French Binational

2022 has brought us several new beginnings and reasons to celebrate after two years disrupted by Covid and long-lasting lockdowns.

While readjusting to a full on-site year, it was also a year to reinvent how we work from the return of practical activities and experiences in class to the ability to enhance students’ experience with explorative collaborative tasks and interpretation of the content studied. I am thinking of the research task in Humanities, the scratch or construction challenges in Maths, the theatre incursion in French, the mannequin challenge held by 8F to recreate scenes of a book they studied in French, Le salaire du sniper. In Science there was the student-led investigation to check if the copper-coloured pipes used in the school renovation are actually made of copper or designing their own experiment to calculate the velocity of a toy.

What has not changed is our pride in our students and their commitment to simultaneously learn two different curricula: working to achieve both the French curriculum requirements in term of content and capacity to produce complex text and reasoning while concurrently working to develop the same skills in English. Of course, the best testimony for this is once again the fantastic results of the Diplôme National du Brevet, an official end-of-cycle French examination that caps students’ experience of learning in the French Binational program, with nine out of 10 students passing with a mention (i.e. award) and over 40% achieving Mention Très Bien, the highest distinction possible. Well done, and once again, felicitations to our Brevet class of 2022 for reaching this milestone, and a special mention to Lucille Husser and Annaelle Charles, our co-dux for 2022, who achieved an outstanding score of 94%.

Other reasons to celebrate are our competition winners: Gabby H for her poem on freedom in the Berthe Mouchette competition which was awarded first prize and Remy Wilson, Jayden Kurniawan, Thomas Nasseys, and Amelia Raulli for respectively finishing in the top 1% and 5% of all competitors in this year’s Kangourou des Maths, a maths and logic competition with over 30,000 competitors in each year level.

As you can see, a very full and rewarding school year, congratulations to all, students and teachers, for your hard work and commitment. Enjoy the summer break and come back ready for a new and even more exciting year.

Genevieve Papon French Binational Coordinator

Je me sens libre, Même dans le déséquilibre. Dans le bruit épais, Je trouve ma paix. Tout le monde peut trouver sa liberté, Même dans un monde troublé. Sur les grandes montagnes, Ou dans les paisibles campagnes. Un lever de soleil phénoménal, Ou une nuit pleine d’étoiles. Chacun a son endroit parfait, Pour se reposer et s’alléger. Quel est votre endroit préféré ?