• Cirieco Design - Graphic Design and Marketing Services
  • Buy the 11th edition of Know-it-all passport
  • Computer Problems? David can help

Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in our Education section.

To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:

  • Local Teacher Bloggers

    Instead of asking teachers or staff from one particular school in the area, we've decided to host all of them under one heading. We expect great things to happen on this page, so make sure to check often to read their stories, insights, explanations, and thoughts on education for children, adults, special needs, or extra-curricular.

  • Philippa Dobree-Carey is an adept project manager for an international organization in Geneva. Author of the award-winning student guide "From High School to Uni", Philippa successfully steers students step-by-step through the process of packing, preparing for and thriving in the university environment. This firsthand perspective has driven her to create a library of well-defined, pragmatic resources aimed at facilitating the transition to university life. Discover a treasure trove of invaluable resources by visiting her website www.fromhighschooltouni.com.
  • Trudi Hayes
    She is the Director of Swiss Language Group in Geneva, which comprises of three schools. Wall Street English, Swiss French School and Ecole Suisse d’Allemand. Trudi has a background in client relationship and service management and is a qualified English teacher. She and her team of language consultants help students find the best language courses for them, according to their individual objectives and requirements.
  • Sandra Steiger
    TutorsPlus Academic support manager, Sandra and has over 10 years’ experience teaching English at various schools in Switzerland. During her 6 years at the International School of Geneva, she was also the Service Learning programme Coordinator, Homeroom Mentor and Head of Year 8. Now she helps parents and students get the academic support they need.
  • Sarah Frei
    Head of Marketing and Communication at Brillantmont International School, Sarah is excited by the opportunities created by technology not only to communicate with the multicultural, far-flung school community but also to share knowledge and experiences about educational practice.
  • Sabine Hutcheson
    Sabine Hutcheson is a British-trained school teacher, with over a decade’s teaching experience in Switzerland, UK and neighbouring France. She has taught a variety of subjects to children from 5 to 18 years old, as well as to adults. After working as an Educational Consultant at TutorsPlus, Sabine is now Head of Sixth Form at the British School of Geneva.

brillantmont 95 500

By Sarah Frei, Brillantmont International School

It’s that time of year again when exams dominate the horizon of many young people. For them, the next few weeks are synonymous with stress and hard work. Keeping a cool head, sticking to a well-organised revision schedule and taking time out to relax are key to a balanced approach. Read our top tips for exam success here:

Start revision sooner rather than later.
Don’t put off exam preparation until you really feel the pressure or your teachers and parents start nagging. By planning ahead and reviewing the materials as you go along, the weeks leading up the exams will be a lot easier. Your confidence will be boosted and you’ll be starting from a good place.

Develop study groups.
Your teachers may offer after school study groups covering particular topics or you may choose to set up such a group with your peers. Working together with friends, in person or via What’s App, can be a useful way to revise and test each other, as long as you clearly define boundaries (so you don’t end up simply chatting!).

Constantly review.
This learning strategy applies to the whole school year and not just to examination time. Whenever you learn something new, go over it at home in the following days to ensure that you have fully understood it. If not, ask you teacher for clarification. If you do this on a regular basis, you won’t come across huge chunks of material which you feel unsure about.

Take notes.
The act of writing notes helps us retain information. Notes are essential to revision. Make them as visual as you need, using spider diagrams, mind-maps and workflows in different colours. Whether you use glorious technicolour or simply black and white, clear, condensed notes should provide effective knowledge triggers in all subject areas.

Brillantmont august2016 1

By Sarah Frei, Brillantmont International School

Hard as it is to think about school when the sun burns bright above, it is nevertheless that time of year again when children are sharpening their pencils, packing their bags and worrying about what to wear on the first day back. Indeed, some may already be back in the classroom.

I'm lucky: my own two children love school and even during the first week of July were talking about the next school year, when frankly I was fed up with hearing the « s » word. However, for many children, returning to school can be a huge source of anguish, giving them a twisted knot in the pit of their stomachs. The root cause may have nothing at all to do with the learning: rather, the fears that torment them are about fitting in, popularity, being one of the crowd.

Middle School students are at a particularly vulnerable age. Look around any Middle School classroom and you'll see what I mean. The flat chested thirteen year old sits next to the eleven year old who still likes to play with Barbies but who struggles to accept that she already has the fully developed body of a grown woman. As for the boys, the one hunched up in the corner, attempting to hide the glaring pimples barely concealed in the dark stubble covered behind his hand, clearly eats industrial strength fertiliser every morning since he grows at least 5cm every night. His neighbour, meanwhile, would be blown over by a sudden gust of wind.

Raching your childs potential make your child happy

By Marianne Salem, Lake Leman International School, www.llis.ch

Your child isn’t reading at the same level as his or her classmates, or perhaps hasn’t as good a grasp of mathematics and science. Is it time to call in the specialists, or track down a tutor and pay for extra classes? We say no. Just like every adult has different abilities, every child is unique and learns at a different pace. It’s not about judging your child against the progress of others, rather it’s about helping them to find their path to fulfilling their own potential.

Education at its own speed
Some children have a natural aptitude for maths, while others have an affinity for the arts. Yet as parents, we may naturally want them to excel at subjects we believe will suit them best in life, gearing them towards traditional professions in law, medicine, engineering and academia.

HL Marchblog Julie Masson 9 
©Julie_Masson

by Sara Dubler, www.haut-lac.ch

In recent years, a great deal has been written on the various aspects of an international education, in particular about parent considerations and student benefits. This is mainly due to the continuing growth in the number of such schools year on year. Bilingualism and even multilingualism are often qualities associated with an International School due to the fact there are various nationalities represented, hence more languages spoken than there would be in a public school. Having said this, there are times when a parent, concerned with making the best choice for their child, comes to the conclusion that a bilingual education may not be the most appropriate option.

Lake Leman International School Modern Education

By Marianne Salem, Lake Leman International School, www.llis.ch

By focusing on academic testing and grading, are we threatening our children’s love of learning? Leading thinkers in education believe so, citing widespread problems at the heart of mainstream and state-led schooling across the world.

What do the experts say?
Sir Anthony Seldon, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University in the UK and former Master of Wellington College, a leading independent school, said that too many schools worldwide had adopted an “exams-factory” approach thereby neglecting students’ wellbeing and character development.

“Anybody who says you can reduce the purpose of education to the passing of tests is guilty of adopting that approach… exams and tests matter but they’re not all that matters and the problem is they are seen by many to be all-embracing,” said Sir Anthony in an Independent.co.uk report.