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
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.
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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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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 !
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
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
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
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.
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.
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!
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…..
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!
They aren’t allowed to travel…. *Ba dum chhh*
On Wednesday, we came face to face with Leman in the basketball tournament. We dodged, dribbled, passed, scored and sweated, but sadly not enough to come home with a victory. Our girls played hard and well, and we are proud of them taking part in these tournaments.
We have one more tournament to go, let’s see how we match up against Olympus!
Tonight, all houses took part in an EPIC competition to find out who had the best general knowledge. We came a respectable 4th place, to Villa Du Lac’s 1st place, Leman One’s 2nd Place, and Megard’s 3rd place. Well done to Ghida and Sabine for representing New Portena and all houses. And thank you for a fun, friendly and competitive tournament.
Bonus Question: How many bones Sharks have? (Scroll for the answer!)
Answer: none, their skeleton is made out of cartilage!
Today in New Portena we were craving cookies, so we made them!
First, we needed to find the perfect recipe, Yvonne helped us with her culinary knowledge.
Next step, wash our hands properly
And we started the process:
Mixing ingredients and giving them shape
we could not forget, the less fun part, but most important, cleaning afterwards
And what goes last?
ENJOYING THEM!!!!
Thank you very much Sabine, Yvone and Liam for this fun rainy Sunday afternoon. You are great cooks!!!!
Happy Eid-ul-Fitr (Eid Mubarak) 2021
The holy month of Ramadan has come to an end and the Muslim community is all geared up to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr. The religious festival is celebrated on the first day of the month of Shawwal, on which people do not observe fast on this day. Eid is usually celebrated a day after the crescent moon sighting in Saudi Arabia, which is considered sacrosanct
Observed by the Muslim community around the world, on this day, loved ones come together to break the fast. Not only that, on this day people express gratitude and pray to Allah for everything they have. They wake up early in the morning, dress up wearing new clothes and wish their loved one
‘Making Safe and Responsible Choices’: Last Wednesday, we sat down in groups and discussed the positive and negative consequences of different decisions. We discussed topics surrounding; smoking and vaping; sexual activity; bullying online and in person; judging others online; underage drinking; not following your dreams.
We were very impressed with the answers and comments the girls gave us and hope they will put into practice these types of pros and cons mentally before making risky decisions.
Second week of our Pillar 5: Making safe and responsible choices.
The discus-sion points of week 2 will be around:
The ESSENCE of teen brain and the science behind decision making process.
The objectives are to :
For the past month we have been challenging the house and visitors to see how long they can hold a plank for!
A plank is a good way to train your abdominal muscles, but has many other benefits such as: improving stability, aiding posture, reducing back pain, strengthening your back and arm muscles!
Check out our leaderboard:
Bianka took full advantage of our beautiful weather and surroundings, by going to relax by the lake and even went for a swim! The lake was 10 degrees Celsius and Bianka felt the benefits!
1. It boosts your immune system
The effects of cold water on the immune system have been studied widely. Cold water helps to boost the white blood cell count because the body is forced to react to changing conditions. Over time, your body becomes better at activating its defences.
2. It makes you happier
Cold water swimming activates endorphins. This chemical is what the brain produces to make us feel good during activities. Cold water swimming is also a form of exercise, and exercise has been proven to treat depression. Cold water swimming brings us close to the pain barrier. Endorphins are released when we’re in pain, to help us cope with it.
3. It improves your circulation
Cold water swimming flushes your veins, arteries, and capillaries. It forces blood to the surface and helps to warm our extremities. Repeated exposure adapts us to the cold.
4. It burns calories
The heart has to pump faster in cold water and the body must work harder to keep everything warm while swimming. Overall, far more calories are burned during cold water swimming than swimming in warmer conditions. The idea that drinking cold water increases the number of calories you burn may be a myth, but it is a fact that cold water decreases your body temperature so much that the body must act.
5. It reduces stress
Cold water swimming places stress on the body physically and mentally. Many studies have identified the link between cold water and stress reduction. Cold water swimmers become calmer and more relaxed.
There are many disadvantages of sharing personal information online. The biggest disadvantage is that we do not fully understand privacy on the Internet. Although people think that they’re accounts are private, do we really know how private they are and how different organisations use our information ? For example, social media doesn’t provide much privacy protection for the users. They watch users and see what kind of things they put into their profiles and what interests them, through their interactions.
In addition, sharing personal information online will expose all of your privacy and can be used by people with ulterior motives. When using the Internet, people can steal your personal information. When you post things like your name, birthday, credit card number and your place of residence online, there will be a risk of your information being used by others and what they can and will do with this.
This article is written by Kseniia in Grade 9, as part of her individual project. She decided to research what a strong password is and how to create it.
What passwords are not strong?
Passwords are ordinary words or phrases, letters or numbers in a row. People often use them when they don’t think about security or just want to quickly finish registration.
Ex: Alex1234; Dog56;
What passwords are strong?
Strong passwords are combinations of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
Ex-aYn72Wn; QqHoi@73Hj
How to create a strong password?
1. Take any random phrase, for example, EgyptCat.
2. Replace some letters with special characters. It will be easier to remember if you replace the letters on the basis of similarity. For example, a on @, i on!, O on 0.
Ex- Eg!pedK0t
How not to declassify your password?
Create a new password for every important service.
Enable two-factor authentication wherever this option is available.
Do not put your passwords in the browser.
For this Pillar’s Community Project (Online Safety), we have separated the girls into 5 teams. Each team must come up with a post, either a photo, video or combination of both, and post it onto their social media accounts. After a week, we will see which team has the most interactivity from their followers and others (interactivity includes: views, likes, comments and shares). Whoever has the most wins a special prize at the end of the week! We hope this challenge allows the girls to think twice before posting as they will be able to see how easy it is to get things to go ‘viral’/ seen by other people, including people they never met!!
Good luck girls! May the most creative and best team win.
Mary was the first one to join and after it, the whole House is ready every Friday.
WELL DONE GIRLS!
In tonight’s house assembly, we explored social media and how what we post can effect many different aspects in our current and future lives. We asked the girls questions which they had to answer with ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘I don’t know’ showing their answers on a piece of card. We then discussed the answers to gain a better understanding surrounding each topic and question. It was great to hear and see the girls responses. We hope this session was inspirational and educational.
Today at dinner we had a very nice decoration to enjoy this lovely day.
On Valentine’s Day we think of those
Who make our lives worthwhile,
Those gracious, friendly people who
We think of with a smile.
I am fortunate to know you,
That’s why I want to say,
To a rare and special person:
Happy Valentine’s Day!
By Joanne Fuchs
During our house-meeting we addressed the subject of peer-pressure, which is a common phenomenon amongst youngsters. Negative impulses can come from friends, classmates and social media, and can effect our decision making and behaviour. Smoking, vaping, drinking, conformism are just a few of the worrisome results of peer-pressure.
It’s very important to learn about independent decision making, and peer resistance skills in order to avoid peer pressure. It’s also essential that the students have confidence and trust in their adult caregivers and therefore, if and when, they experience peer pressure, we encourage them talk about it and ask for help.
In order to celebrate the end of the year before the vacation, we enjoyed a nice and bright winter dinner in school. The cafeteria was transformed for the occasion and it was absolutely stunning!! Everyone made an effort to be well dressed and prepared.
We all had a good moment while keeping our usual precautions, as we were sitting by house, what we’re doing for a while already.
ONE, TWO THREE – masks off!
Tonight we had the great honor to give medals to the winners of the award ceremony. We were rewarding the students for their participation in the boarding life, their participation in activities, and for their good academic results.
Unfortunately, we were missing some girls (Alison, Cherry, Yvonne) but we keep their medals and we will give them to them on their return.
Congratulations to Sabine and Bianka for the boarding life award and Ghida for her best academics achievement for GR11 / IB1!
And then we ate the “chocolate marmite” broken according to the Swiss tradition!
It represents a battle between French and Swiss people where the Swiss citizens defended themselves by throwing boiling soup onto the invaders.
The CDL Make A Difference Society (MADS) and the Parent Faculty Association (PFA) are teaming up to support the Partage food bank this year. Partage is a Geneva-based, hunger-fighting charity, which supports thousands of fortunate individuals and families each week with 3 main goals:
During these difficult times, it was nice to see Elise jump at the opportunity to help others. This was her individual project for the Wellbeing Pillar 2, celebrating diversity and combating against bullying.
Well done, Elise!
Some of our girls helped packing and carrying boxes for the gift box appeal as part of their individual project for this Wellbeing Pillar, which is celebrating diversity and combating against bullying.
This appeal is aimed at helping children learn about giving to others not as fortune as they are. The timing links well with the UN “Rights of the Child Day” on 20th November. A number of schools use the appeal to show that poverty is not so far away and help students to understand how others live. This is a non religious and purely humanitarian appeal. The Gift Boxes get sent to needy children in Eastern Europe children who have never had a gift, many living in unbelievable poverty. In the boxes are special treats, sweets and toys, provide toiletries and especially school needs, so helping them attend school with items not provided by the state.
This wellbeing pillar is all about celebrating diversity and protecting against bullying. Therefore, New Portena joined 2 primary boys in their a cappella singing activity. The aim was to give the students a different experience, trying something new, whilst providing support to the youngest members of boarding.
The teacher prepared a tailor-made session aiming to have a constructive exchange between students of different ages. We hoped us joining the activity helped to boost the boys confidence as well as allowed our girls to experience diverse moment out of their usual weekly routine.
As you know not all the girls were able to fly home for the break. However, we try to make our best to keep healthy, fit, positive and happy. And what is the best for our wellbeing? Home made healthy snacks 🙂
Today we have apple pancakes with chocolate 90%.
No sugar needed when they are really yummy.
Last night, we watched ‘The Great Gatsby’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio. A film request made by Mary as she is studying the book in English classes. We love when we mix education and entertainment! Our movie snack were cut up pieces of apple, bananas and pears.
Note: we do not have to wear masks in the house as we are a ‘family’.
“Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran who moves to New York with the hope of making it big, finds himself attracted to Jay Gatsby and his flamboyant lifestyle.”