Minds and Bodies with a particular emphasis towards Emotional Regulation.

How will we work? During the weeks to come, we will be discussing and directing students to a personal reflection on these topics and we will encourage them to develop some individual projects. These projects will aim at leading the student to reflect on his or her habits, see how they benefit their Well Being and extend this perception with the help of some creative activities.

Examples: Keeping a sleeping diary or take the time for a nature walk and see observe the nature.

Likewise we will develop some community projects, normally based by House but with the possibility of linking them to other Houses.

What we aim at, is leading the students to reflect and integrate these activities as part of their lives and encourage them to reflect so they can perceive the Take-Away points of such actions.

There are no right or wrong projects, as long as they lead the student to internally assimilate the benefits he can get from this or that activity. These projects can be based on habits the students already have and sometimes they didn’t even realize how beneficial they were.

Throughout this school year, students will be encouraged to complete an individual project and a community project for each pillar of well-being. These projects are focused on activities that are meant to support growth and self-awareness. We believe that this will allow our students of all age groups to take ownership of their wellbeing.

Parents, students, educators, walk with us this path. We count on your support to make the best for our students wellbeing.

We hope you will have a lovely day. We love Rin ! !!

Yvoire is a Medieval Floral Town on Lake Geneva, France. The town is well known for its medieval buildings and summer floral displays, as well as the Jardin des Cinq Sens a garden in the centre of the town.

This traffic-free village has managed to preserve much of its medieval look with town walls and gates, a historic castle, and narrow cobblestone streets. Yvoire is a beautiful town year-round but particularly attractive during spring and summer when it is filled with flowers blooming from seemingly every balcony and windowsill. Yvoire is hugely popular with day-trippers and thus has a large number of restaurants, cafés, boutiques, art galleries, studios, and souvenir shops.

 O.P. girls have enjoyed this Sunday there!!

Our girls doing the study hall. 👩‍🎓👩‍🎓

Today our girls went to school. Have a lovely day.

Today we did the cdl tour for the new students to show them where all the facilities and the middle school classes. We finish all this long walk in the Versoix Lake with an ice cream. Well done.

We are  looking forward to seeing you!! We are open and waiting for you.

Karina Graduated today! Next year she will be in Grade 6 – Middle school! We are so proud of you! Good job Karina!!

Well done to Arina for her amazing creations this week!

Happy Birthday Renata. Have a great day!!

Click on the links below to read more about the COVID situation in Switzerland:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/switzerland-safest-country-covid-19-coronavirus-ranking/45820836

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/06/05/the-100-safest-countries-in-the-world-for-covid-19/#77c5400368c5

#collegeduleman #internationalschool #staysafe #backtoschool #socialdistancingwithkids

Paria is our new in-house fashion designer! Excellent job!

Studying in order to succeed 📜🏅

Studying in order to succeed 📜🏅

We’re looking forward to hearing from you! 😀

#collegeduleman #internationalschool #virtualdiscoverymeeting #VDM #madeforyou #madeforcreativity

Friday 15th May was International Family Day so the challenge this week was to ’make cupcakes with your family’, in the Old Portena Challenge. We would love to have been with Paria’s family for their special cupcake party! Mmm mmmm! They look delicious!

All you have to do today is spell your name!

It has been tremendous to see students and staff back on campus over the last couple of days. The level of enthusiasm and focus shown during this adjustment period has been truly inspiring!

#collegeduleman #internationalschool #staysafe #backtoschool #socialdistancingwithkids

Thank you to Akmaral for this impressive food art!!

This week the girls were challenged to making a delicious milkshake to drink during their homework time. Take a look at the entries from Olga and Paria! We hope they do online deliveries to Switzerland!

Tune in for next week’s challenge!

Sometimes pictures need no captions..

Second day of virtual schooling finished! We thank our parents, students and staff for all their hard work and efforts during these trying times.

#collegeduleman #internationalschool #CDLvirtualschool

From Tuesday 17th March, our students and teachers will move to Remote Learning Online. Communication has been shared with all our parents and we welcome any questions. As part of the Nord Anglia Education family of schools our students will have access to online resources around the world. We want to take this time to wish our families all the best and we hope everyone stays safe during this challenging period.

À partir du mardi 17 mars 2020, nos élèves et nos enseignants passeront à l’apprentissage à distance en ligne. La communication a été partagée avec tous nos parents et nous sommes à votre disposition pour toutes questions. En tant que membre de la famille des écoles Nord Anglia, nos élèves auront accès à des ressources en ligne du monde entier. Nous voulons profiter de cette période pour souhaiter à nos familles tout le meilleur et nous espérons que chacun restera en sécurité pendant cette période compliquée.

#collegeduleman #internationalschool #nordangliaeducation

Akmaral is going every Monday to Champ de Bois to help them to do their homework’s. Good job Akmaral .

Tonight we had our beloved Dr.Malberg in CDL answering our question about COVID-19.

When in situations like this, it’s essential to educate ourselves rather than panic for no reason. Keep good personal hygiene, stay calm, we will get through this !!

The process of helping our girls take responsibility and make decisions is a key task for us. We have an essential role in training and moulding our girls to be ready for more responsibility. This means we need to plan when and in what areas to let our girls start making decisions. As tutors, it is our duty to shift responsibility from ourselves to our girls. Shifting responsibility for our girls is a gradual process. It starts with letting them make their own choices in some areas or asking them to take on responsibility for certain things, for example appointing a House Captain and a House Representative where these girls work closely with us to support their peers.

During our Well-being session this week, we focused on Responsibility. The girls were given a piece of paper, and they were asked to write down what are some of the responsible choices they daily make and what are some of the non-responsible choices they should not make. Take a look at their comments.

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¨We hope you have a lovely day! We love you !!

This week in our Wellbeing Tutorial, we focused on our Students’ Voices. A Student’s Voice refers to the values, opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds of an individual student and groups of students in a school, and to approaches and techniques that are based on students’ decisions, interests, passions, and ambitions.

Paria, our House Representative, acts as an ambassador for the rest of the Old Portena students. She meets twice a month with the Boarding Management to discuss issues that affect the Boarding House and to seek their views on important topics.

Junke, our House Captain, encourages her housemates and gets them to actively participate. She also reports to her tutors on any crucial matters and on their behaviours. A huge thank you to Paria and Junke for their active participation and assistance in our School Community. We cherish your support!

More pictures are coming soon!

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

Kelys and Hectorine offering Roses to all our boarders and staff with a big big smile…!!!!

Following our Pastoral Program, this week in our Well-being session we focused on Confidence and Motivation.

Everyone has self-doubts and insecurities from time to time. It’s common to worry about how we look, our performance at college or at work, or how others perceive us. Sometimes we may question whether we said or did the right thing in a specific situation — or worry about something as minor as whether we picked the right pair of shoes to complement a little black dress.
Like most people, whenever I’m unsure about myself, I tend to ask a friend or close family member for a second opinion. A healthy dose of skepticism and uncertainty about ourselves is a good thing because it helps us make better decisions. No one knows everything or has perfect instincts, and having good friends on whom we can rely for advice helps improve our sense of self-confidence and make better decisions.

Here are five ways friends can help build your self-confidence:

1) Friends cheer our successes . Whether it’s acing an exam or getting a promotion at work, our friends take pride in our achievements. “Way to go! I knew you would do it! ”

2) Friends model new ways of being.  Every friend has some strengths or skills that help us strive to do things a better way. We see a friend give a talk before a large group and win the favor of the audience and wonder whether we might be able to do the very same thing.

3) Friends support our efforts to grow. Sometimes the biggest deterrent to accomplishing our goals is thinking that we can’t. Friends sometimes see strengths in us that we aren’t able to recognize ourselves and give us the encouragement to try something new or do something better.

4) Friends wipe away our tears .Everyone has failures or bumps along the road, whether it’s being dumped by a guy or losing a soccer tournament in a shootout. Friends help us deal with our mistakes – even big ones-helping us keep things in perspective. “He wasn’t good enough for you anyway.” “You were lucky to make it to the finals!” After a few laughs with a good friend, you may even forget what it was that was getting you down.

5) Friends teach us the value of teamwork. Alone we may be too timid or insecure to introduce our selves to new people or places, or too frightened to try something new or differently. But when we are working or playing alongside a friend, we suddenly see our energy and creativity blossom, enabling us to soar higher than we ever imagined.

The best part of close friendships is that the feelings are reciprocal: They share our dreams and we are able to do the very same thing for our friends as they do for us!

Today our usual weekly house assembly has a special guest, Ms. Jody, our boarding counselor. The girls are very happy to get to know Ms. Jody, and very grateful for her to visit us. All boarding community is very happy to have you with us !!!