We are very pleased to share with you the Leman community project of the first Wellbeing Pillar.

The first Wellbeing Pillar of the year is Healthy Body and Healthy minds. As part of this, the students must do an individual project and also a community one.

We have committed as a House to walking an extra 1,000,000 steps. This works out at an additional 16km each. These steps must be over and above the student’s normal daily steps.

We have also added an external community element to this by linking with a local Cancer Charity ESCA who did a similar event in which they challenged supporters to walk 55,000,000 steps the equivalent to going around the world. If you would like to donate please visit our Page on their site

This Sunday we had our annual Sports Day. This is part of our House Competition activities. We were paired against the Olympus Boarding House who put in a sterling effort. We were competing in basketball, badminton, soccer and tug of war. Unfortunately, our boys only came to victory in the Tug of War.

This Saturday morning we made good use of the lake. We are privileged that the lake is only a short walk from the school and that we can avail of the many water-based activities on offer. This weekend we had the water Donut and kayaking available. The students also enjoy walking down there over the weekend to just enjoy the beauty of the beach or paddle their toes in the water.

Tennis continues to prove to be one of our most popular Weekend Activities. Tennis Coach Martin always has full courts for each of his Saturday morning sessions. The activity is open to all abilities with Martin coaching those in need and pairing up those who want a good game against each other. The Leman boys represent well on the tennis court each weekend.

You will have heard us talking a lot about R.I.S.E and our students learning to embody the values of it. Here is a lovely video to discuss our thoughts on this.

This week we had a wonderful offering from Hawaii. It was a very refreshing Hawaiian Salad with choice of meat or fish to accompany. This is traditionally called a Poke Bowl and it really awakens the taste buds with a range of different flavours.

Don’t forget you can follow the meals offered in the Boarding Dining Hall with our Dining at CDL Blog

The wellbeing programme is underway – over the coming weeks our students will be work towards an individual and a community project that will represent Pillar 1 = Healthy body and minds.

Kirill enjoys tennis on a sunny Saturday morning.

On Sunday we invited all the new students on a tour of Geneva. This allowed them to get to know the different areas of Geneva for when they have the freedom to explore the city with their friends in the coming weeks. They saw all the main highlights and tourist attractions. They left the school and walked into the local town of Versoix where they boarded the boat to Geneva. Unfortunately, the weather was not accommodating but it didn’t stop the students from getting to know each other and Geneva better.

On Saturday Karim took part in the photography activity. His inspiration was littering and upon finding a plastic carton used it in various scenarios to see which would look best. As part of our Community Service we often do Litter picking. We can therefore use Karim’s photos to show some of the effects of littering.

What a fast first week we had. We had our new students arriving on Sunday and by Tuesday night had the majority of our returning students. School started on Wednesday, followed by our Welcome Assembly, Welcome Dinner and House Meeting.

It was great to see the returning students coming back to their second home after soo many months away. The boys were happy to meet with their friends and reclaim their rooms.

It was also great to see the older students welcoming and helping the younger students to the House. We have a number who moved up to the Senior house as they enter Grade 9.

We also have 3 new students who join us for the first time and now become part of our Leman family and CDL community.

Mr George –  Mr Morgan –  Mr Gordon

The Léman One Boarding House is open and ready to welcome our students for the upcoming school year.

We have now reached the end of the school year. While it has been an unexpected start to 2020, I think we have a lot to celebrate and be proud of from when we came together in August 2019.

The school year started strong with the boys bonding well and us seeing a great comradery form. It was great to see returning students help to guide and assist new students and for older students to help out the younger grades. The inaugural Mountain Weekend which we had at the beginning of the year allowed the students to bond over activities and get to know each other. This then allowed us to put forward strong results in the House Competitions in which we held 1st place.

The beginning of the school year seen us enjoy our activities program after school but also at the weekends. This also included our weekend trips and events. We also started our Wellbeing Programme in which we tried to educate our students on being responsible world citizens and also put focus on looking after themselves.

When COVID-19 disrupted our school year this demonstrated the resilience and adaptability of the school and the students. We engaged in a new way of learning and interacting with each other which will only make us stronger.

Mikhail enjoys an outdoor training session at the local sports centre with friends.

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Take one – Rapha makes  the most of the great weather to practice his rugby drop goals

What to do with all the extra time at home?

Help to keep the garden neat and tidy, get fresh air and much-needed relaxation.

This weeks wellbeing tutorial continued us on the fourth pillar of Making Safe & Responsible Choices

This week we focused on Responsibilities

We discussed with the students that each of us have different responsibilities within our roles here at school. From the teachers, to management, to House Parents, to the students. We focused on what they believed where their responsibilities as students in CDL. We did a brainstorming session on the board to view their thoughts. These included; studying, being good, no fighting or bullying, being nice to everyone, respecting teachers, working hard in class, making parents proud, signing out, using study hall well, having fun, meeting new people and many many more.

We then tried to group these together to find the main themes. These were narrowed down to; Doing well academically, Respecting the rules and having Healthy relationships.

We then focused on Doing Well Academically and looked at an online test hosted by EducationPlanner.org. The test was only 20 questions but helped the students identify what kind of learning style they had. The students found this test quite accurate. However, most importantly the test also provided helpful hints and tips for the students based specifically on their learning style. Such as Tactile Learners, having something to fidget with in class. Visual learners, making sure they use a highlighter on their notes etc.

It was then proposed to the students, that this is an example of their responsibility. Aimed with advice and knowledge on how to improve, would they then take on the responsibility to apply it.

This weeks wellbeing tutorial started us on the fourth pillar of Making Safe & Responsible Choices

This week we focused on the Introduction to the Pillar and Facts about Drugs

For this week we first explored what the fourth pillar would include. This is a vast topic which incorporates many aspects of life. We will be covering drugs, alcohol, vaping, student voice, sexual consent, time management and risk awareness. This is such an important topic for our students at this age. They are surrounded by many influences both online and in real life. There is much temptation and it’s important they develop their own strong healthy morals and ideals.

Drugs

This will be a two-part topic, with this first session being an overall introduction to gather initial thoughts and opinions as to what the student’s perception is towards drugs. We started by gaining the student’s knowledge of what they considered recreational drugs to be. We explored the names these drugs were known by and also the nicknames. We then divided the group into pairs and each pair took a drug to do some research on. They fed back to the group facts about the drugs to break any myths or preconceptions they may have had.

On Tuesday night, as usual, we had our celebration of international food. This weeks theme was British. This was of great interest to Mr Morgan and Mr Gordon to see what would be produced to celebrate their culture. There was no disappointment with a traditional Fish & Chips, along with Roast Beef and Baked Potatoes.