Today is Jeûne genevois, which is a public holiday in Geneva. Since there is no school, we took advantage of the day and visited the beautiful French city of Annecy. We took a boat ride in the lake, and then went shopping. The girls were very happy!

Warm, sunny weather for the past few days means we can enjoy our garden and sit outside! We’ve been having our study hall in the fresh air, and in the evenings we play board games!

Today we also had the pleasure of having Defne and Ana Sofia, prefects from Terray boarding house, over in the house to give a presentation to the girls. They talked about the dangers of smoking and vaping and the importance of making heathy decisions. Thank you very much ladies!

It’s the first weekend of the school year and it was a busy one full of activities for the girls!

Mira chose to do kayaking while Miyuki, Kotoka, Ran and Layla went to cooking. Melissa, Karen, Radost and Kate did horse riding, while Lisa enjoyed some climbing.

After lunch, we also had the chance to go to Geneva to go shopping and Miyuki and Lisa tagged along!

The girls spent yesterday afternoon in the Concha gardens playing an escape quest. They were split up into teams with other boarders and they had to solve puzzles and riddles to win a prize!

The summer holidays are finally coming to an end, and the Old Portena team are looking forward to welcoming both old and new girls to the house!

We hope you had an incredible summer and are ready to start the new school year. We can’t wait to see you all!

Congratulations to our Grade 8 students Ashley, Mia, Vlady, Chihana, Amy and Lily who graduated from Middle School today! Next year they are moving to the big world of High School. In addition, Chihana received the REACH sportsperson award, which is given to the student who best exhibits the important values of sport. Mia and Ashley also received the prize for the most improved student.

We are all proud of the hard work you have displayed over the past year and we know you will all excel in High School! We wish you the very best!

This weekend was the last time the girls took part in their usual activities for this academic year. They went to cooking, golf, banana boat, a Geneva outing, chess and baking. Ashley and Vlady also got to go to the Observatory in Geneva, where they learned about astronomy and all things about space! We also celebrated Mia’s birthday in advance, with a fun little party and cake!

Now it’s time to prepare for the last few days of school before the start of the summer holidays!

Yesterday under the warm evening sun, we enjoyed an American BBQ dinner. There were burgers, hotdogs, salads and desserts to choose from. No one was left feeling hungry, that’s for sure!

Wednesdays as always is International Dinner and today we enjoyed Singaporean cuisine: noodles with chicken skewers. We’ve also been lucky to have warm, sunny weather the past few weeks, so every Wednesday we embrace the fresh air and eat outside!

Our warm and sunny weekend started off with a delicious dinner in the house on Friday! Miss Maral and Miss Cristina cooked for all the girls and we all enjoyed a yummy chicken burger, cakes and snacks!

And as usual on Saturday and Sunday the day was full of activities for the girls. Cooking, tennis, banana boat and a trip to Aquaparc was in the cards for all.

Aquaparc in particular was the highlight, and everyone enjoyed swimming and all the water slides!

Meanwhile, Stella had the opportunity to go tandem paragliding over Lake Geneva. It was an amazing experience and she was really happy that she was able to go!