Outside the entrance to reception at CDL stands a tall interesting statue. We all walk past it every day and at some point, as with the purpose of art, it makes us ponder what its meaning is. I was curious to get the opinion of student to see what they felt the statue represented.

Daniil has a room at the end of the hall with a window that looks out over the reception and indeed on this statue. Every day when he awakens and looks out he sees it and I was curious to know his thoughts.

“…..a very beautiful statue in front of reception. We can see a figure of people, who stand one higher than another one and make a high pyramid. I think, the artist wants to say to us about how we must connect in our society. We are stronger, if we work in the group together, because we can help each other in difficult situations, share, care about somebody, be open with another person.  If we will do this, we can make our own life much happier and more successful……” Daniil Grade 9.

“One of the unquestionable natural drives in life is to reproduce. A truly mystifying event in our universe from the smallest cells, to plants, to human beings. An opportunity to add to the living world and be proud to be able to make a contribution to the legacy of human evolution. When blessed with a child it is innate to protect and love them. To have the responsibility of giving them every support available to ensure a healthy, happy and successful upbringing.

Think of your child as an adult.

Firstly you want them to be healthy and of course happy in life. A good job, financially stable, perhaps with a family of their own. Not everyone works out this way but it’s a natural desire to wish the best for your child.

Do you think you will remember what is was that you did that taught your child to be independent. Was it a moment or an event? Or was it a long term awareness to make sure they did not overly rely on others or you in situations. How about maturity, self-discipline, respect, initiative and social integration. Just an example of some important functions in adulthood and all intrinsic facets that we have to different degrees. What if there was a way to make sure our child learnt all these without option. There is..

Remember you are also responsible for their education. You send them to school to equip them with the resources and tools. However homework is in fact just that, work to do at home. With you now as the responsible educator to help them achieve this. With life fast paced and full, some of us are better equipped than others to deal with this. What if there was a way to make sure our child had the best education at school but also at home. Some of you already know the answer, if not…..”

CLICK HERE FOR THE ANSWER

It’s the end of another term and the students are heading back home to spend some time with family and friends. It is also the end of the marking period and they will be eagerly awaiting their results on return.

These past few weeks have been action packed and there were many opportunities available. We had another karting activity in which Daniil R. came in a very commendable 4^th place (even though he was completing against younger grades!). In the middle of the month we also had the high school Valentines dance- which as you can imagine the boys were really looking forward to…..

We also had our ZOA concert (click for more info) which some of the students supported and went to enjoy.

A highlight of the month was our Celebrity Dress up night. This was an inter-house competition and our celebrity challenge was Chuck Norris. We did our best dressing Egor up and he performed in front of the whole community. It was a great night which we unofficially won! (our opinion).

Nikita is our year book representative so he is making the content to represent our house in the year book . We have had Nikita running around chasing us trying to take photos of us. It’s no surprise that a lot of students are camera shy so it’s been a task for him.

Another fun night was the Barcelona VS Manchester City. It was a loud match with lots of excitement as a lot of students joined in our living room to watch.

We hope everyone enjoys their vacation!

The year has continued as fast-paced as when it started. We have had more trips and excursions around Switzerland which included a trip to Bern, to the spa at Lavey les Bains, to the Patek Museum, ice skating, musee des suisses and many more.

However the most popular trip has been our ski weekends. Many of the students have taken the opportunity to go up to Crans Montana and enjoy the alpine ski.  There is still more time to time for the students to register for these trips and improve their skiing skills or try it for the first time. We encourage you to register for the upcoming trips and in particular the ski week!

Also this weekend past, Massimo took a group of students for a day trip to Lelex Crozet. Massimo has been a professional snowboard instructor and was able to give expert instruction on how to improve their abilities on the slopes.

We have also celebrated the birthdays of Eloge, Pavlo and Nikita this month and they enjoyed our traditional CDL cake. We also welcomed a new student Amirhossein, who joins Leman 2 from Iran.

Welcome back to CDL in the New Year of 2014. It has been a very busy week already and although the students very much enjoyed being at home they are very happy to see their friends again and share their stories. It has been interesting to hear different New Year traditions from other cultures.

We also welcome Sabir to our boarding house as our most recent member. He was in Villars before Christmas but preferred to join Leman 2 and we are happy to have him with us.

This week has been busy getting the students unpacked and back into the routine of school again. We have also had a number of fun activities this past weekend which included an amazing trip to CERN. Students got a behind the scenes look of what happens at CERN and a personal guided tour. Some boys also went to the Ice Hockey match on Saturday night to see Servette vs Lausanne and finally there was a trip to the cinema on Sunday to see The Hobbit 2.

We look forward to the coming weeks and also remind you that there is still time to sign up for the Ski Weekends or Ski Week- an amazing opportunity to take advantage of the Swiss slopes from beginners to advanced.

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Hello Family and Friends

What a brilliant number of weeks we have had here in Leman and how fast they have flown by! The vacation is upon us and our students will be returning back to family and friends to enjoy this festive time. I hope they are full of stories and happy memories of their time here since last being at home. In normal tradition we decorated our house to bring some Christmas cheer to the students. With flashing lights, tinsel and Christmas stockings I am glad to say they survived among curious student hands.

Last month we also took some time to pay our appreciation to some students who deserved recognition. Each term we have an Award ceremony which identified three main areas that students can receive an award for. Academic achievement, Activity participation and Boarding Life. Academic achievement awards go to those students which  received the highest grades within our house. This went to Ogtay and Stephen who through hard work and effort achieved very high GPA scores.

Activity participation goes to students who have embraced our activity program. Those who enjoy their selected activities during the week but also those who participate in extra activities, trips and social engagements. This went to Kirill and Daniil R. as they are always so keen to join in with whatever activities are on offer.

Lastly for Boarding Life, these go to students who fully embrace their time in Leman. They follow the rules, show the upmost of respect, act as a role model for other students, work hard in their studies, join in activities offered and truly are great boarders. This periods winners were Ogtay and Egor, who should be very proud of their achievements.

We have had plenty of activities this marking period- cinema outings, bowing, karting, a visit to Vitam park, a visit to the chocolate factory a visit to cirque du soleil- to name a few. While not all the students participated in these activities those that did thoroughly enjoyed it and I would hope with parents motivation and ours that we can encourage more Leman 2 students to join in. Apart from these weekend activities we also celebrated victory in our schools soccer matches which included David and Stephen in the team. We also had good rugby matches which included Aliben, Eloge, Egor and Alberto. Other fun events included the inter house cooking competition in which we were challenged to invent a dish out of given ingredients. We were proud of our Cheese Bread and Glazed Crepes, but unfortunately taste let us down. We also had another international dinner, this time of French origin in which we got to try some French frogs legs!

However the best event of the last several weeks must be the Christmas Dance. An opportunity for everyone to dress in their best attire and have a lovely meal in a very beautiful setting. It was a very proud moment to see all the boys of Leman dressed smart and have a formal evening of social fun with their friends. After the meal we were entertained with a traditional Azeri dance and also a Hip-hop solo from the one and only Matvey. It was a great occasion and one which was enjoyed thoroughly by all.

I hope that the students will have plenty of exciting stories to share with you all and we wish everyone a very happy and safe Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.