All of our students at boarding are members of Generation Z, or Zoomers, which means that their social life has grown from and revolves, whether we like it or not, around social media platforms. This is inalienable fact. It is why a major part of their Wellbeing is through a better understanding of their interactions online. The boys partook in a workshop with Mr Rodrigo about the growing problem of cyber-bullying. We hope they learnt something beyond ”cyberbullying is really bad.” And they’re not wrong!

Mr Rodrigo questions what the boys understand as cyberbullying. The answers are more surrepticious than one might expect.

The students took a quiz on responses to cyberbullying. There was heated debate about the options open to them.

After our house meeting about the plans for Skiing in 2021, we proceeded to a session of our house competition — the grades competed against each other on the table football. The final was a tight game of Grade 12 against, surprisingly, Grade 9, with a win over just 1 goal. A healthy dose of competition is sure to boost their Wellbeing!

Mr Miguel oversees a game between Francisco M and… Francisco M. The football table here takes the place of a mirror.

Grade 9 practice for the final. A surprising turn of events!

Said, Francisco and Sadi and Daniel enjoying their table football dose of wellbeing.

Max and Boris against the finalists.

A shot of the final game: a shot of adrenaline! The boys of grade 12 pulled through, by just one goal. Well done. boys!

Over the weekend some of our boys went to help prepare presents for this year’s gift box appeal.The annual gift box project is a project where students choose to participate by donating either money or items. This includes items like toothbrush, soap, school supplies, socks, toys, chocolate and etc. Essential items that make their lives easier. The boxes are sent to needy children in orphanages, schools and hospitals in Eastern Europe who are living below poverty.

This is a great event and the boys were delighted to be part of this. It shows that we as a community are willing to help and do something nice for other people, no matter what country or background they come from.

This also means that some of our boys have completed their individual projects for the second Wellbeing Pillar – Protecting against bullying and promoting diversity.

Michel, Nikita, Hamza and LuLu all helping Ms.Lucélia.

Packing the boxes.

For our pillar II of Wellbeing we face our most difficult, often inextricable challenge as a human species: living together with all our differences. The boys had simply to create a poster on their individual cultures for our community project — a wall of diversity. The boys presented their poster and explained some key aspects of their culture. However, how do we face the clashes that arise from irreconciliable differences? Many of our boys hail from cultures of religious fundamentalism, whilst others from a hard-earned tradition of extreme freedom of expression. We hope that this exercise helped broaden their mental horizons!

Mr Tom’s group prepare their posters for their presentation, and eventually for our wall of diversity.

Sacha, Akihiro, Francisco, Marnix and Vova prepare their posters.

Vova and Marnix present their posters on their different cultures.

Mr Rodrigo explains the concept of diversity, a challenge to maintain everyone’s Wellbeing.

Hamza’s presentation was particularly difficult because he has grown in several countries, and so his culture is that of Islamic values rather than those of a nationality.

The beginnings of our wall of diversity !

This autumn Wednesday evening saw the house of Olympus gathered around Mr Tom. He told us us his charity story about cycling 300+ km to raise money for the medical treatment for Mr Ricardo’s son. It is a truly inspiring story: they raised 2000+ francs, and the boy’s condition improved. This will inspire the boys for the CDL Change The World project for the boys to attempt a work of charity over Winter break. But that was not all. We had a house competition, lots of Wellbeing, and new results on our Mt Olympus board. Watch some scenes from the evening !

Mr Tom walked us step by step in his big cycle for a good cause

Some pictures from Mr Tom’s amazing story

A story of resilience for our Pillar II of the Wellbeing programme. We shared it to inspire the boys to start training for their long-term goals.

The boys partook in a house competition involving pool. A relaxing activity to boost their well being after a long day. Watch Said go for the red ball.

Watch Albion go for a shot. Grade 12 won this challenge, well done boys!

Boris goes for his shot…. while Mr Tom looks like Charlie Chaplin in reverse

The Olympus board before the challenge….

… and after! Grade 12 have got more than 500 points. To the other boys: you have some catching up to do! A slight sense of competition will boost their Wellbeing as a community in the house.

This evening the boys partook in the Second Pillar of our Wellbeing programme: Diversity and Inclusion. They brainstormed ways in which their countries make them culturally rich individuals and discussed both 1) their similarities and 2)differences. In this way they came to learn that even if they are different, their similarities were more than they expected. It’s never too late to learn this lesson!

Some of the boys also enjoyed a session of Catan with Mr Ronan 🙂

Omar, Karim, Boris, Aoto and Nihad create the posters for the presentations on their respective countries. Model UN!

Mr Rodrigo oversees the process of poster making. We discussed American foreign policy in light of Nigel’s poster, as he is from California.

Sadi during the presentation about Azerbaijan.

Last but not least, a stimulating game of Catan with Mr Ronan. A time for the boys’ Wellebeing! Thanks Mr Ronan.

Well-being takes many forms…. Here we  may see it on two wheels… on two tomatoes… or even two onions. It’s just another wonderful weekend. The leaves are turning yellow, brown and red. The boys rejoice!

Fran, Tony, and the rest explore the central European landscape.

Hanwen, Fran, Arsenii, Aoto, Ryunosuke and Tony… sometimes happiness means a pair of wheels.

Our animal friends

Francisco and Mirsadi partake in the joys of French cooking…. watch out Julia Child!! We’re sure the meat was ”au point”

Said, Francisco and Mirsadi pose in the midst of their creation. Happiness sometimes is just a full stomach. Bon appetit, boys!

The boys partook in some very engaging activities today that kept them entertained and boosted their Wellbeing.

Mr Jaime guides Ilya, Francisco and Boris through bootcamp… excellent to maintain a healthy mind-body balance.

The boys were very tired by the end of the activity…. mens sana in corpore sano, boys!

Arsenii and Nihad cooked a very elaborate brunch. Wellbeing for their stomach!

Tony looks on in awe and disbelief….it’s the joy of French cooking.

Iyowuna participated in the photography activity in nature… is this our future Henri Cartier Bresson ?? Time will tell!

David channels the work of Ansel Adams by taking a black and white picture of nature, Give him a LIFE magazine cover already!