International School Parent Magazine - Summer 2020

Rega

Are you prepared for an emergency in your family?

Get Lost in a Great Series Some great book choices to ease that summer boredom

Family Experiences

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Contents 06 Meet the Headteacher 12 Transforming Lives 14 Guide To Choosing A University - Part 2 18 The Universal Learning Programme 22 “ My heart, my head or everyone else; to whom should I listen…?”

24 Get Lost In A Great Series 26 Family Experiences 2020 28 KIBS: Learning Together Bilingually 30 Developing Intercultural Competencies

60

34 Summer Recipes

26

37 S hould Students Be Forced To Sacrifice Their Academic Grades To Pursue A Career In Elite Sports?

40 A re You Prepared For A Critical Emergency In Your Family?

42 Transferable Skills For More Career Options 44 Depression And Suicide In Children 48 Staying Ahead Of The Curve 50 I s “Sharenting” Taking Away Our Children’s Right To Privacy?

52 A Step Into The Unknown 54 Summer Gardens 58 W hy A US University Could Be A Better Option Than Oxbridge 60 S upporting Teenagers Through School Closure In A Pandemic 64 From Library To Colab

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 3

Welcome to a New Year and a brand new Summer edition of International School Parent magazine.

When we published the last edition of the magazine, we couldn’t have imagined how much our daily lives were about to change in just a few short weeks. I think it’s fair to say that all of our worlds have shrunk just a little. The family home is now an office, a daycare centre, a high school…the list goes on. And for some, it’s a lot to handle! While family members usually have different peaks and troughs of stress throughout the year, meaning we can lean on one another in turn, we now find ourselves all simultaneously under pressure, and unable to blow off steam as we normally would. So, in this issue, we’ll learn about how to support your kids if they’re feeling low (pages 44 and 60) and hear how schools are taking practical steps to keep kids learning through the lockdown (page 52).

We’ll also take a look the origins of international schools (page 30), and their vital role in instilling open, tolerant values in the global citizens who pass through their doors. On (page 28) you can hear how bilingual education, even for kids as young as kindergarteners, can develop a strong foundation of cultural understanding, along with many other benefits.

Looking forward, we’re acutely aware that while it may feel like time is standing still right now, before you know it, decisions about preschools and universities will need to be made, so we provide you with some thoughts on finding the best options for your child.

And for those who just want a bit of escapism, we’ve got the latest summer recipes for you (page 34), a fascinating read on getting crafty to create your own dyes (page 54), and of course, some summer hikes for you to plan with the kids (page 26)…hopefully it won’t be too long before we find ourselves out and about again!

Nick

Nick Gilbert Editor & Publishing Director International School Parent Magazine Mobile + 41 787 10 80 91 | Email nick@internationalschoolparent.com Website www.internationalschoolparent.com | Facebook facebook.com/internationalschoolparent

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 4

Your Swiss summer

Family vacation With its stunning peaks and gently rolling hills, picturesque lakes and idyllic streams, mysterious caves and dramatic gorges, Switzerland provides a unique and alluring backdrop for unforgettable family holidays.

Family destinations.

Children want to let off steam, to explore new things and to be adventurous – especially on holidays. Parents and other accompanying persons would like to enjoy a moment without the kids from time to time – but they need to be sure that the children are in a group of peers and well looked after. The Family Destination label is awarded to holiday places and destinations which know all about these wishes and needs and shape their services accordingly.

MySwitzerland.com/family

Family accommodation.

The “Swiss Family Hotel & Lodging” accommodation label stands for stress-free family holidays. Whether it’s a simple mountain guesthouse, a comfortable holiday apartment or a luxurious hotel – all have one thing in common, namely family-friendly appeal and an approach that makes both children and their parents feel instantly at ease.

MySwitzerland.com/familyhotels

City experiences.

Swiss cities are very family-friendly and offer numerous experiences for families. For example outdoor raclette. Raclette is one of THE Swiss specialities. To enjoy one in the open air is an absolute highlight. The wonderful ride on the MOB cogwheel train leads from Vevey up to the Restaurant des Pléiades, only 200 metres from the arrival station.

Here visitors will find everything they need to enjoy an outdoor raclette.

The restaurant is also the starting point for numerous hikes. A hiking map helps you to choose your favourite route. There is almost everything: from a short walk to a long hike.

MySwitzerland.com/cities

Find more inspirational experiences and tips: MySwitzerland.com/expats or contact expats@switzerland.com or phone 0800 100 200.

MEET THE HEADTEACHER

Jonathan Taylor – Principal of International School Zurich North WRITTEN BY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT EDITORIAL TEAM

J

onathan Taylor became Principal of International School Zurich North in Switzerland in August 2019. Prior to this Jonathan was Head of North Bridge House school in Canonbury, London for five years, which he moved to after leading one of Dulwich College’s five schools in China.

Jonathan is married to Rachel, and has a daughter, Sophia. Under difficult circumstances, three weeks into our enforced COVID-19 quarantine, we interviewed Jonathan via video conference, with only minor interruptions from each of our children!

Here’s what he had to say about his new

school, what has shaped him as a school leader, and his vision for the future.

When did you arrive in Switzerland and how have you found it so far?

I arrived in August 2019 and have been really enjoying my new life here.

Unfortunately, my wife and daughter have had to stay on a little longer in the UK due to complications with the sale of our house (and are now stranded due to coronavirus!), but that’s given me more time to focus on work in the first year, which I think is important. It’s also given me the opportunity to do a lot of exploring of INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 6

Switzerland. I’ve been down into Ticino, across to Montreux, Lucerne and Bern, and up to Schaffhausen. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Switzerland in all its diversity.

Very nice. What’s your hobby?

Well, from between the ages of 3 and 40 it was football. Unfortunately, for the last three years I’ve not played competitive football largely because of a serious operation on my back, which brought my playing days to a premature end.

I’m still searching for a replacement. I do a bit of cycling, but it’s not quite the same.

What inspired you to pursue a career in education?

After studying History and Politics at university, I spent two years teaching English in Greece and had a fabulous time.

I enjoyed the teaching and the experience made me realise that I wanted a career where I could work internationally, so I went back to the UK and completed my Post Graduate Certificate in Education qualification. I’ve worked in UK and international education ever since. I worked for 10 years in UK state schools and also spent time in New Zealand and China, before my current role in Switzerland.

What was it like working in China?

Were you playing a role in setting up Dulwich there?

Yes. Dulwich have had international schools for a while, but in 2010 they set up a school specifically for Chinese students wishing to study GCSEs and A levels, which is my speciality.

I was involved from year one of the project, and it was a really exciting opportunity. It was fascinating to see how the Chinese do a lot of things differently, things where you think there is only one appropriate approach, but over time you think, “I can now see the logic in that. Oh, that’s a really good idea.” It really shifted my thinking.

I also completed a Masters in Educational Leadership while I was out there, which involved comparing Western and Confucian education, trying to find the best of both worlds. This heavily influenced me when I came back to London and was Head at North Bridge House. I tried to bring in some of the most effective ideas from Chinese education.

Other than your time in China, how have your life and career experiences informed your approach to work?

As I touched on with the experience in China, I think the more perspectives you can acquire, the better. If you look at things purely through a monocultural lens, it’s quite a limited perspective. I think the time I spent in Greece, China, and New Zealand, and even in the UK state and independent sectors, has changed my thinking, and probably made me a little bit more flexible and open minded.

My Masters degree also allowed me to evaluate different approaches to education

“I think bilingual education is going to be a huge growth area for international schools, with a need for schools to adapt and adjust to the fact that speaking only one language is incompatible with our globalised world.” and gave me a wider perspective. For example, looking at something like rote learning which in the UK we have a very negative perception of, compared to China where they see it as foundational level work that has to be done before students can be creative.

I think my international experience also explains why the schools I lead have such INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 7

a strong commitment to globalism and internationalism. It’s one of the things I like about working for Cognita. We have schools all over the world, and there are lots of opportunities that come with that. It’s led me to put additional emphasis on language learning, on international trips, and other things which promote students as global citizens.

“Lesson time is finite so it’s critical that teachers spend time focusing on strategies that work effectively and discarding strategies that have low impact.”

Within that framework, how do you personally think that you get children to do their best academically?

First and foremost, through high expectations. We frequently underestimate what children are capable of. For example, in my previous school, we wanted to prioritise the children acquiring a proficiency in a foreign language. We decided that from Grade 7 the students would just learn one language instead of the usual combination of French and German, or French and Spanish. We front loaded the curriculum, with a view to the students sitting GCSE in Grade 9, and then by Grade 11 they would hopefully be at A level standard. Initially, some teachers felt that it wasn’t possible, because they were so used to Grade 7s working at a particular level in a language. But that programme is in its third year now, and

it’s incredible. I remember one of the Spanish teachers telling me excitedly: “My Grade 8s are better than my Grade 11s.”

Unlike the teachers, the students had no preconceptions about what Year 7 were expected to achieve in language learning so simply rose to the challenge.

That’s a good example of how we often have particular expectations for children at each age, but they’re often capable of far more.

In terms of your current school, at ISZN, what makes the learning environment special?

We have a really strong community feel on both our Primary and Secondary campus.

They follow different curriculums, starting with the International Baccalaureate and then going on to GCSE and A level, but both have a high teacher to pupil ratio, so there’s a real understanding of the students INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 8

by each of the teachers. That level of support and individual guidance between the teachers and the students, whether that’s in Grade 2 or Grade 10, is probably our biggest strength.

Do you have any principles and philosophies that you’re bringing into the school, or that already exist in the school that you see as particularly valuable and that you want to keep?

In Secondary, I’m trying to promote a much more evidence-led approach. One of the first things I did was to lead a session on evidence-based teaching; the principles behind it, what the science of teaching was telling us about good practice and less good practice in this area. Lesson time is finite so

it’s critical that teachers spend time focusing on strategies that work effectively and discarding strategies that have low impact.

And are there any areas that you want to develop in the school, in terms of extracurricular activities, or other areas of education?

The one thing I’d really like to see more of in the school is sport. I’m a frustrated sportsman at heart! Team sport has been incredibly good to me, wherever I’ve lived in the world it’s allowed me to integrate quickly and brought me enormous pleasure.

Because we’re a small school, perhaps we’ve not always placed as great an emphasis on sport as we should have done, but I’m keen for us to be much more involved in local and national competitions.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 9

What do the parents value most about ISZN? I think two things. One, you know that your child will enjoy going to school. They will be supported, encouraged, and given opportunities. The other thing is the level of communication from the teachers, the school leadership and the administration.

That is what parents feed back to us regularly. They really appreciate the opportunity to be very involved in their son or daughter’s education and contribute to the school.

fully proficient in French or German.

The other trend is that we’re probably moving away from the era of exams being almost the sole measure of education. I think exams will remain important, but a good education will increasingly be measured by other metrics, too. What those turn out to be remains to be seen, but we need to do more in terms of building skills and competencies, and adapting the curriculum model to prioritise what’s important for children, for example studying Mandarin, or learning about sustainability.

In terms of the future of education, what are the main trends that you see in education at the moment, and what are the challenges as a whole?

I think bilingual education is going to be a huge growth area for international schools, with a need for schools to adapt and adjust to the fact that speaking only one language is incompatible with our globalized world.

There’s an increasing desire from parents for their child to learn the local language. In Switzerland, it seems nonsensical to me that you wouldn’t want your child to become

Finally, how are you equipping your students for future success within that? Are you going to work on delivering what you’ve just said?

A lot of that, as I say, comes through the curriculum. We’ve undertaken a radical overhaul of our Grade 6 to Grade 8 curriculum, which will come into effect in August. We’ve also changed the school day slightly to take better account of the fact that teenagers have different circadian rhythms to adults, so we should be starting school later to get the best out of them.

We’ve also introduced the International Project Qualification (IPQ). Students previously undertook four A levels, but now they do three A levels and the IPQ , which strengthens skills of research, investigation, and critical analysis. I think getting a curriculum that really suits the needs of the future, and maximises the students’ engagement and enjoyment is probably the single biggest thing that schools can do to set their students up for a successful future.

Excellent. And how have you dealt with Coronavirus and do you think it will have a long-term impact on teaching methods?

It’s been incredible how effectively we’ve transitioned to online learning. We took this seriously very early on and realised what was coming so we were well prepared when the time arrived.

I do think it will change teaching methods, not dramatically, but teachers will have seen the benefits of what they can do online, and will be less sceptical of technology’s role in education, and more willing to embrace it.

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Transforming Lives Life at BHMS T

he two dates in the BHMS calendar that really showcase why it is such a joy to be working in hospitality and business education are those when our graduations take place. These celebrations, with their traditional gowns, pomp and ceremony form a perfect backdrop to the sense of pride, accomplishment and optimism that unites those in attendance.

This however is the final chapter in each students’ journey. So where does it all begin?

Each year, Switzerland welcomes approximately 10,000 international students committed to pursuing a degree in hospitality management. For many, this involves leaving their families and flying halfway around the world. As their first step into tertiary education this experience will be approached with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation.

As for all new students, making those all-important first friends, understanding the program requirements and expectations and being immersed into a new environment and culture all need to be navigated within a fairly short time. Additionally, hospitality freshmen are confronted with requirements to wear business dress and professional uniforms, meet personal branding and grooming standards as their studies will comprise of both vocational skill training and applied management learning as they move through the program.

The global reputation of Swiss hospitality education excellence is well documented and undoubtedly intertwined with the Swiss

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 12

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culture which focuses on precision, attention to detail and high quality. For many new students, emulating these qualities is an easy transition but for those who find it a little harder, the first semester of studies provides a safe and supportive environment in which to understand their importance.

Six months later, just as students become fully settled and feel comfortable with the academic requirements and operational standards, we challenge them to move out of their comfort zone and take on to an internship. This is an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned, and require them to integrate into a new environment and show their value as a paid member of a team.

When returning for their second year of studies, the student transformation process is evident: confident, independent and keen to continue the learning journey, building on the experience they have gained. At BHMS, students are required to do a paid internship in each of their 3 years of undergraduate study.

Thus the process of learning and applying their knowledge and professional transferable skills is repeated over the next 12 months.

In their final year of studies, students undertake a range of Capstone and management modules as well as a final placement to graduate. These tend to be geographically diverse as the soon-to-be graduates take this last opportunity to gain further exposure in different areas of interest, often across a range of different continents and countries. The graduation of a group of young adults who have lived, studied and supported each other over 3 years is therefore a milestone reunion and a confirmation of friendships and networks that will accompany them in their transition into aspiring managers and young entrepreneurs.

The transformation is complete. As my esteemed father was often fond of telling me in my own teenage years ‘a degree is a passport to a future of opportunities’… and never before has there been quite such bountiful opportunities for hospitality graduates the world over.

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Heather Robinson is the Academic Dean at the B.H.M.S. Business Hotel & Management School in Lucerne. She has enjoyed more than 20 years’ experience in hospitality education, while living and working in over 11 countries.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 13

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 14

PART 2: Years 11-13

Guide to Choosing a University I

WRITTEN BY SANDRA STEIGER

t’s crunch time – that exciting but nerve wracking phase when your child is firming up what their next steps after school will be. There’s so much to consider – which country, which programme, which university. We talked to school Career Counsellors and Heads of international schools across Switzerland to compile their advice for making the best choice.

Make sure the student is at the centre of decision-making.

First of all, it’s about the students and who they are. So, forget about what country you might end up in, what institute you might end up in, what course you might take. What is their individual personality in terms of learning and environment? And it has to be individual. It has to be theirs. I encourage parents to help their child think about themselves, and avoid projecting what they want for them, which can be difficult! Once they research themselves, then is the time to think what subjects they enjoy the most, and why and what that might lead them to be doing in the future as a career. And then once that research is done, what institute will match them the best in terms of academic enjoyment and learning style. Because if they say, “I need to live by a lake, because I love to sail” and the top university is MIT for what they want to study, that isn’t going to necessarily match what they need in order to be emotionally healthy and happy, so it’s worth looking at alternatives.

If we can let the student take the lead on their future planning, whatever that is - a career, university, or a gap year - then I believe that they will be more successful in whatever path they choose than if their parents have done it for them.

Rachel Doell, University and Career Counsellor, Inter-Community School Zurich.

Be realistic.

I think probably the first tip is to be realistic about expectations.

For parents, you shouldn’t expect miracles. And this includes understanding different evaluation systems so as not to put too much pressure on your child. Four A* at A level is not the same as the full 45 points at IB. You would never say to a child that’s doing four A levels, we want four A stars. But regularly, parents come in and say, “We’re looking for a 36. We want a 38.” And it can be a matter of reminding them that a 38 will get them into Oxford to do medicine. As for students, they are going to be expected to give up a lot of their time to achieve these sorts of scores. It’s well documented that every point above 32 is a significant number of extra hours. At an IB conference last year, it was said that if you’ve got a bright child that works relatively hard, they’ll get 32 points.

If you’ve got a bright child that’s willing to put in the extra hours, willing to put in the leg work, willing to develop their bibliography, then they get the extra points. From 32 to 45, though, there’s still a big difference. We need to be, as a collective, managing that pressure and commitment together, parents, teachers, and students.

Kate Bradley, Head of Secondary, & Andrew McLachlan, Deputy Head of Curriculum, La Côte International School.

I often find that with decreasing admission rates in highly selected colleges, there is a perception that, “If I don’t get in, my life is over.” But there are lots of ways to achieve your dream. There are lots of roads that will lead there. Very successful people in the world often took alternative routes to get where they are today.. If you keep an open mind in the process, it’s going to be a lot better than if you zero in on undergraduate at university X. I also often wonder why students aren’t taking more gap years if they don’t know exactly what they want to do. You need to be very realistic of the reality that, for example, only four point something percent of students got admitted to Stanford last year, that means that 95 percent were rejected. I would add that you also need to understand that US universities rarely take more than 10 percent of their cohort from outside the United States. So you’re actually fighting for 10 percent of that 5 percent who’ll be accepted. And maybe the demographics of international school communities are not the cohort communities that some of these universities are looking for in that 10 percent. So, just be really realistic. Have a plan A, B, C, D. Leanda Wood, Head of Counselling, Zurich International School.

Keep an open mind about less traditionally prestigious universities.

Don’t be afraid to choose a university that you’re not familiar with.

Keep an open mind and don’t limit yourself to the country you’re from or what you know. Quite often students have well-known universities at the forefront of their mind. But for some subjects, they’re not necessarily the best institutions. With some research, what you’ll see is that a lot more universities in Germany, the Netherlands, and even Eastern Europe are now offering complete programmes of study in English as well. And if you’re factoring in the costs involved, and the U.S., U.K. might be prohibitive, why not explore those options.

Something we’ve just introduced is BridgeU. It’s a programme that pupils can access and set their filter preferences including aspects like geographical location, programmes of study, and predicted grades. It then comes back with a selection of universities and programmes. In some cases, the programmes are obvious, but others can be surprising. For example, we saw one where it was a combined psychology and engineering degree in Bristol which, when you think about it, is quite a smart combination in the sense that graduates are going to create something that people really want, and understand why people want it, and why people are drawn to it. Based on your input, BridgeU can tell you, “Oh, someone with your predicted grades has a 5 to 10% chance.” And

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 15

you can always change the parameters when you get a new report card. The thing I love about this programme is that it’s making alternative options real to parents and students.

Kate Bradley, Head of Secondary, & Andrew McLachlan, Deputy Head of Curriculum, La Côte International School.

Empower the child to make the decision on their next steps as they’re the ones who are going at the end of the day. A great book for parents and their children to read is Frank Bruni’s, “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be”. Then you’ve probably heard the phrase, “College is a match to be made not to a prize to be won,”

by Frank Sachs. University is not a trophy, it’s all about the best fit.

Why a student is great for the university and why the university is great for the student. I think most high school counselling offices have the best fit philosophy, because what is a great fit for one student, is not a great fit for another. Selectivity of a school does not equal the quality of the school. I think those two are often seen as synonymous and they’re not. You can have a great experience at a great university that isn’t as selective as maybe the Ivies.

Joseph Amato, IB DP Coordinator & John Switzer, Upper School Principal, Zurich International School.

Make the hardest choices first.

We try to say to students all the time, do the hardest thing first. So, if the hardest thing for you and your family is choosing whether it’s America or Europe, do that first. Then start thinking, is it a campus or a city? Because if you start globally and then you narrow it down, it’s less scary. For every family it’s always something different.

For example, the girl I sat with yesterday, she said Netherlands, U.K., U.S., but in her case, she’s thinking about a hockey scholarship. Sports with scholarships in athletics tend to be the U.S., so location was important in the equation for her. But other times, it might be that a student’s heart is set on a particular programme.

Looking at the reality of their predicted grades, where could they actually access that? So, I think it varies, but tackling that first, everything else will feel much more manageable afterwards. Or even start with, “What do you know you don’t want to do?”

Kate Bradley, Head of Secondary, & Andrew McLachlan, Deputy Head of Curriculum, La Côte International School.

Know the culture and requirements of the education system your child is applying within.

Different systems look at very different criteria. It takes Europeans by surprise that an American university will be looking at their day to day grades from grade nine onwards and that they’re accepted by the time they’re finished their exams. That’s a really different mindset. On the other hand, Americans, who are really stressed about the GPA, may not realise that a European university won’t be looking at the GPA. I think the big surprise is that the high school

diploma is worth something. Outside of North America, people have not heard of a high school diploma, generally. So, we have some parents who don’t realise that a North American university won’t take you without the high school diploma. It really is a useful document.

Leanda Wood, Head of Counselling, Zurich International School.

Do visit universities.

If you can, go on a university tour, the summer before or two summers before. Definitely have that on your radar by the end of your GCSEs as that can add a bit of direction. Factor it in as part of your summer holiday even three years before. A student might have had dreams of studying in New York as there’s a certain glamour about NYU, for example. Then they get there and realise that NYU is in probably the roughest part of Manhattan, and think, “No, thanks.” Seeing the university, feeling it, can solidify your thoughts. And going on a rainy day is always better than a sunny day as well. See it at its worst. Start to narrow down what it is, or really consider what you’re after out of your university experience as well. It’s not just the programmes of study and the places, but it can be, do you want to live in a big city? Do you want to live on campus? Do you want to be somewhere with a real international demographic? Do you want to be somewhere that’s perhaps a bit more local or community based?

Kate Bradley, Head of Secondary, & Andrew McLachlan, Deputy Head of Curriculum, La Côte International School.

Consider finances very carefully.

It’s important as a family to have an early discussion about things that they might not even think about, such as where is financially viable to study. That’s really important because what I don’t want to see happening is a student get really excited about going to a specific university, but actually they didn’t realise that they can’t because it’s not either financially possible or the family might not want them to live in that country. So I think that’s really important to discuss as a family early on.

Rachel Doell, University and Career Counsellor, Inter-Community School Zurich.

We recommend that you’ve actually already had this conversation with your child before this stage. It’s so important to have conversations early on so your child knows your financial limitations. Simply saying, “We can’t afford $60,000 a year” allows them to recalibrate and adjust their expectations. If a child gets their hopes up, and they go and visit Yale or wherever it is and, even if they get the grades, they can’t afford to go, that’s brutal.

Kate Bradley, Head of Secondary, & Andrew McLachlan, Deputy Head of Curriculum, La Côte International School.

Sandra Steiger has over 10 years’ experience teaching English at various schools in Switzerland. She now works as Academic Support Manager at TutorsPlus. During her 6 years at the International School of Geneva, she was also the Service Learning programme Coordinator, International Award Supervisor, a Homeroom Mentor and Head of Year 8.

If your child needs a helping hand with revision, TutorsPlus provide specialist private revision tutors, as well as regular revision courses throughout the year. If you feel your child has any gaps in their knowledge or exam technique, we’d be happy to match them with an experienced tutor who will ensure they move forward with confidence and solid foundations. You can reach TutorsPlus at 022 731 8148 or info@tutorsplus.com

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 16

The Universal Learning Programme:

an education for individual, collective and public good

T

WRITTEN BY CONRAD HUGHES

he International School of Geneva’s La Grande Boissière is both the oldest and the largest of the three campuses of the International School of Geneva. Since its inception, important innovations in education have been designed here to empower students to navigate the world but also contribute to it and make it a more peaceful place.

It was here that the Model United Nations and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) were invented. The Model United Nations’ aim was to familiarise students with the highest standards of diplomacy so as to understand how negotiation can improve society whereas the IBDP started with an international history course invented and developed by La Grande Boissière teachers to broaden the minds and cultural references of students.

Lord Mountbatten, who presented the first IB diplomas to students in our Greek theatre in 1971, said of that moment that it was his contribution to the prevention of World War Three.

Today La Grande Boissière remains wedded to its original mission: to broaden students’ horizons and for them to impact the world positively. However, we are no longer in the 1960s, when the IB was conceived, and educational systems need to prepare young people for a far more complex world.

Societal Challenges The three fundamental challenges that face humanity are: 1. The Anthropocene era: human economic and consumerist

activity, most especially in industrialised nations, is modifying and ultimately destroying the planet. Education needs to respond to this.

2. Industry 4.0: high-performing algorithms, the exploitation of behavioural surplus by tech companies and the outsourcing of human labour by artificial intelligence is challenging what it means to be human and the skills that will be needed in the market place.

Educational programmes should be taking this into account.

3. Human relations: although in many ways the world is more peaceful than it has been in its history, the gap between rich and poor is widening, extremist ideology is on the rise in many countries and conflicts break out regularly across the globe. An educational response needs to bring people together for humanity’s and the planet’s future.

Challenges in Schools Most schools face a number of challenges that present educational structures do not accommodate well enough. The three essential challenges are: 1. Not motivating students: we know enough about the way that the human brain functions, the role of emotions in learning and the importance of a growth mindset to understand that if students are not motivated to learn, little progress will be made. And yet, so many students do not feel inspired or challenged in their lessons and many classroom environments are dull places full of behaviour

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 18

regulation, regimes of silence and teaching to the middle. Schools need to create dynamic energy for learning to be stimulating.

2. Low standards: a number of educational reforms in the 60s and 70s, mostly influenced by the Romantic idea that too much knowledge retention and rote learning is a bad thing, has led to classroom practices where there is not enough corrective feedback on learning, not enough practice and insufficient testing for deep understanding. Many parents and students are frustrated with pedagogies that are full of jargon but don’t actually help students build up their general knowledge, literacy and numeracy.

3. Not reporting what matters: in many schools, a curious situation exists where everyone agrees that a number of core skills and behaviours are required for success in life and employment, areas such as teamwork, good listening skills, creativity and leadership, but none of these skills are actually assessed formally by schools.

Furthermore, for centuries schools have only reported on how well students perform in areas that schools deem important as opposed to reflecting students’ strengths, whether these strengths are in or outside the remit of the school programme.

Designing the Universal Learning Programme La Grande Boissière has been supporting powerful learning since 1924. The Universal Learning Programme design was an opportunity to distil and synthesise the magic in our educational approach. Part of the Universal Learning Programme architecture, therefore, has been to articulate, clearly, what is important and effective in a quality 21st Century education based on our experience as an international school educating students of over 100 nationalities for close to 100 years.

At the same time, the school decided to enhance its vision by drawing on cutting-edge, research-informed best practice in education. To do this, we partnered officially with UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education whose work with think tanks, educational ministries, research hubs and universities presents a compelling evidence-based vision.

Students, teachers and parents are part of a strategic group that is involved in measuring the success and impact of the programme and UNESCO audits progress officially as another measure of quality control.

Importantly, much of the scope and sequence of the design has been done by the community, involving all stakeholders: every year, students and teachers vote on broad philosophical questions that are used in the classroom and the whole faculty collaborates on the creation of programme guides.

So what exactly is the Universal Learning Programme?

Deep Understanding It all starts with deep understanding. The design of our programme means that a considerable amount of time and effort is dedicated to ensuring that students understand what they are learning. Using the findings of cognitive psychology, which tell us that humans store and retrieve information better when it is grouped in units of meaning (“schemata”), our approach is to lead students towards broad definitional statements of what they have learned (which we call “universal understandings”). Universal Learning Programme students will come away from a class not just saying that they are studying “trigonometry” or “colonisation”, but will be able to say “trigonometric functions relate angles to sides of a right triangle”

or “the effects of colonisation determine the balance of economic power in the world”. Guiding students to their own universal understandings takes subtle pedagogical strategy and the use of our universal understanding pyramids, which are teaching tools developed by researchers to model the architecture of learning.

By viewing learning through universal understandings, students can make sense of what they know and apply it.

Competences Deep understanding is foundational but the Universal Learning Programme goes well beyond this: we assess students not only on their academic knowledge but on the development of their competences. A competence is a unity of knowledge, skill and attitude: it is what determines the quality and impact of our human activity. By assessing competences through projects, feedback loops and reporting structures, we ensure that students become aware of what competences are and why they are important in life.

We have grouped competences into four broad domains, each with a guiding question: Character (who am I?) Human quantum mind power often lies untapped in the recesses of the unconscious. Through coaching, positive psychology, setting values-based challenges and reflecting on outcomes, we bring out our true potential by developing character, associated with grit, intellectual honesty, accountability and humane moral values.

Passion (What is my purpose?)

Learning is governed by emotions and set in a social context. By designing emotional hooks and caring relations, by making learning personally relevant and by paying homage to the beauty of content, we develop passion for learning. This brings out traits such as selfrespect, curiosity, motivation, energy and vision.

Mastery (How can I go further?)

Higher order thinking and transfer emerge from strong domain knowledge. Combatting ignorance and prejudice requires multiliteracy and deep understanding of human history. Skills grow out of knowledge and both are harnessed through ongoing, spaced and deliberate practice. Mastery is core to our programme. Mastery enhances disciplinary and transdisciplinary fluency, learning how to learn, literateness, cultural awareness and depth of intellect.

Collaboration (How can we work together?)

What we learn must be put to a greater good that will reverse our anthropocene, selfish behaviour. This means much more emphasis on community service, learning to live together and, collectively, respecting resources and, ultimately, ourselves. Collaboration entails effective team work, balancing rights with privileges, responsible consumption, followship, leadership, listening skills, negotiation and interpersonal sensitivity.

These are essential in life and need to be recognised formally and institutionally. The Universal Learning Programme identifies such lifeworthy, futureproof competences and makes them come to life in the classroom by assessing them formally.

Social Impact The far-reaching purpose of our educational experience is to create

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 19

statistical modelling and apply this knowledge to indices related to wealth, happiness, mobility and demographics. This allows students to make meaningful connections between an academic domain and its relationship with society. Examples of mastery projects include the following: - The relationship between GDP and happiness.

- The reliability of statistics on climate change.

- The relationship between education and employment.

good at an individual, collective and public level: students should leave school with more than grades but with the ability to make a positive impact on people around them, the environment and society at large. The Universal Learning Programme offers students the opportunity to do this while they are at school, embedded in the formal curriculum: students engage in specific Universal Learning Programme projects that have a meaningful social impact. Here are some examples.

The Character Project: 13-year-old students are mentored in philosophical discussions that allow them to reflect on ethical issues around good character. They set themselves challenges throughout the year to push their endurance and grit and then reflect on the whole in powerful personal testimonies that they film. The project develops students’ tenacity, solution seeking, anti-fragility but also their moral compass, empathy and reflection on humanity. Students set themselves three personal challenges: - A physical challenge that develops mental toughness, self-esteem, and self-efficacy.

- A cognitive challenge, based on the discussion and analysis of current affairs, that develops personality, identity and self-discovery.

- An emotional challenge, based on community service action which develops humility, empathy and open-mindedness.

The Passion Project: 14-year-old students take a personal passion (whether it is in school or out of school) and, in a student team, put it into a social impact project related to a sustainable development goal. This helps students learn about project design, entrepreneurship and connecting school with what they love.

Examples of passion projects include the following: - Creating multi-lingual vocabulary resources for students.

- Raising awareness of pollution through art.

- Transforming plastic waste into a 3D-printer filament.

- Creating a clothing exchange at school.

The Mastery Programme: 15-year-old students follow an extended mathematics course and create their own transdisciplinary mathematics and social science project where they learn about

Service Learning: every Universal Learning Programme student must be involved in a meaningful service learning project. Our philosophy about service learning is that you do not just learn to serve, but you serve to learn too by enriching yourself through contact with other people. Some examples of powerful service learning projects include the following: - A student Eco-committee dedicated to sustainability on our campus.

- Raising awareness on women in leadership positions through the creation of a mini-summit.

- Students designing, 3D printing and laser-cutting props for a fashion show.

- Students curating an art exhibition for professional artists.

Universal Questions: every year, students and teachers design four powerful transdisciplinary questions that are posted around the school and answered in the classroom. Students present to each other in science classes on scientific innovations in history as they answer one of the Universal Questions, hereby grappling with the important but often undertaught constructs of scientific argument and lobbying for the importance of a scientific idea. This process allows students to reflect on the social impact of science. Examples of Universal Questions that the school has designed and answered include: - What makes something beautiful?

- What makes something meaningful?

- What does it mean to be human?

Next Steps The Universal Learning programme is in Year two of its implementation. Our dream is to see schools across the world adopt this approach and we are currently in the process of partnering with schools in Kenya, India and Australia to spread the magic and empower students globally. This project alliance will be structured formally from the next academic year.

Conrad Hughes (MA, PhD, EdD) is Campus and Secondary Principal at the International School of Geneva, La Grande Boissière, where he teaches philosophy. He is a UNESCO International Bureau of Education Senior Fellow, research associate with the University of Geneva’s Education and Psychology Department, and member of the education board for the University of the People. Conrad’s most recent books are Understanding Prejudice and Education: The Challenge for Future Generations (Routledge) and Educating for the 21st Century: Seven Global Challenges (Brill). https://sites.google.com/ecolint.ch/ulp/ULP-EN

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 20

Create lasting memories among mountains & lakes A varied world of adventure and action awaits you and your family in the Holiday Region Interlaken.

With its dazzling array of activities, an unforgettable family holiday is guaranteed, whatever the season.

Interlaken Tourism Marktgasse 1 | CH-3800 Interlaken | P 0041 33 826 53 00 | interlaken.ch/family

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 21

Thunersee – Brienzersee

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“My heart, my head or everyone else; to whom should I listen…?”

A ‘personal’ guide to choosing a Preschool

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or those who have never done it - or have long since forgotten the thinking involved - the idea of choosing a Preschool (or a first ‘proper’ place of education for your child) can seem insignificant compared to some of the ‘big’ choices that lie ahead for you and your family in later education.

The reality for those facing this choice, however, is very different. In terms of a change in family lifestyle - other than choosing to have children in the first place - this is arguably one of the most significant you are likely to face with regard to education. It is likely that with this decision you are no longer going to be spending the majority of your time with your child, your direct influence on them will undoubtedly diminish, and members of the family may even be able to renew their careers. It is understandable, with this in

mind, that great emotional strain is to be expected. Our first conclusion, then - do not underestimate this decision; it is allowed to feel difficult because it is.

This article is written from a very personal perspective; I am the father of a nearly-four-year-old and am making this choice alongside my wife. Choosing from a ‘shortlist’ of options is now the norm across the world, so the question is how to choose? We were both aware that practical factors of decision-making are unavoidable - location, finances (where applicable), ‘official ratings’ etc - but herein lay our main initial confusion. Neither of us cared about those factors when compared to another; how each setting ‘felt’. For every school we visited, we took a seemingly uninformed intuitive ‘read’ on the place that seemed, to us, the most important factor. This felt unscientific, underINTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 22

researched - almost childish.

Eventually, however, we realised that this intuition and emotional ‘connection’ was a manifestation of things that cannot be measured empirically. We were searching for a ‘values fit’ with our family - a place where their definitions of certain elements of life and education married with ours.

This is, inherently, intuitive. Below I have laid out some of the questions I wished I had considered previously; that subconsciously influenced that intuitive sense of ‘fit’. Armed with an understanding of these ideas, our decisions now feel secure and vindicated.

I believe there are three prime drivers that need consideration. That parents want their child “…to be happy…” is a truism in every sense of the word. The challenge, we found, was defining it. ‘Happy’ can exist in a completely hedonistic form, playing with

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their favourite toy for eight hours a day with no interruptions or structure, for example.

Many would not deem that ‘truly’ happy, however. Overcoming a challenge makes us happy, a sense of achievement makes us happy - for some the relief after a hard ‘shift’ at work is great happiness. What does your ‘happy’ look like as a family?

For us, we wanted some adversity, some challenge, some activity outside of our son’s comfort zone - to safely ‘push’ him when his mind was best suited to be pushed.

The second concept, that some might feel could run against the first, is the idea of ‘success’. Different educational settings will define success differently on a spectrum - from a set of grades alone right through to a nebulous set of self-defined achievements.

Again, what does that mean for you and your family? Are you happy for the “… achievement to come in time…” or are you keen on a firmer structure of development, especially in core literacy and numeracy competencies? These are your decisions to make, but be mindful of this ‘measure’ before you begin.

A third element of which we have become conscious is the idea of longevity and ‘establishment’. Again, having an understanding of the various

“I believe the difference between good and great is the level to which decision-making is made based on the best interests of each individual child in a school’s care.” interpretations of how long something has existed is important. Although most of us, I would imagine, would have some nervousness about a Preschool that has only opened six months ago, they could equally bring ideas, modern facilities and exuberance that might surprise you.

Persistence is not necessarily a virtue, and getting an understanding of what ‘traditional’ or ‘established’ means in a modern world where the requirements of education are shifting so dramatically is vital.

So how can one apply these ideas to any given setting when we meet them?

We found the most telling indicator to be how much each organisation wanted to know our son. At a young age it is easy for people to treat children as homogenous

and ‘not yet themselves’, but as parents, we are acutely conscious of their nuances and idiosyncrasies. From my own (wideranging) professional experience in education, I believe the difference between good and great is the level to which decision-making is made based on the best interests of each individual child in a school’s care. This manifests itself, often, in intense curiosity about each child. Are they telling you about themselves or asking about your child?

Is this an over-simplification? Perhaps; but then intuition is often a simple response to a complex situation - and if we understand from where it has come it can be our greatest tool as parents.

For more information, please check out their website here: https://www.iszn.ch/

At the Inter-Community School Zurich (ICS), we ask about your child(ren) before we tell you how we can serve their specific needs. Contact us at contact@icsz.ch to find out more about the international school of first choice in Zurich. www.icsz.ch INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 23

Get Lost in a Great Series WRITTEN BY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT EDITORIAL TEAM

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orget movie boxsets, with the summer holidays stretching out before you, it’s all about losing yourself in a book boxset.

This summer we’re celebrating some of our favourite female protagonists as they take on dangerous missions, stand up to the establishment, make lasting friendships, and maybe even fall in love.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 1. The Hunger Games 2. Catching Fire 3. Mockingjay The Hunger Games has been read by million of teens over the last decade. The trilogy is set in the fictional country of Panem, a dystopian society where every year, children from different districts are randomly selected and forced to compete in a televised battle to the death, called the Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen, the sixteen-year-old protagonist volunteers to take the place of her younger sister in the games, and in the first novel we follow her through the ultimate challenge as she battles to save her own, and others, lives. This is a series about so much more than the gruesome battle it is named after though. It’s about defiance in the face of power, about human force beyond physical strength, about family and about love. It’s a gripping journey which shouldn’t be missed.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman 1. Northern Lights 2. The Subtle Knife 3. The Amber Spyglass The enduring popularity of Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials, is testament to the unique and riveting plot of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The intricate fantasy worlds Pullman creates, through which a cast of characters led by the young Lyra Belacqua battle adversity, will leave you utterly absorbed. The action begins in Oxford, England, when Lyra hears of a plot to murder her uncle, Lord Asriel. This sets off a series of events including kidnaps, rescue missions, and travel to other worlds inhabited by creatures and forces unknown to the human world. With underlying themes of physics and perhaps even atheism, there are layers far beyond the storyline to explore and question. For a curious and imaginative mind, this is a must-read.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 1. Uglies 2. Pretties 3. Specials In Scott Westerfeld’s future dystopian world, everyone is considered

“Ugly” until on their sixteenth birthday they have extreme cosmetic surgery to become “Pretty” and cross the river to the other side of the city where they can live without stress and responsibility. But everything is not as perfect as it seems. When Tally Youngblood sneaks across the river before her sixteenth birthday and becomes embroiled in a stand against society’s plans for everyone to conform, she discovers that taking your own path can have dangerous and terrifying consequences. As the series continues, Tally sees life from both sides, but ultimately, who will she fight to protect? With plenty of themes that will be familiar to teenagers, including facing change and questioning the superficial expectations of society, this is a series to make you interrogate the status quo.

Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter 1. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You 2. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy 3. Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover 4. Only the Good Spy Young 5. Out of Sight, Out of Time 6. United We Spy This bestselling series follows the lives of students at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. The academy is no ordinary school – students here train in martial arts and codebreaking and communicate in 14 different languages as they perfect their espionage skills. But what happens when they’re faced with normal teenage challenges, as well as more extreme missions along the way? Follow Cammie Morgan and her friends as they grapple with kidnap plots, security breaches, terrorist organizations…and teenage crushes, in this pacey and thrilling series.

The Montmaray Journals by Michelle Cooper 1. A Brief History of Montmaray 2. The FitzOsbornes in Exile 3. The FitzOsbornes at War This trilogy follows the royal family of the fictional island kingdom of Montmaray through the late 1930s to the outbreak of World War II, as they are forced to abandon their home, endure sorrow, embrace love, and eventually, to dream of returning to their kingdom again. Similar to Dodie Smith’s classic novel, I Capture the Castle, the narrator is a young, penniless inhabitant of a crumbling castle, who tells the story from her perspective after she is given a journal on her sixteenth birthday. For those wanting a personal and touching fictional narrative, underpinned by deeper tensions building in the outside world, this is an excellent choice.

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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series Ann Brashares 1. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood 3. Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood 4. Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood 5. 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Gorws 6. Sisterhood Everlasting This touching series follows a group of high school friends, who decide to stay in touch by sharing a pair of jeans over the holiday, each wearing it as they experience a formative summer of travel, first love, and family upset. In the subsequent books, the girls are reunited with the jeans as they take on change and challenges, but always with their friends standing by to support them. For anyone looking for a book which celebrates the unbreakable bond of friendship, this is it.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Collection by Jenny Han 1. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 2. P.S. I Still Love You 3. Always and Forever Lara Jean This series of bestsellers follows the story of Lara Jean, a high school student who is forced to confront her past crushes after the letters she wrote to them but never meant to send, are somehow taken from the secret box under her bed, and mailed out. Lara Jean faces up to past feelings and sees new ones blossom as she gets ever

closer to the changes which high school graduation will bring. For a light, romantic read, this hits the mark.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot 1. The Princess Diaries 2. Princess in the Spotlight 3. Princess in Love 4. Princess in Waiting 5. Project Princess 6. Princess in Pink 7. Princess in Training 8. The Princess Present 9. Sweet Sixteen Princess 10. Valentine Princess 11. Princess on the Brink 12. Princess Mia 13. Forever Princess 14. Royal Wedding The Princess Diaries follows the life of Mia Thermopolis, whose world is turned upside down when she discovers that she is the heir to the throne of the fictional country of Genovia. Beginning in her freshman year at high school, we follow the likeable and dorky Mia through her diary entries as she learns about her new role as a princess, overcomes family obstacles and falls in love. With multiple books in the series, it’s definitely one to keep you busy!

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Family Experiences 2020

Is your child adventurous, wildlife-mad, or do they love to get stuck into a challenging puzzle? With something for all interests, all ages and all weathers, you’ll be spoilt for choice this summer in Switzerland!

For the Wildlife Expert…

ASCONA LOCARNO

See birds of prey soar at the Locarno Falconry With over 400 species of birds, Switzerland is a paradise for bird watchers. And

this summer you can cut the wait, lose the binoculars and get an incredible up-close view of eagles, hawks, owls and vultures at the Locarno Falconry. Learn about the vital role these birds of prey play in maintaining our ecosystem, hear more about how these majestic creatures live, and see the art of falconry in action with a display from the Spanish Riding School. With wet weather options for rainy days, there’s no excuse to miss out on this unique chance to see Switzerland’s finest birdlife.

PONTRESINA See the great migration of the ibex Every year the warmer weather brings a migration of nearly 2,000 ibex towards Pontresina. This huge colony congregates here to graze, rest, and playfight while visitors look on. You can stroll the 1 kilometre trail (accessible with a pram) INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 26

or catch the Languard chairlift up to the mountain-top Ibex Gallery to find out more about these wild creatures. Kids can even get a taste of mountain life, clambering through the themed playground near Alp Languard.

GRÄCHEN Search for animals in their natural habitat For older kids and early risers who are keen to see more mountain wildlife in its natural habitat, an early-morning guided tour through the Zaniglas Valley at Grächen is a great option. Your guide will tell you about the local flora and fauna before venturing into the forests at Grächen in search of chamois, marmots and ibex. There’s also a breakfast served at the Hannigalp mountain restaurant while you can relax and take in the views after your hike.

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ZUOZ Take a train to the Swiss National Park If your family wants to go it alone, the Swiss National Park in the Val Trupchun, in the Engadine region boasts a stunning wilderness, bursting with life. Travel to the park’s entrance by catching the Express Parc Naziunel from S-chanf railway station.

This quaint little train takes a relaxed route through local villages, giving you time to see the area and pull on your walking boots before your hike! Once you’re in the park, keep your eyes peeled for deer, chamois, ibex and marmots.

For the Adventurer…

ALETSCH ARENA

Expedition into the world of the Aletsch glacier For families looking for something a little different from their hike, the Aletsch Arena offers a guided tour to the extraordinary Aletsch glacier. Allow plenty of time to take in the sparkling white landscape with ice sweeping down over 23 kilometres before you.

For the Active Imagination…

BRAUNWALD

Follow the footsteps of Bartli the dwarf Hike through the fairytale forest of Braunwald with your kids, as they discover the trail of Bartli the Dwarf. The 4 kilometre trail has exciting discoveries along the way, from the dwarves’ castle, to the cliff of precious stones, to the iron grotto, and more!

ENGELBERG Discover a smugglers’ world Enter the world of Engelbert the smuggler at this themed adventure trail and playground, located at Trübsee. Explore a smugglers’ tower, treasure chests and rope bridges at the playground, or take an hourlong hike in the beautiful surroundings. Be sure to buy your smuggler card first at the Trübsee station for access to the adventure trail.

NENDAZ Hike with Cheesy the Cow Search for treasure with Nendaz’s local hero Cheesy the Cow! Cheesy has his very own 2.5 kilometre panorama trail where kids can stop along the way to learn about the

local habitat, and search for treasure by solving the clues. Families can make a day of it with a picnic or restaurant lunch afterwards.

For a Head for Heights TOGGENBURG

Walk among the treetops at Neckertal See the forest from new heights with the Treetop Path looking over the Neckertal valley, near St. Gallen. This 500-metre, fully wheelchairaccessible path winds its way from the forest floor to a height of 50 metres, giving a unique view of the treetops and beyond, all the way to Toggenburger Churfirsten and Appenzellerland. Take a moment to absorb your surroundings with 40 stops along the way to discover, listen to, and observe the trees and animals around you. Whether you’re looking to exhale after a busy week, discover a new fitness trail, BBQ with your friends, or take the kids for a bistro lunch and afternoon at the playground, the Treetop Path at Neckertal has it all.

And finally, for the Intellectually Curious…

DAVOS-KLOSTERS

Crack the code to find a hidden world Delve into the world of The Magic INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 27

Mountain with this fox trail searching for the secret library where Thomas Mann is rumoured to have written his famous novel. Teams of families or friends must crack codes, solve puzzles and find hidden messages along the way in this outdoor challenge for all ages!

SAVOGNIN Learn about alpine life while you hike Learn about alpine life and stop for some incredible photo opportunities along the way on this new 6.5 kilometre trail from Somtgant to Radons near Savognin. You can stop at information points along the way to read about work and life in the alps, and kids can get involved with a milking well and pitchfork swing at the themed playground.

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KIBS: Learning Together Bilingually

At KIBS in Zürich, we learn in two languages. Starting from August, the school will be expanding and making room for new class groups.

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uring breaktime, when the corridors, the garden and the cafeteria are filled with laughter, balls aren’t the only thing being thrown around; there is also the effortless exchange of different languages taking place. A question such as: “Reichst du mir das Buch?” is followed simply by the answer “Of course, here you go.” Without thinking, the most natural thing in the world. At KIBS in Seebach, the children grow up bilingual; English and German is practically laid into the babies’ cribs.

When the private institution opened in 2008, there were only 21 kindergarten children in the classrooms at Oerlikon. Due

to the ever-growing demand, what started out as a small day care and kindergarten, evolved into today’s KIBS for children of all ages: starting with daycare for babies, preschool and kindergarten, up to primary school. Around 200 children are growing up bilingual, learning English and German playfully without pressure.

It is not just the children who are growing at KIBS, the demand for integrated, bilingual classes is increasing too. To address this, the school will be expanding in August, with both campuses being merged and a new floor being added. The simultaneous expansion and joining of both campuses to one location does not

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 28

only benefit parents with both babies and primary school aged children, it offers the possibility of welcoming more students.

Therefore, KIBS is opening five new groups in August. Interested parties can already sign up via the website or by phone.

The children are being taught using a combination of the Canton Zurich syllabus and an International curriculum in small classes, where the needs of each child can be met and the pupils can help shape their lessons.

In this global community which brings us all closer together, the importance of multilingualism is rapidly increasing.

Excellent language skills are not just

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necessary for careers later in life, but for the understanding of different cultures.

Countless studies have proven that multilingual people can concentrate better, empathise more easily with others, and thus successfully resolve conflicts. The brain remains flexible even when it ages. More nerve synapses are created and specific regions of the brain become more efficient.

Building strong social connections are not only encouraged through bilingualism, but also through a holistic teaching approach.

40 teaching staff from the US, England, Ireland, Switzerland and across the globe, provide an open and differentiated classroom environment by drawing on their diverse professional experiences and backgrounds. All the while, keeping the child at the center of teaching and learning.

Instead of using traditional teaching methods, the students work together at large tables or in small groups, and are encouraged to ask questions and share their own ideas. “We want the children to have fun with learning, to be enthusiastic about it,” says Head Teacher Eimear Harris. “We practice inquiry-based learning and during the lessons we use the children’s ideas. As a result, thoughts flow more freely and there’s more interaction.” Unlike other schools, the children don’t have to change rooms for every lesson; instead the teachers and the teaching assistants respectively come to the children’s classroom, which are creatively decorated with children’s work and colourful displays. The lessons alternate between English and German, and the topics change every six to seven weeks.

KIBS is a non-profit organisation; all school fees flow directly back into the school. That way the children benefit from dedicated and continuous care during their breaks, homework time and project weeks in the holidays. At lunchtime, the students can participate in different extracurricular clubs: from baking and cooking, to yoga and choir, logical thinking and chess.

What’s more, the teachers help the children with their work, answer their questions and support them during the free time. Once a year a traditional sleepover takes place at the school. And at night after an exciting day in the fresh air, when the lights are turned off and new information is being processed, the phrase “Sleep well!” is accompanied by “Danke, du auch!”

Find out more at: https://www.kibsz.ch/ INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 29

DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCIES How did the international school develop and how can it continue to evolve to support multiculturalism WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER CLYDE GREEN

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pparently, the concept of an international school is nothing new. In 1855 the Exposition Universelle in Paris took place. Many ideas were discussed including “the advantages of educating together children of different nationalities”1. If we look back even further it was speculated that Prince Henry, the Portuguese explorer, set up a cartographer school2 featuring students from around the world. It has been debated that the “first” schools with a hint of internationalism were found in London, with the help of the author Charles Dickens, and in Lesotho, founded by British missionaries3. Yet, the school that seems to have the best claim to be the first, modern version of an international school is The International School of Geneva. It was founded in 1924 as a multilingual institute for diplomats and other

fellow expatriates, post-World War I. An increase in diplomatic relations, multi-national corporations, military movements and globalisation in general has seen a rapid rise in the amount of international schools around the world. Now, there are reportedly 8000 international schools globally4. But what does “international” actually mean? From a historical perspective it seems an “international education” meant promoting ideas coming from predominantly Western educators that expressed their ideologies about the world. The methods seemed either to have a bi-lingual initiative or a programme that focused on Westernised cultures, so that the students were prepared for the international world they would face afterwards. Often the teachers in these schools helped “home” students learn the cultural and canonical

1 Hayden, Mary. Introduction to International Education: International Schools and Their Commu-nities. Sage Publ., 2007.

2 Prestage, Edgar. “Prince Henry the Navigator.” The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 7. New York Robert Appleton, 1910 3 Sylvester, Robert. The “first” international school. International Education in Practice. 3-17, 2002 4 Wechsler, Alan. “How Demand for a ‘Western’ Education Reshaped International Schools.” The At-lantic, Atlantic Media Company, 16 June 2017, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/06/the-international-school-surge/528792/.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 30

traditions of Europe. Even now, in schools that have large, ethnically diverse student bodies we find that there is a craving for teachers from English-speaking nations and for those who have been “Westernised”. Some schools even ask for photos on CVs. Speaking English is still deemed to be desirable for parents, students and educators alike. Of course, there are many dialects found within the English language. Gogate’s Globish was an attempt to simplify the English language for the masses, however, in the eyes of the ruling classes nothing quite beats “The Queen’s English”. It is no surprise that nations with burgeoning economies such as the UAE and China have had the biggest rise in international schools.

However, does promoting the aforementioned methods truly support an international education? Whether done inadvertently or not, some international schools have become systems for supporting certain cultures and leaving others behind.

Authentic international educators want to “help to create a better and more peaceful world through their intercultural understanding and respect.”5 But, how do we enable this to happen in the context of a school where most stakeholders have taken the risk of being part of an international community, in an increasingly nationalistic and hostile environment? Furthermore, it seems throughout the modern manifestation of an international school there is a tension between promoting internationalism and endorsing the product that some of the stakeholders want, that is: to sell monoculture.

Additionally, international schools are typically fee-paying and for certain socio-economic classes, which can alienate them from the local community. This can create a sense of “otherness”6. This feeling of otherness can affect the identity of some students who feel they are citizens of the world, but can be viewed unhelpfully as “citizens of nowhere”7 from those that might feel threatened by their multiculturalism. Therefore, international schools can serve as

“An increase in diplomatic relations, multi-national corporations, military movements and globalisation in general has seen a rapid rise in the amount of international schools around the world.” safe-havens but can also unconsciously promote their own worldsystems and polities, which can alienate “third-culture” people from their first, or even second cultures. We have all seen schools entitled “British, Canadian, Swiss and American international schools”. So, what is really going on? Why are nationalities being tagged onto school names and does this need to stop? We need to ensure that students, teachers and parents have well-developed intercultural competencies instilled in their day-to-day experiences with each other for real international relations to occur. If these competencies are not endorsed, the exclusivity and difference that is often seen and glorified in international education will counterintuitively be the very threat to the “international experience” that is being sought.

Encouraging intercultural awareness can prove to be a challenge in a school which has perhaps had students coming from one

5 Nicholls, John “International-mindedness in a one-nationality majority school” IB Conference ,October 25 2018, , ADNEC 6 Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 1979.

7 Davis, Jonathan. “Theresa May’s Brexit Speech Had Shades of Hitler | Letters.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Oct. 2018, www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/12/theresa-mays-brexit-speech-had-shades-of-hitler.

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“International schools that create opportunities for the development of inherently diverse networks through acknowledgment and respect of multiculturalism are schools that will enrich wellbeing.” culture, or one that employs staff for the purpose of spreading “Britishness” for instance, but it isn’t impossible. To be sure that we are comfortable enough to create apposite versions of international schools we need to be sure of who we are first. Cosmopolitan people can go through numerous physical and mental transitions, which can leave them feeling vulnerable, so they either become deniers of change or complete chameleons. These are true examples. What they display is that we need to meet in the middle and recognise that we intersect with cultures every day, as soon as we leave the house. We cannot become caricatures of our own or another. Once we are aware of who we are culturally we can flex and adapt to a variety of cultures. This practice will avoid unwanted situations. I observed a class discussion once about the “burkini” between an American and a Saudi student. It nearly turned into a fistfight. I might add that none of the students were born in America nor Saudi Arabia, but it doesn’t matter they were fighting for their cultures unaware that there were multiple cultures within their nationalities in the first place. Sure, differences are fine, but if you are unprepared to have intellectual debates with those who oppose your views how on earth are you going to develop yourself as a person? Fortunately, the students settled and ended up respecting their differences through discussion and reflection. If only politicians and adults could learn to be as malleable as some international students, we may not be facing the surge of harmful nationalism we face today.

What does it take to be truly culturally competent? According to Ann Straub it takes knowledge, skills and attitudes that are conducive to internationalism8. The knowledge of your own cultural identity, knowing what to do when cultures meet and how to react. Furthermore, the realisation that borders are arbitrary, and temporal will definitely help. Directors can make rational and diverse hires in their staff, to represent the world as much as they can. Pastoral leaders can incorporate citizenship into their curricula or create assemblies and celebrations that embrace multiple cultures. I created a Performing Arts exchange with 8 Straub, Ann CIS Well-being conference, November 19 2018, ADNEC

a school in Colombia at the International school of Geneva.

The Colombians also stayed with host families from our school.

Additionally, programmes such as the Model United Nations, which I organise at Institut Le Rosey, allows students to debate on behalf of cultures and nations that may not reflect their own through research, which encourages empathy. Educators can learn intercultural competencies through professional development such as language courses or teacher exchanges. From my experience I went to IC Beirut for two weeks, teaching and living with my Lebanese counterparts and learning French in Switzerland has enriched my professional and local interactions. Students can learn through literature, for example through empathetic writing in relation to a text from a cultural that is not their own or through the incorporation of epistemology and critical thinking within their classes. Parents can have cultural exchanges. The International School of Geneva, for example hosts a “Kermesse” with traditional international food stands and entertainment made by the school community. Institut Le Rosey’s highly customised home language programme ensures that every student learns their home language from home language teachers. This unique experience helps the students stay in touch with their home culture despite being, in some cases, thousands of miles from home. International schools that create opportunities for the development of inherently diverse networks through acknowledgment and respect of multiculturalism are schools that will enrich wellbeing . They are schools that have more potential to be sustainable in a globalised world.

If we, as educators, parents and administrators model genuine and positive intercultural competencies for our students and children we will show them and the world that an international school isn’t a fixed notion to be sold or promote further inequity.

Instead, our open, flexible and adaptable attitudes we will engender curiosity, acceptance and most importantly respect for all cultures within the communities we serve and beyond them.

Christopher Green is a teacher at the Institut Le Rosey specialising in Literature and Theory of Knowledge. He is also a workshop leader for the International Baccalaureate.

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.ch n r o h t l chi s . w w w

Summer Recipes Summer holidays are a great time for baking and picnics, and ingredients like berries and rhubarb are at their most delicious. Here are a few delicious recipes for giving as presents or just enjoying in the park!

WRITTEN BY BETTY GILBERT

White chocolate & raspberry cookies (makes 20)

140g unsalted butter, softened 140g light Brown sugar 100g caster sugar 1 egg 250g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 200g white chocolate chunks or buttons 100g fresh raspberries Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg, flour and baking powder. Fold in the chocolate and raspberries and weigh out the dough into 40-50g balls.

Bake at 180C for 12 minutes or until golden brown round the edges.

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Focaccia Needed: Food mixer with dough hook 250g 00 flour 250g FARINA DI SEMOLA RIMACINATA- you can get it online and in most good delis, its finely ground semolina flour.

2 tsp table salt 2 sachets dried easy blend yeast 3 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil 400ml water olive oil, for drizzling flaky sea salt Rosemary or oregano for the top.

1. Mix the flours, salt, yeast, olive oil and 300ml of the water into a large bowl. Gently stir with your hand or a wooden spoon to form a dough, then knead the dough in the bowl for five minutes, gradually adding the remaining water. Tip into a food mixer with the dough hook attachment and leave to knead for 10 mins until it is elastic and coming away from the edge of the bowl.

ESSENTIAL STEP! This is the bit that gives the bread its final texture so don’t skimp! Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size.

2. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Tip the dough out of the bowl and flatten onto the prepared tray, pushing to the corners. Cover with cling film but make sure it’s got room to expand as it proves. Leave to prove again for an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Drizzle the loaves with oil, sprinkle with sea salt and poke the herbs into dents made with your (clean!) fingers, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. When cooked, drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve hot or warm.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 35

FICO By Betty is a London based catering company, serving delicious Mediterranean food around the UK and Europe. Betty also runs cookery and yoga retreats in Crete and her custom made ceramics from Puglia are available to buy through her website www.ficobybetty.com

Rhubarb, hazelnut & orange tart Needed: 28 cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Baking beans Grease proof paper For the pastry: 250g plain flour 140g unsalted chilled butter 2 egg yolks 4 tablespoons water Pinch fine salt For the rhubarb: 3 sticks rhubarb Juice of one orange 1 tbsp sugar

For the frangipane filling: 200g sugar 200g butter 200g hazelnut flour (or hazelnuts blended in a blender until flour consistency is reached) 1 tablespoon plain flour 1 egg 1 egg yolk Zest of one orange

Make the pastry: Pulse the butter and flour in a blender until you have breadcrumbs consistency. Add the yolks and salt, and then pulse again, gradually adding water until it comes together as a dough. The less you move the dough the better! Remove the pastry from the blender and roll it out to just a little larger than the tart tin. Line the tin and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile cut the rhubarb into chunks, sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar and the juice of 1 orange and roast in the oven for 20 mins at 180C. Set aside.

Place a sheet of grease proof paper over the pastry and top with baking beans. Bake for 20 minutes at 180c then remove the beans and paper and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 170c.

Make the frangipane: Using a hand whisk to mix the ingredients together until you have a smooth consistency. Add this to the cooled tart case and top with the rhubarb. Bake for 45 minutes and cool completely before slicing.

Serve with crème fraiche, ice cream or double cream.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 36

©Haut-Lac by Pixien Photography

Should students be forced to sacrifice their academic grades to pursue a career in elite sports?

WRITTEN BY ISP EDITORIAL TEAM IN COLLABORATION WITH WORLD ACADEMY OF SPORT AND HAUT-LAC BILINGUAL SCHOOL

P

ursuing elite sports at school is a brave choice for any teen.

Committing 100 percent to a career choice where there is no guarantee of making it, and where a social life and academic results may have to be put on the backburner, could be anxiety inducing for even the most committed student-athlete.

And what happens if it doesn’t work out? If choosing hours training over hours revising turns out to be the wrong decision?

How can schools support their students from the beginning to ensure that athletic ability is about opening doors, not making sacrifices with repercussions long after school graduation?

The World Academy of Sport (WAoS) is behind a new programme which allows students to extend their IB studies so that they can excel in both academics and sports, at their own pace. We talk to Anne Louise Williams from WAoS about the programme,

and hear from Anne-Marie Harwood at Haut-Lac Bilingual International School about how they are embracing this new option for their budding athletes.

Tell us a bit about how the WAoS works with schools Anne Louise Williams, WAoS: The world is an unpredictable place. Athletes get injured, they miss out on the national team, or other world events get in the way.

That’s why WAoS developed the concept of the Athlete Friendly Education Centre to provide flexible learning pathways to continue to higher education and develop a professional future beyond sports alone.

This includes a strong focus on welfare – advising schools to dedicate a point person to each athlete to hear any concerns – and introducing our extended IB Diploma Programme.

Our dual career approach gives athletes INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 37

a ‘plan B’ for life after competitive sport. It also gives them some headspace away from their training or away from schoolwork, which we’ve heard from the athletes themselves, gives them a performance boost.

How do you think this form of flexible learning will continue to evolve?

Anne Louise Williams, WAoS: Our long-term vision is that by 2028, our work in schools will grow from assisting 1,200 current student-athletes to a network which supports 30,000 student-athletes in schools around the world with the tools they need for flexible learning.

We also continue to innovate to shape not only the next generation of sports stars, but also the global sports industry.

Our recently-announced partnership with Federation University to offer an IB careerrelated Programme in International Sports Management will allow students to turn

their passion for sports into a profession.

This programme will be available to schools from January 2021.

We’re also in the process of launching an athlete certificate which is designed for 16-year-old student-athletes to help them prepare for life as a high-performance athlete after school. This is an online course with associated teacher resources, and we are aiming for this to fulfill some requirements of the IB DP and CP core coursework components in the near future.

Haut-Lac International Bilingual School was the first school in Switzerland to be accredited as an Athlete Friendly Education Centre by the WAoS. How will this improve life practically for studentathletes?

Anne-Marie Harwood, Managing

Director Academic, Haut-Lac: We were accredited by the WAoS in the 2018-19 academic school year, so can now offer our students an extended IB programme to help them complete both academic study and sports training to a high level. We have more than 50 student-athletes coming up through the primary and MYP at HautLac, and we wanted to be ready with a clear blueprint to support them. We are also now receiving an increasing number of enquiries from outside students interested in the programme, which we will start officially next academic year.

Practically speaking, we treat each student as an individual and create a timetable that best suits them. Olympic hopefuls, for example, may even need a further-extended 4 year programme, and we can do that for them. Generally however, students do 3 INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 38

subjects in the first year, finish 3 subjects and start 3 news ones in the second, and then complete those 3 subjects in the final year. They can also choose which subjects they do during which year, so they can get lengthy things like the Extended Essay done early, to alleviate some of the stress of having this hanging over their heads for the entirety of their studies.

What are the benefits of this program for your students, beyond academic success?

Anne-Marie: In the 21st century, education is no longer just about performance in the classroom, but about learning in general and I believe the life skills the students gain through their training are just as important to their future as having strong academic qualifications.

However, if they are not given this extra

©Haut-Lac by Pixien Photography ©Haut-Lac by Pixien Photography

“The programme allows students to maintain a better social life at school, in spite of the fact that they are away regularly for their sport.”

time, over 50% of student-athletes decide to give up on either their sport or their academics before they finish school. The extra year gives students the chance to excel in both their academics and their sport without having to let one slip.

Do student-athletes get left behind socially during these formative years?

Anne-Marie: The programme allows students to maintain a better social life at school, in spite of the fact that they are away regularly for their sport.

To further support this, we allow the students doing the longer course to graduate at the end of the second year with their peer group so that they don’t feel like they have missed out on any milestones of school or teenage life.

Going forward, we are looking to build a

strong student-athlete section in our school to give student-athletes a better sense of belonging, knowing that they have a group of fellow athletes who understand their joys and trials. We hope that this will make the life of a student-athlete more sociable and approachable, giving them a wider support network upon which they can rely.

What qualities do you hope to foster in your students by promoting participation in sports at an elite level?

Anne-Marie: We would like to foster hope and self-belief in our young athletes. If they think that we believe in their ability to complete their schooling and carry on to a sporting future, then they will believe in themselves too.

We believe that regardless of their future career, our student-athletes will have learnt to be level-headed, confident, determined and emotionally balanced. What they choose to do with the qualities that they have developed over the course of their sporting careers will be up to them, but hopefully school will give them a good idea of where they can channel them best.

How do you work with parents on this program?

We have always had a very flexible relationship with the parents of our young athletes, who help us to liaise with the students’ sports club and their coaches.

Parents bring us the calendar of the year and the student’s training programme, and we create their school timetable from there. We are planning to formalize this relationship this year, so that we have a solid 3-way relationship between home, family and club to support the student-athlete at the centre.

How do you ensure this particular focus on sports benefits the whole school, not just those enrolled in the programme?

It’s known that sport helps to maintain both physical and mental health, the latter being an issue that we see increasing amongst young people nowadays. As we promote sport at school, we also see it increases school spirit. It helps students to form bonds and gives them new passions, places and people with whom they feel comfortable and valued.

For more information, please check out their website here: https://www.worldacademysport.com/ and Haut-Lac International Bilingual School INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 39

Photo: Rega

Are you prepared for a critical emergency in your family?

WRITTEN BY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT EDITORIAL TEAM

C

an you imagine the feeling of your own body warmth slowly melting the ice that was holding you, leaving you to slip further down the narrow crevasse you’ve fallen into?

You’ve lost your phone, you’ve lost your flare. Your family will call the emergency services when you don’t come home but how will anyone find you in poor visibility with no idea of your exact location?

Or maybe it’s something more pedestrian, like your daughter taking her horse out for its regular exercise…when she is struck in the stomach and hurled into the air.

On October 25th, 2017, Lisa, who works at an international school

in Geneva, got the call that no parent ever wants to receive. Her teenage daughter Anna was fighting for her life and being airlifted to hospital.

The paramedic told Lisa to come to the hospital now, to drive straight up to the hospital doors and leave her car. Someone would be waiting for her. There was no time to waste, not minutes, or even seconds. The injuries could be fatal.

Speaking to Lisa she is keen to impress that this was just a normal day. The series of events leading to her daughter being kicked and thrown from standing high into the air by her horse were in no way

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 40

Photo: Rega Photo: Rega

remarkable. Her daughter wasn’t risk taking, it could have happened to anyone.

Lisa’s daughter Anna had over a decade of experience with horses. After returning to the stables that day to fix the horse’s shoe, she had begged her friend to accompany her back to the field to try to exercise her horse again. As Anna led the horse into the field, and despite being an expert handler, the horse unexpectedly kicked back.

The full force struck Anna in the stomach and threw her into the air.

Her friend ran to her, but realizing it was serious, called their coach for help.

The coach asked if she was moving. She wasn’t. Could she speak and respond? She couldn’t. The coach ended the call and immediately dialled Rega for an urgent air rescue. There was no time to call 144 and wait to be collected by ambulance. Rega had a helicopter already in transit from another mission and could be there in under 5 minutes. Before the coach could reach the accident from the stables just minutes away, a Rega helicopter was already descending towards Anna. The paramedic on board, who was a horse rider herself, understood the gravity of the situation.

Other riders secured their horses as the helicopter landed, and the paramedics swiftly lifted Anna on board.

When Lisa arrived at the hospital, Anna was surrounded by nearly 20 doctors and nurses. Her ruptured liver was being assessed by an expert in gunshot wounds due to the severity of the bleed. The team watched and waited to see if the blood would coagulate sufficiently to save her liver.

In the weeks following, through Anna’s multiple surgeries, Lisa remembers the exceptional care at the hospital, and she also notes the regular visits from Rega’s care team representative. Without the rapid response and exceptional emergency care of their colleagues, she is sure her daughter would not be alive today.

Rega is a non-profit organization funded by paying members (called patrons), providing 24-hour emergency assistance by air to even the most remote locations in Switzerland. Their highly trained team of pilots and paramedics take on missions ranging from avalanche rescues to hiking accidents, reaching locations in a matter of minutes from the twelve helicopter bases located across Switzerland. Their cutting-edge equipment will soon include an all-weather drone which can search large areas day or night using infrared and phone tracking technology for missing persons.

The 3,552,000 patrons paying an annual fee make an invaluable contribution to the provision of basic medical care by air in Switzerland, and in recognition of this, if a patron needs emergency medical assistance by air, Rega waives all or part of the mission costs where they are not covered by the patron’s own insurance policy.

This, Lisa says, is why patronage is a no-brainer. Since the accident she has been a vocal supporter of the service but is concerned that many expat families living in Switzerland don’t understand what Rega offers and so miss out on signing up for something which could end up saving their lives. It’s not the skiing holidays, she says, families always get insurance for those, it’s the summer hike, or the family bike ride, or even the school run where something goes unexpectedly and horribly wrong when, like for Anna, the minutes it takes to be rescued and rushed to hospital can make the difference between life and death. Anna’s full recovery, against all odds, is testament to this.

You can become a Rega patron using the online form found here: www.rega.ch/patron

Rega in numbers 70,000 New Patrons signed up in 2019 16,782 Missions organized in 2019 1300 - Patients transported from piste 1600 accidents every year 70 CHF annual membership fee for a family 50 Patients repatriated from abroad in March 2020, including multiple coronavirus patients, transported in a patient isolation unit 31 Patients helped by Rega in Switzerland and abroad every day in 2019 12 Helicopter bases located throughout Switzerland, meaning they can reach the most remote areas in just a few minutes 3 Ambulance jets equipped as “flying intensive care units” to transport critically injured patients from abroad back to Switzerland

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 41

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Transferable skills for more career options

degree from the world’s leading hospitality university – EHL also known as Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne – leads to a vast selection of international careers. In fact, nearly half of all EHL alumni work in sectors outside

of hospitality, tourism and F&B, and 50% of them are CEOs, owners, and executive managers. Every year, top international companies such as Apple, LVMH, L’Oréal, Proctor & Gamble, Nestlé, Tesla, and many others, actively recruit EHL graduates for

their hospitality (i.e. customer experience) expertise, cultural “savoir vivre” and business acumen.

Number One Worldwide EHL was the world’s first hotel school, founded in 1893 in Switzerland, and it pioneered the methods that have made Swiss hotel schools so famous. Today, EHL is the world’s leading university of hospitality management with multiple awards for outstanding excellence in hospitality management studies, culinary arts and business education.

• Number 1 University of Hospitality & Leisure, 2019 & 2020, QS World University Rankings • World’s Best Hospitality Management School, 2019 & 2020, CEO World Magazine • One Michelin Star for EHL’s student training restaurant, 2019 & 2020

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 42

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EHL FACTS & FIGURES • 125+ Years of Excellence • 3,200 Students • 120+ Nationalities* • 3 Campuses

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Professional Study Path

A degree at EHL is not the typical university experience, it’s an immersive, interactive learning process that takes students on a personal journey of professional development, self-discovery and entrepreneurship. It is based on dual excellence that balances premium hospitality training with academic courses.

This combination prepares students to be well-rounded professionals who are attuned to customer needs.

Equally important, EHL’s immersive learning approach inspires students to be entrepreneurs and gives them the tools to follow their dreams. The curriculum satisfies their desire to explore, create and interact, while building the soft and hard skills they need for the future of the industry and the world.

In the first year, students explore every aspect of hotel operations and Food & Beverage concepts, they practice cooking and serving in Michelin-star settings, and learn to manage themselves and others by planning and executing many types of events and projects, and that’s just the start. The degree also includes two, 6-month internships, a real-world business consulting project and advanced electives.

Students can even choose to intern in their own startup. All of that on top of a strong business degree foundation.

EHL is constantly striving to offer new and enhanced learning experiences to meet the needs of the industry and students with different backgrounds and career aspirations. For students who enjoy real-world learning, culinary arts and hotel concepts, EHL has a new Professional Pathway to the bachelor’s degree. Based on the EHL campus in Passugg, in a region known for luxury resorts and Alpine tourism, the Professional Pathway offers a good balance of hospitality training and work experience, alternating with management and business courses. This path prepares “fullgrown” professional graduates who have solid work experience when entering the job market.

A Global Education EHL’s new campus in Singapore allows students to gain a wider global perspective during the bachelor’s degree. With this option, students still get the immersive hospitality learning experience, by completing their practical training on the Lausanne campus in Switzerland. Plus, they get to experience Singapore’s big-city vibes and dive into the tech culture as they learn from the examples of multinational businesses, refined tourism and culinary options that abounds in Singapore.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 43

Students can also choose to enroll in Switzerland (Lausanne or Passugg) and spend a semester in Singapore, or viceversa. It’s an ideal course for those who dream of international careers in global business environments.

University Preparation Courses in Summer The best way to find out if hospitality is the right option for you is EHL’s precollege programs or EHL Academy. These one- or two-week courses are offered in summer, on the campuses in Switzerland, for students ages 16 and up. The program gives hospitality-curious students a chance to try it out through hands-on workshops and courses that also develop a business mindset and valuable soft skills, while making international friends and exploring Switzerland’s outdoor activities or cultural highlights.

Get in Touch EHL has admissions teams in regional offices worldwide to assist candidates and their parents to choose a program and prepare an application. They also offer information sessions, evaluations and guidance during open days on campus in Switzerland and Singapore. Contact admissions@ehl.ch or visit www.ehl.edu to learn more.

DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE IN CHILDREN:

What are the signs and how can you help?

WRITTEN BY DR. LAURENCE VAN HANSWIJCK DE JONGE

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 44

I

remember clearly the first time I saw him, holding onto his skateboard, and smiling. He had been sent to me with a severe lack of motivation to do schoolwork.

He sat and chatted with me politely, but as he talked to me about school and friends it became clear that there was more going on than a simple lack of motivation. His smile would fade and a certain darkness came over him. I asked him if he felt an emptiness inside, a dark hole. He immediately said yes, and tears welled up. He spoke about how no one saw his pain, and although on the outside he could pretend he was alright, he struggled inside with this deep emptiness.

It wasn’t only schoolwork where he lacked motivation, it was also his friendships and everything else in his life. He couldn’t see his future and he didn’t have any drivers. He was an empty shell. To me, he was a bright spark: witty, extremely smart, and levelheaded, but every day he struggled with surviving this darkness inside.

You may wonder if there were any environmental factors, but the answer is not really. He had a loving and supportive family who had reached out to get help.

They had difficult conversations with him and were constantly vigilant. After I left the region and he was referred to a new Psychologist, his family fought constantly for him, telling the professionals that the medication was not working. He changed doctors 4 times in 9 months, but could find no relief.

To my great sadness, at just 15 he lost his battle with the empty void he felt. We lost a beautiful soul far too early, but for him there was no other way out. It was the only way to get relief. Relief from a battle that far too many don’t understand.

The importance of discussing this difficult topic It’s a misconception that talking about suicide causes kids and teens to think about doing it. It is impossible to know whether or not a child is having suicidal thoughts if you are too afraid to ask the question.

The notion that children cannot get clinically depressed or have suicidal thoughts is also a common misconception. Research indicates that one in every four adolescents will have an episode of major depression during high school, and tragically the latest

data shows suicide to be the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 241. Suicide does affect children and adolescents, and avoiding the topic won’t teach how to get help if they need it.

What causes depression?

Depression is related to changes in brain chemistry. The chemical most frequently out of balance in our brains is serotonin and norepinephrine. This can be hard to work with as we all have different neurochemical makeup and the medication that works for one does not necessarily work for the next

child.

Researchers still don’t completely understand the triggers, but most believe it’s caused by a combination of biological and environmental factors. Many people who are depressed have a family history of depression or other mental illness. For example, a child who has one depressed parent has a 25 - 50 percent chance of suffering depression themselves. If both parents have had problems with the disease, the likelihood goes up to 75 percent.

Some depression is also due to traumatic life events, including divorce, abandonment, violence, or abuse.

1 According to the latest data from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 45

How do I know if my child is depressed?

Depression often goes hand in hand with other physical and mental health problems.

Some children may be depressed because of a chronic illness, such as diabetes. A youngster who has an eating disorder or a substance abuse problem, as well as kids who are constantly defiant, disagreeable, and getting into trouble with authorities, may also suffer from depression.

There is also something called “smiling depression”. Smiling depression involves appearing happy to others and smiling through the pain, keeping the inner turmoil hidden.

Some signs of depression: • Physical symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, stomachaches, neck aches, arms or legs hurt due to muscle tension, digestive disorders. (ruling out other medical causes) • Persistent unhappiness, negativity, irritability, bouts of crying • Apathy, lack of energy • Poor school performance (in contrast to performance in the past) • Uncontrollable anger or outbursts of rage.

• Overly self-critical, unwarranted guilt, low self-esteem.

• Inability to concentrate, think straight, remember, or make decisions, possibly resulting in refusal to study in school or an inability (due to depression or attention deficit disorder) to do schoolwork.

• Difficulty sleeping • Sleeping too much, not interested in getting up • Slowed or hesitant speech or body movements, or restlessness (anxiety).

• Loss of interest in once pleasurable activities.

• Change in appetite, noticeable weight loss or weight gain, or abnormal eating patterns.

• Chronic worry, excessive fear.

• Preoccupation with death themes in literature, music, drawings, speaking of death repeatedly, fascination with guns/ knives.

• Suicidal thoughts, plans, or attempts.

If your child exhibits any symptoms of depression, ask yourself three questions: 1. Is this behavior new?

2. Is it long-lasting (going on for several weeks or more)?

3. Are the symptoms interfering with their ability to function at home, in school, or with their friends?

“Smiling depression involves appearing happy to others and smiling through the pain, keeping the inner turmoil hidden.”

If you answer yes to any of those questions, you should probably have your child evaluated by a child or adolescent psychologist or other licensed mental health professional trained to work with children and adolescents.

Recognizing your child is depressed early on and seeking treatment can help them find the skills to get it under control. And if depression runs in the family, it can also help you and others get the same help.

How do I know if my child is suicidal?

Suicidal thoughts, also known as suicidal ideation, may not always be completely obvious to others, not even to a child’s parents. Part of the reason for that is that children with suicidal thoughts will probably not speak directly about them as an adult might.

Trust your gut. If you notice behavioral changes that aren’t a one-time issue, take note. While suicidal behavior is often associated with symptoms of depression, you might also notice the following changes in your child: • An interest in and/or preoccupation with suicide or death.

• Your child’s clothing may change.

• The shows they watch on television may become darker.

• The websites they visit on the computer can be suicide related.

• Their writing in journals or even on homework may become darker and suicide related.

• Drawings about death.

• They identify with others who are depressed or have spoken of suicide.

• Isolating from others.

• Not communicating with friends or family.

• Giving away possessions or writing a will.

• Increased aggression.

• Feelings of hopelessness.

• Giving away favourite possessions.

• Gathering materials (e.g. pills).

On the other hand, sometimes a child will speak directly about wanting to die INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 46

or a wish to kill themselves. They might even speak indirectly about wanting “to make it all go away” or thinking “the world would be a better place without me”, “I am a burden on everyone”, “my life has no purpose”.

There are two types of suicidal statements or thoughts. An active statement might be something like, “I’m going to kill myself.”

A passive statement might include, “I wish I could go to sleep and not wake up,” or, “I wouldn’t mind if I got hit by a bus.” People often ignore passive statements, but they should be taken just as seriously. Younger children might say something like, “You’ll be better off when I’m gone,” or, “No one cares if I’m here.”

If your child hasn’t openly expressed any suicidal thoughts, it’s important to recognize the possible symptoms of childhood depression, since these are often associated with suicidal thoughts.

Depression vs Suicide indicators Studies show that in general hopelessness, lack of optimism and overall anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure) were associated with depression with suicide ideation, whereas dissatisfaction and not feeling lively were associated with depression without suicide ideation.

At what point is there a larger risk for suicide during depression Depression is complex, with something like a spectrum ranging from mild to severe. At the very severe end, it is exceedingly hard to function at all. Sufferers often stay in bed and are unable to get dressed or eat. It is often said that when these people start to get a surge of energy, and return to some of their daily activities - going to school, sitting down for dinner - that they have the highest risk of suicide as they have energy to put towards it. Kids and teens with so-called “smiling depression” are more at risk, hiding behind a smile but breaking on the inside. Often when they take their lives friends will say “I had no idea they were suffering”.

acquaintance exhibiting any of these signs, you are not powerless to help them. Don’t hesitate to use specific language, such as asking, “Are you thinking about killing yourself?” If the answer is yes or maybe, ask them what they feel most comfortable doing, whether it’s calling a crisis hotline or scheduling a counseling or doctor’s appointment. If a person is thinking of suicide, it’s also important to ask them if they have a plan.

If they say yes, assist them in seeking immediate help. They can walk straight into an emergency room or urgent care clinic.

What should I do if my child talks about suicide?

Always take this threat seriously.

Be Compassionate • Your child needs to know that you recognize and respect their feelings.

• Even if you do not quite understand their thoughts, don’t dismiss their feelings.

• Avoid comments like “What do you have to be depressed about?” or “Don’t be ridiculous.”

• Dismissive comments can cause a child to hide their feelings or become defensive.

Be a Good Listener • Allow your child to talk openly and express their opinions and thoughts.

• Avoid interrupting, judging or punishing them for their feelings.

• Listening demonstrates that they have someone they can confide in to help talk through their feelings.

Be Honest • Don’t make promises you cannot keep.

• Don’t go into detail about topics that you are not certain of.

• Do tell your child what you do know.

Ask Questions If you are concerned, directly ask your child if they are thinking about suicide.

Contrary to what was believed in the past, talking about suicide will not give your child ideas, instead it can help them recognize the problem and know when and

how to ask for help.

Parental support, including listening to and comforting your child, is associated with a lower incidence of suicidal thoughts in middle school-age children.

If there are any safety concerns, do not provide judgment or discipline; simply remove your child from immediate danger, do not leave them alone, and get them immediate help.

Never dismiss suicidal thoughts in a child and never promise to keep them a secret. Any suicidal thoughts or behaviors should be brought to the attention of your child’s pediatrician or mental health provider immediately. If needed, bring the child to an emergency room or call an ambulance.

What Can You Do Today?

If you see a loved one or even an

Through the lens of the mom of the bright soul we lost far too soon: 1. Dont be afraid to talk about the most difficult subjects even after an attempt, the suicide note, the pain.

2. Read and talk about suicide attempt survivors and family survivors. It would have helped us with internalizing and dialogs, especially with experts.

3. Recognize you “default to truth’, you are wired to believe your child tells the truth not that they hide their pain.

4. Insist on continuity between experts when there is change. Have previous doctors have an in-depth debrief with the new ones. Also be tough with the doctors, persist if you feel that something is not correct or that the medication is not right.

Trust your gut.

5. Importantly, understand that you can’t approach a sick mind with normal logic.

Suicide is preventable, and people who feel hopeless can go on to live full and healthy lives. While you can’t control another person’s actions, you can be a powerful and path-defining force in their life. So what can you do today to help a loved one?

H.O.P.E Hold On Pain Ends.

Dr. Laurence van Hanswijck de Jonge, PhD Child Development https://www.laurencevanhanswijck.com/ Laurence van Hanswijck de Jonge is a Developmental Clinical Psychologist with a background in Neuropsychology who provides developmental and psychological assessments for English speaking children between the ages of 3 and 18 at KidsAbility in the Cayman Islands. Her practice is rooted in Positive Psychology and her belief in the importance of letting our children flourish through building on their innate strengths.

She is certified by the University of Pennsylvania, USA, to run the cutting edge resilience building programme for children. She is also a CogMed coach, an evidence-based Computer Training programme which sustainably improves attention by training working memory.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 47

ADVERTORIAL

ISBERNE

– STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE

R

ecent years have seen a shift in how people work and the importance of flexibility, mobility and multilingualism.

ISBerne has been watching these trends and implementing new initiatives which will create inclusion for the local community and their growing globalisation giving a new twist on the concept, ‘think global, act local’.

ISBerne was initially founded to accommodate embassy families.

They did this by offering education in English for their children while they were living in Switzerland. Subsequently, multi-national companies started sending the children of their expatriate families to ISBerne as well. For 50 years, this was the model with which ISBerne thrived. However, with changes in technology, we have seen the family profile shift. In short, professional society is becoming more technology-dependent and using more English in the workplace.

ISBerne is now offering more English language learning opportunities for the local community.

English has been taught in local Swiss schools for years. However, the demand for a better command of the language is increasing with globalisation. In response to this, ISBerne has launched Kickstart English Summer Camp, added a higher level class to INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 48

ADVERTORIAL

their after school English courses and is accepting students who have completed obligatory schooling in the Swiss system into the MYP Grade 10 to do a Brückenangebot-Passerelle in English. An opportunity for local students to do an immersive ‘year abroad’ experience without leaving home!

Students who complete the grade 10 year successfully can then either transition back into the swiss school system or they may opt to continue and follow the 2-year International Baccalaureate Diploma. Upon successful completion, it opens doors to universities around the world.

For local Swiss students who want to speak English fluently or dream of studying abroad, these opportunities are easily accessible here on the ISBerne campus. They can open, literally, a world of possibilities.

Another initiative the school introduced was a 1:1 Device programme for our Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) and Diploma Programme (IBDP) students.

All students have to have their own laptops and the school staffs an IT Integrator to ensure that not only are the students supported in accessing learning materials digitally but that our faculty is adept at the delivery. The school introduced the use of Schoology, a learning platform which supported a virtual classroom experience, allowing users to create, manage, and share learning resources.

In the Primary Years Programme (IB PYP), students have access to computers in the classroom, as well as ipads, which enable students to become familiar with digital learning before they transition into middle school. The school introduced See Saw, a learning platform that allows teachers to share the classroom experience and classwork with parents. See Saw enables parents to stay informed. It also gives them an opportunity to partner with the school to support their child’s learning at home.

With the recent COVID-19 world crisis, ISBerne teachers and students were well prepared to transition to Distance Learning.

With school closure being announced late on a Friday afternoon, teachers met on Monday for a briefing of the situation and targeted training with our IT Integrator, and other ‘teaching experts’ Tuesday was a day dedicated to final preparation for distance learning and by Wednesday, school was in session. From home.

Feedback from parents and students has been overwhelmingly positive which is very encouraging for the school and the teachers who face the unusual challenge of working remotely.

Our Parents say it best: • Thank you for all of the efforts by the teachers. It was a quick change to go from face to face learning to digital learning.

• I am AMAZED and incredibly impressed by the teachers and staff. We are in touch with friends all over the globe, and ISBerne has handled changes to distance learning EXCEPTIONALLY WELL. • Wonderful work done by teachers and the school staff to make the digital learning a reality so fast! We are impressed and the children love the feedback they get. I know it will be a challenge and many more days to come. However, I just wanted you to know that we appreciate all the efforts done by ISBerne!

• We have a full day of school every day! Thank you for putting so much effort in our kids so that they can keep on learning even though they are just in ELC and Grade 1. Very different than [what

is happening in our home country.] We are feeling blessed to be a part of ISBerne The virtual classroom has been a growth experience for teachers.

ISBerne teachers have been utilising the wide variety of practical tools found on Google Suites to connect with students during the distance learning programme. The live video feed offers a unique view of students, their engagement and level of focus. Therefore, the teachers are able to experience this from a new perspective.

Teacher comment:

I just had my first hangout with my Advisory class. 18 of them joined. It was so nice to see and hear them. It genuinely lifted my mood. (I could see) their personalities shining through their comments and photos they post.

Also, we went through expectations and clarified questions. It was a great opportunity for them to see and talk to each other as well. I will definitely request a live check-in for my other classes.

-MYP German Teacher Students also are self-organising virtual meet-ups amongst themselves for work sessions and group projects. Feedback from our secondary school students has been positive. For example, they have been finding the challenges of Distance Learning similar to homework and group work under normal circumstances. However, all students, especially the younger students, find the lack of inperson socialising challenging.

Despite the technological-savvy of ISBerne teachers and students, there has still been a steep learning curve for everyone in terms of exclusively using technology to teach, learn and socialise.

The most immediate finding from this experience for ISBerne has been that technology, no matter how sophisticated, can never replace the value of face to face interaction in a school and in life.

Forward-thinking across the school is a key motivator at ISBerne and has proven to be beneficial for not just their students, but for their families, their staff and the local community as well.

For more information about Kickstart English Summer Camp or the Grade 10 Brückenangebot-Passerelle, see our website at isberne.ch

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 49

Is “sharenting” taking away our children’s right to privacy?

WRITTEN BY SARA LLOYD

M

y nine-year-old is quick to shout, “I hate you mum.”

She is spirited to say the least and has never been one to hold back her opinions. This happened when I recently sent a picture of the two of us safely arriving in Geneva airport, to her granny and she was not happy about it.

She said “I hate you mum, you should have checked with me first,” perhaps her wording was a little strong, but she was right.

A young girl wanting control over her own image and what happens to it is a good thing, something to be applauded even.

Saying that, I didn’t enjoy her verbal battering at the time. Despite it being a private message to a family member, I had not asked for her consent and unwittingly I had fallen into the trap of “sharenting.” The word for parents over-sharing or sharing without their child’s knowledge pictures or details about their lives.

Later, I felt proud that she understood the importance of the indelibility of her digital fingerprint at such a young age. I was pleased that through the discussions we have had at home and the training she has had at school, she has already learnt ways to protect herself online. I just pray that it will be enough to see her through her teenage years in safety.

Her generation is the first to be born into the glare of such public scrutiny and her experiences growing up will shape her understanding of privacy.

She is part of a new generation, growing up in uncharted territory, where much of what was private is now public and we don’t yet know

where this change will lead us.

I am certainly not alone when it comes to being called out by our children. Gwyneth Paltrow posted a snap from her ski holiday of her and her daughter Apple Martin on a ski-lift to her almost 7 million followers. Later Apple replied from her own Instagram account, “Mom we have discussed this. You may not post anything without my consent.”

How often do we look at our own actions and ask ourselves are we over sharing information about our children?

As educators and parents, we hear daily about the risky situation children put themselves in online, but how often do we look at our own actions and ask ourselves are we over sharing information about our children? We track our children’s whereabouts with the GPS on their phones, we post family images on face book and who knows whether Alexa may be listening into our kitchen table discussions? There is no doubt that today parenting has become a digitally shared experience.

This is clearly a discussion which is long overdue as some research has found that the number of parents who post pictures of their children on Facebook reaches 98% (Bartholomew et al., 2012). At the same time the frequency of posts is growing in many regions around the world, so that now every 60 seconds 136,000 photos are posted on Facebook alone (zephoria. com). It is becoming a form of social voyeurism. Researchers have found a correlation between the number of

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 50

photos shared and the number of facebook friends someone has.

It makes sense for us expats who want to keep in touch with friends and family back home, sharing pictures of our children often comes from the best possible intentions. As generation X parents we are not digital natives and have little in common with our ultra-connected children who are growing up in the wild frontier of the internet where the tech behemoths are relatively unfettered.

Companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook have taken our personal information in return for the use of their services. Perhaps we were naïve and, not many saw where this would take us with Cambridge Analytica, Trump and beyond.

In many ways perhaps we were the lucky ones. The bad haircuts, the spots and braces from our teenage years will remain hidden in our parents’ photo-albums, whereas millennials know they will have to live with their digital images forever.

It is important our children know that their drunken escapades and inappropriate photos, when captured online, could get thrown up in searches by future employers who may decide not to offer that internship, or university place after all. None of us know what the google algorithms will choose to retrieve in the future.

Did we realise that we were part of the problem? When we post about our children’s lives what should cross our mind before we hit “share”? Often the steps we need to take to protect our children’s data online are complicated and can be time consuming. Making sure we are doing the best we can is often not intuitive or common sense and requires a concerted effort to limit our digital sharing and change patterns we have already established.

Are we setting strict limits for our children and then not following them ourselves?

Here are some tips to keep your family sharing positive and as low risk as possible in our increasingly digital first culture: Sara has been an education consultant for TutorsPlus for over 10 years and is an expert on international education in Switzerland. She is also a parent of two lively children.

If you would like to contact Sara to answer your educationrelated questions, you can contact her at info@tutorsplus.com.

If you would like a tutor for our child and to be matched with one of our highly experienced professional teachers visit www.tutorsplus.com today.

TutorsPlus - Top tutors for international families Working with the best teachers is our magic ingredient and TutorsPlus continues to be run by parents and teachers who understand international schools like no-one else. Since 2006 TutorsPlus has helped thousands of students improve academically, get ahead and back on track. Whether students need IB , IGCSE or general school support we can help in all subjects. Many parents say that TutorsPlus has helped keep their sanity too.

TOP TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY’S PRIVACY ONLINE

1

Have a discussion and decide as a family what it is ok and not ok to share.

We can all be tempted to put off the difficult conversations until an issue arises. However, starting these conversations early is a way of protecting your child. In the same way as you talk about being careful of strangers and crossing the road safely, we need to bring online behaviour into those childhood conversations too.

2

Be aware that it is near impossible to control what happens to online images.

It is best to assume anything you share online could be published anywhere in the world. It is terrifying but children’s images have been taken from private facebook accounts have turned up on sites in China. There is a phenomenon called digital kidnapping where individuals download photos of other people’s children and post them as if they were their own.

3

Think, will I and my children be happy to see this online in 10 years?

As we post a cute image of our child, it is hard to think that one day they will be grown up and may not appreciate that we shared the image. It is hard to project our thoughts so far into the future, but it is important to make sure we aren’t posting anything that could be embarrassing or controversial in the future.

4

Could any post be used to bully your child?

An image that is cute to parents, may be mortifying for our children. With the complexity of connections within social media children in your child’s year at school may well be able to view the photo even if your settings are friends only.

5

Don’t share any information which could lead to identity theft.

Yes, this happens to children too. Sharing the name, date of birth, location or uniform that will identify the school they attend could lead to your child’s identity being stolen. According to the UK report, Barclays bank forecast that by 2030 “sharenting” will account for 2 out of 3 identity thefts, costing hundreds of millions each year.

6

Are your privacy settings maximised?

This is an obvious question, but it can be surprising how many of our sharing platforms default settings can be improved to get higher levels of privacy and protection.

7

Is your geo-locator sharing more data than you are aware of about your family?

If you share your GPS location data with your family, be aware of the risks of that data being shared or hacked into.

Researchers at MIT and the Catholic University of Louvain found that just four time-stamped locations could uniquely identify 95% of individuals.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 51

A STEP INTO THE UNKNOWN How one school is embracing the challenge of remote working WRITTEN BY CHRISTELLE LONEZ

I

n early January, as the world watched on in horror at events unfolding in Wuhan, it would have seemed unthinkable that just a couple of months later we would find ourselves in Geneva in semi-confinement, with our physical campuses closed to students for the first time in our 96 year history. And yet this week has been our first week of Online Learning for all 4463 students currently enrolled at the Ecole Internationale de Genève.

As the distant epidemic quickly showed signs of evolving into a global pandemic, it became clear we needed to start planning for a “what if ” scenario. At our Campus des Nations, as an IB Primary Years Programme school, our thoughts quickly moved towards how best to foster inquiry learning in an online model: One of the strengths of our programme is the meaningful integration of technology and the fact that every one of our students has access to a device while in school. Another key approach is our interactive method of teaching and learning, with students collaborating and building their understanding of new concepts, knowledge and skills through hands-on learning engagements. The big question we all faced was how to make online learning as interactive and collaborative as our regular lessons without overwhelming our primary students with tools and websites.

We began by looking at which tools to use and settled on Google, which the students were familiar with as we already use Google for Education in our school. We were also already using SeeSaw in the classroom to document learning, so the jump to using this from home was a natural shift. Before closing school, our students experimented with Google Meet, spreading themselves around the school to have interactive lessons, and we ensured that we knew who would need to borrow a school device and who already had their own at home.

As a pedagogical team, we felt it would be important to agree early on on the parameters for effective distance learning, so we designed our Principles of Online Learning and Essential Agreements. We included expectations from students and parents, knowing that online learning would be a shared responsibility.

Teachers share plans and activities, parents ensure a safe and suitable place for students to work, and students and parents together develop a daily routine for learning at home. While encouraging independence, parents provide an appropriate level of support and redirect children if distracted, and whilst they need to provide a space which is visible to others when

communicating online to ensure good child protection standards are met, they also need to know when to blend into the background and let their children’s self-agency and autonomy come to the fore.

In order to give our primary students an active role in their learning, we devised what could best be described as a “weekly menu” of learning opportunities, with a column for “must do”, one for “could do” and one for “would like to do” - allowing students some agency in their schedule.

The teaching team for each year planned this collaboratively, in order to ensure consistency of learning across the group.

We were well prepared, but the switch to online lessons has still been a steep learning curve: after two days we realized that the amount of communication shared with parents needed to be centralized, which led us to the creation of a website for parents and students. After three, we decided that the teacher’s morning greeting which students were supposed to react to wasn’t effective and moved toward a morning plenary for the entire class through Google Meet, to facilitate registration. Four days in, we are starting to establish a rhythm, but now thoughts start turning to how we can continue to evolve and sustain online learning in case this lasts not for weeks, but for months.

We are also thinking about how to ensure that screen time and digital tools for learning and sharing assignments are kept to a minimum; how to create a sustainable timetable that allows for small, focused group discussions; how we maintain social contact and group work between children, with both Switzerland and France (where many of our children live) in semi-confinement; and how we enable staff to continue planning and working collaboratively, when their days have already become so busy that asking for additional online meetings seems unreasonable.

One thing is sure, when all of this is over, and we return to campus, we will all have learned new skills, new teaching strategies, built resilience, reflected on our practice, and will be better teachers and learners for it. But also, the lack of human contact over this period will have made us realize the importance of the people around us, and demonstrated that whilst learning can happen online, schools are communities of people who are stronger together, and that it is the small social interactions that we often take for granted which really create our culture and make us human beings.

For more information, please check out their website here: https://www.ecolint.ch/

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 52

Christelle LONEZ’s 24-year career as an educator has taken her from her native Belgium to Louisiana (USA), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Lilongwe (Malawi), and most recently to Geneva (Switzerland) in 2015. These experiences have enabled her to gain wide-ranging perspectives on educational best practice around the world.

Early in her career, Christelle taught French in Louisiana public schools for the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), whose mission is to support and grow Louisiana’s francophone communities through scholarships, French immersion and various community and language skill-building programmes. This experience impacted her professionally and personally, increasing her existing belief in the power of language learning and caring relationships. Over the years, she has become a passionate advocate for international education, inclusion, language learning and education for peace, knowing the impact an education can have for success in life.

Currently she is the Primary School Principal at Ecolint Campus des Nations, driving innovation through student-centred decisionmaking and a focus on inclusive education, inquiry-based and experiential learning.

Christelle is an active volunteer in the International Baccalaureate Educator Network participating and leading accreditation visits on behalf of the International Baccalaureate Organisation.

She is a Jacobs Foundation fellow, developing and enhancing her knowledge of Early Childhood Education, based on up to date research, and integrating innovative educational practices in her practice and that of her teaching team, with the aim to make her school an even better place for its students.

Christelle is a keen photographer, enjoys hiking and skiing, international cuisine and cinema and enjoys travelling with her two children, the youngest of whom is a student at Campus des Nations Secondary school.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 53

Dyeing to learn about history!

Gardens provide a unique insight into the colours of the past WRITTEN BY HESTER MACDONALD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 54

G

ardens are often used as outdoor classrooms for learning about nature and ecology, but did you know that they can play a part in learning about history too?

One of the ways we can understand the past is to think about what people looked like, what they wore and how they lived.

Exploring natural dyes from the garden is an easy and low cost way to do this.

We have lots of evidence from tombs, paintings and scrolls about dyeing processes throughout history. It is possible to find out what cloth the Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Greeks or Vikings wore, and use the produce from the garden, or the kitchen, to create the same colours. For older students it is interesting to consider why dyers were considered to be low in the social hierarchy, how many dyes and mordants (the product used to help keep the dye in the fabric after treatment) were poisonous, or which dyes were particularly precious.

The Ancient Egyptians dyed various fabrics like wool and silk, with a complex system of overdyes and additional colours. Luckily for us they also left papyri detailling their dyeing methods. They used indigo, from several different plants, for blue and a wide variety of plants for yellows including henna, crocus as well as safflower. Safflower (Carthamnus tinctorius) is an easy annual crop, sow the seeds in April outdoors, with protection, or from mid May without protection. The Ancient Egyptians grew this as a commercial crop, and the flower heads were used to dye the cloth that mummies were wrapped in.

Older students could research the most expensive dye in Roman

times, Tyrian purple, made from mollusc shells, and so precious that only emperors and senior senators were allowed to wear it. The paler colours of reds and pinks were made with Madder (Rubia tinctorum) which you can easily add to a school garden.

Sow seeds in spring or autumn, and dig up the roots for use in dyeing, but expect to wait at least 5 years for the roots to grow to a usable size for dyeing!

The Ancient Greeks, like the Romans and the Egyptians, used dyes from all over Europe and sometimes further afield, but one of their best-recorded and most popular dyes came from the humble crocus. The frescoes from Akotiri show girls gathering crocuses, probably in order to extract the stamens for use in dyeing.

Crocuses, whether used for dyeing or for making saffron, are a very labour-intensive crop, and anything made from them is expensive.

The fine yellow cloth made with crocus dye was synonymous in Greek culture with wealth and power, and the epithet “kroko” which is used to describe many heroines and heroes reflects this connection. You can grow crocuses at home in pots or in the garden, plant in the autumn and see how many it would take to make a dye bath.

The Vikings used lots of different vegetable and animal-based products to dye their clothes, including lichen. Lichens grow really slowly, so much so that the Italian dyeing industry in the early 15th century rendered extinct several species of lichen due to overcollection. Harris tweed, made on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, still uses lichens collected on the island for dyeing the wool used in the cloth.

Photo: Nathalie Pellissier

Try it in the classroom or at home Growing vegetables for dyeing Easy grow vegetables that you can eat and use the remnants for dyeing include spinach, red cabbage, elderberries and both brown and yellow onion skins. You can grow all of these in a school garden, or at home in a garden. If you have a balcony, then all except the elderberries are easy to grow in pots.

Spinach and red cabbage can all be planted as seeds or as young plants. Cabbage can be planted from February to April as a seed, or a young plant from April to June. Spinach can be sown any time, depending on the variety, outdoors from mid-March to May, and then for the winter varieties from August to October. If there is a risk of frost, throw some horticultural fleece over them, or invest in some cloches or mini poly-tunnels.

Elderberries are very easy to add to any garden, if you have some space. The flowers make a wonderful cordial too, used as a cure for all kinds of ailments.

If you don’t have a garden, or access to a garden, there are plenty of ingredients in your kitchen that you could try: tea leaves, pomegranate seeds and skins, avocado skins and pits or for a very vibrant colour, try using turmeric.

We are used to the bright colours of artificial modern dyes, and natural vegetable dyes in particular, can look very disappointing in comparison, so prepare yourself and your students for more subtle colours than is usual today. Additionally, many vegetables and fruit that are suggested for home dye projects actually yield a muddy brownish-pink. Beetroot and raspberries, although they stain clothes, make for poor dyes. The other element to consider, particularly for in-classroom experiments, is that many vegetables and fruit used for dyeing require a mordant.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 55

Photo: Nathalie Pellissier

Mordants can include Alum – readily available in pharmacies Nails in vinegar – rusted nails soak in vinegar for 3 days, but don’t put a lid on the container as it can explode Vinegar – make a vinegar solution with four parts water to one part vinegar (vinegar isn’t technically a mordant, but an additive that modifies pH, essential for those dyes that require an acidic pH to “strike” or adhere to the cloth.)

Salt – 16 parts water to one part salt Without the fixative, the dye will just wash out again. See below for using the mordant.

Good choices without a mordant Red cabbage Black tea Saffron Turmeric (with some vinegar in the dye bath) Using the mordant If your chosen vegetable requires a mordant, then start by simmering your fabric in the mordant mixture for about an hour.

If you are doing this in class, you might want to prepare the fabric before class and keep it damp, as it works better when wet. If you’re doing this at home, you can easily do something else, like prepare the dye bath while the fabric is soaking.

Making a dye bath Chop up and then gently simmer the chosen vegetables in the same volume of water for an hour, and strain. You can use the dye bath immediately by putting your textile straight into the same saucepan and simmering for another hour. If you don’t want to, or don’t have time to use the dye bath immediately, most will keep in a glass jar for a few days.

Rinse the fabric in cold water and leave it to dry.

What to dye?

Animal fibres are the easiest to dye, but tend to be more expensive.

Plain white cotton T-shirts that have been washed a few times are

a good classroom option, as are old plain tea towels. Ideally the items fit neatly into the saucepan you will use without the need for messy removal.

Any special equipment?

For making vegetable-based dyes you will need a stainless steel pan that you plan to only use for dyeing (these vegetable-based dyes are all non-toxic, but it’s good practice to avoid mixing foodpreparation and dye-preparation vessels), a sieve, a wooden spoon that you don’t mind dyeing, and rubber gloves, to avoid dyeing your hands and possible irritation from the ingredients.

You can enjoy the fabric as it is, or use it as part of a project, making a mixed media collage, or a historical display for the end of the unit.

Gardens to visit for inspiration Here in Switzerland, you can see dye plants at the walled garden at the Château de Prangins in Canton Vaud. This newly created section of the garden was made in connection to the permanent exhibition “Les Indiennes”, a retrospective on the fabric known as chintz, and a look at the plants used to make the rich colours.

Nathalie Pellissier, a guide at the Chateau and creator of the practical “plants for dyeing” course explained “ The new area allows practical observation of plants that are used for dyeing.

They will be used in combination with plants growing in the Park and the Orchard in our hands-on dyeing classes. We look at many different aspects of dye colours, including indigos, yellows, and blacks, such as those usable in inks, as well as trialling different lichens that have been sustainably collected and work with different fibres, such as nettles.” If you visit the chateau gardens for yourself you’ll see plants like Coreopsis, as well as Madder and golden marguerites.

Hester Macdonald is a garden designer, broadcaster, the founder of the Swiss Gardening School and the author of “Gardens Schweiz Suisse Switzerland” a trilingual guide to the 52 best gardens open to public across Switzerland, published by Bergli Books

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 56

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Why a US university could be a better option than Oxbridge Parents need to look beyond the UK’s top universities when seeking a world-class education for their children, suggests Chloe Godsell, head of UK partnerships at Crimson Education.

F

rom the hallowed lecture halls of Ivy League institutions to the tech incubator labs of MIT and creative hubs of the liberal arts colleges, the top universities in the United States are looking for students who go well beyond academic strength alone.

But can they rival an Oxbridge education as the perceived golden ticket to opportunity and success for your child?

Understanding the very different learning environments offered by UK and US institutions through these formative years, could help your family make the right decision to see your child flourish, whichever side of the Atlantic that may be on.

Keeping your options open For school-leavers who have relished the final years of school, studying several subjects and honing their extracurricular skills, US options for higher education may play to their strengths. Universities in the States allow students to keep their options open in terms of choosing their Major, with opportunities to try out, or switch courses through the first two years.

So, a student might choose to study international relations, sociology and a foreign language in their first two years, even though they have applied to study English literature. This gives students huge flexibility to pursue their academic interests, however diverse they may be, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 58

and means the decisions they make when leaving school aren’t set in stone for the duration of their university life.

In contrast, Oxford and Cambridge offer students a deep dive into their chosen subject from day one. With the opportunity to be taught by world experts in your chosen field just weeks after leaving school, there is generally little room for changing courses once you’ve been offered a place. While this may be less appealing to school graduates who are still exploring where their strengths lie, for those with a particular passion, this full immersion into your subject from the beginning can be fascinating and fulfilling

Time for study and travel In the UK most courses take three years to complete, with exceptions in some subjects such as languages. Many students choose to take a gap year either before or after university, stay on to do a masters, or dive straight into work after this fairly short period of study.

In the US however, a bachelor’s degree typically takes four years to complete, often with options for study abroad programs within this.

Both options have their advantages for those wanting to take their time to study and explore, or for those desperate to get started with their career, but it’s definitely worth discussing with your child what their hopes and expectations are for time spent in higher education.

A broader application Ben Schwartz, former Ivy League admissions officer and dean of leadership development at Sage Experience, advises students to start planning a US application much earlier than they would in the UK, even three or four years beforehand. That’s because US admissions teams evaluate students on much broader criteria than is typical in the UK. An Oxbridge application focuses heavily on academic ability. In the US, while the first half of an application must show academic strengths, universities are also looking for extracurricular impact and personal qualities alongside intellectual abilities. Unlike interviews for Oxford or Cambridge, there are non-academic as well as subject-based questions. Throughout the university experience too, sports and extracurricular life are a much stronger theme for the US student population as a whole. You only have to watch a televised US college football game to understand the huge role it plays in university life!

A numbers game Students in the UK are permitted to apply to a maximum of five universities, and they can only apply to either Oxford or Cambridge, not both.

The US system is less limiting in that students can apply to 10, 20 or more US universities. So, applicants can split their choices into three categories – aspirational

Wavering on going Stateside? Here are two students who made the leap: Boris, a South London student of Russian and Armenian parentage, initially had his sights set on staying in the UK and studying maths at Cambridge. It wasn’t until Boris heard about the US liberal arts system that he realised he was more suited to US study: “I realised in the US you can do a bit of everything. You can double major.”

He adds: “My first choice was Cambridge to study maths. At some point I realised I liked maths and I worked hard at it, did well in the Olympiad and basically enjoyed being part of that team. But while maths is my favourite subject, I like other things too and realised I wanted to explore as many subjects as possible.”

He recently left London for New York City, where he has joined the very deserving 5.1% of applicants who were accepted to Columbia University last autumn.

Another student, Bluebelle, was accepted by both Oxford and Yale universities.

She chose Yale for the following reasons: “I love maths,” she explains. “But then I also love English because part of me wants to be an author and there’s an amazing physics department at my school so I am also in love with physics, so as for my major, I am just not sure.

“I’m doing English, maths, philosophy and physics for my A Levels and I am thinking about majoring in philosophy at Yale because it covers so many different areas of my interests but to be honest, I have no idea.

“Luckily I have a couple of years before I have to declare,” she sums up.

universities, where there’s a high level of competition to get in, choices which they have a good chance of getting into and safety options, where admission is virtually guaranteed.

For the top universities however, competition for places is tough. For Oxford and Cambridge, approximately 25%1 of all applicants can expect to land a place, but in the American Ivy League, just 7.25%2 were accepted in fall 2018.

Learning style While teaching at Oxford and Cambridge requires regular submission of work, with some students handing in one or two essays per week, these do not count towards your final grade and are generally considered to be a learning tool rather than a means of assessment. Exams at the end of the final year (of course with variation between different subjects) then decide what degree you will be awarded. Some subjects assess students in earlier years too, or require a dissertation to contribute to their grade, but in general, the pressure is loaded into the final weeks of university.

In contrast, many US universities use a system of regular assessment throughout the course to award a degree grade based on performance throughout the student’s time at university.

1 https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/chances-of-getting-into-oxbridge 2 https://wtop.com/news/2019/09/what-it-takes-to-get-accepted-into-the-ivy-league/ INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 59

So if your child is a consistent worker, but finds the pressure of exams difficult, or vice versa, it’s worth considering how they will learn and be assessed through their years at university.

Shaping the future University days are some of the most formative of our lives. With only a few years to savour the unique opportunities for learning and discovery which shape us for years to come, it’s no wonder that schoolleavers and their families feel pressure in deciding where to apply. But whether your child is set on studying medicine, wavering between humanities subjects, or passionate about travel or sport, there are fantastic options at prestigious institutions both in the US and the UK. It’s also worth remembering that this decision is the beginning of your child setting their own course for the future, so trust in their ability to make the best of their time, wherever they choose to go.

Crimson Education has helped hundreds of students get into Ivy League and other globally recognised higher education institutions in 20 countries.

Read Beyond Oxbridge – A parent’s guide to US universities or contact europe@crimsoneducation.org for more information.

Supporting teenagers through school closure in a pandemic WRITTEN BY DR STEVE SIMS

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 60

T

he last few weeks have seen people’s lives changed in ways few could ever have imagined. In one family after another, one or both parents now find themselves working from home, whilst care facilities for younger children have been withdrawn. With the closure of schools, older children and teenagers find themselves without the daily structure school provides.

Until now, the focus has been on the necessity of drastic action to try to suppress the spread of the virus, the provision of finances to support businesses and the readiness, or otherwise, of various national health systems. How long will it be before other factors come to the fore? Things like, how do you cope with the tensions that can arise within a family when its members are forced to remain under the same roof for 24 hours a day, perhaps for weeks or months? Teenagers, so often renowned for their social activity, are now expected to remain in social isolation. Already, I have seen a variety of schemes and suggestions for parents of younger children aimed at keeping them entertained at home for extended periods, but nowhere have I seen anything that discusses how to help teenagers and their parents not just survive the pressures, but to come through the pandemic control measures stronger for the experience.

Issues for teenagers working from home To a very large extent, a teenager’s life revolves around school. It is their place of work, and the nature of their work is the learning that takes place there. By necessity, school is highly structured: everyone knows where they should be and what they should be doing throughout the school day. Alongside the workload, which can be intense, friendship groups thrive within the school community, providing for many the basis for their social life outside school. Almost without warning, all this has been taken away. With schools closed, teenagers are expected to work from home. The support of their peer group, with whom they are used to spending the bulk of each day, has suddenly been removed.

So, what are the issues parents should look out for?

Loss of structure. Even if your teenager’s school provides a full distance-learning programme, the structure will likely be considerably less rigid than the structure of daily school attendance, perhaps leaving significant periods for self-directed study.

Prevarication. The personal vacuum created by the loss of structure may lead to an inability to focus or to initiate meaningful work. Staring blankly at a computer screen, reading words without taking in their meaning, giving up the attempt to understand at the first hurdle, always finding something that needs doing to avoid the work that should be the focus – these are just some of the forms prevarication might take.

Lack of personal organisation and time-management.

Of course, some teenagers excel both in their personal organisation and in the way they manage their time. But many do not. For those whose rooms seem to resemble a rubbish tip, and whose ability to store work in some form of retrievable system seems non-existent, working from home could develop rapidly into a nightmare.

Concerns about the approaching exam season. It is not unusual for teenagers to feel some apprehension as the summer exam season approaches. For older teenagers, their future direction ●

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depends on the outcome of their exams. Preparing for those exams in isolation is very different from preparing as a year group in school, and may increase concerns for some. Added to this, the question in the back of their minds will be whether the exams will actually take place this year and what will happen to their future plans if exams are cancelled.

Distorted balance between work, rest and social interaction. Maintaining a healthy balance between these different aspects of life can be tricky for teenagers at the best of times. The sudden change of parameters could make this more challenging than normal.

Anxiety. The issues outlined above, along with heightened family tensions arising from forced household isolation and a sense of loneliness, could lead to increased levels of anxiety. The danger will become more acute if the situation is prolonged, as some are suggesting will be necessary, for several months. There may be times when fears for their own personal safety, and that of their family and friends, dominate and anxiety peaks for a while. It will be especially important for parents to look out for signs of increased anxiety or panic and offer a calm response. ●

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How can parents support their teenagers?

Many parents will struggle themselves to cope with the changes being imposed on them by the current situation. The normal pattern of going out to work each day, or their own social meetings, provides a measure of relief from family pressures. For the time being, such opportunities for relief have been removed, and the pressures will increase with each day of isolation within the home.

Within that context, parents need to find ways to try to help their teenagers cope with, and gain from, the experience of isolation. So, what can parents do to offer support? Here are a few suggestions: Expect and anticipate tensions. Tensions will arise, not necessarily in the first week, but probably sooner than we might expect. Everyone in the household is having to adapt at the same time to new circumstances that have been forced upon them, and with restrictions on movement outside the home, tensions will increase and erupt if not faced and addressed. Families who recognise the inevitability of tension, who anticipate where the points of friction will be, and who can work together to negotiate compromises, are more likely to find solutions that will work for the whole family. Honest recognition of tension and hard work to resolve them is a strong model that parents can give their teenagers in the current circumstances. One that will lay an excellent basis for any scenario in the future.

Establish a schedule. All members of the family will benefit if an agreed daily schedule can be established. This will give time for the work each family member needs to complete and provide time for other family activities within the home. For those teenagers whose planning skills are not yet sufficiently developed for them to be able to do this unaided, offer to help them draft a personal timetable each week for their schoolwork. This will contribute to the development of a valuable life skill as well as helping to compensate for the loss of structure felt due to the lack of traditional schooling.

Give responsibility. Encourage your teenager to take responsibility for the smooth-running of some area of family life, not just taking out the trash. Real responsibility will help your ●

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and will help them keep a healthier perspective on the difficulties that have forced them together into household isolation.

Understanding the broader perspective. Teenagers sometimes lack the experience to see a broader perspective that extends beyond their own needs, fears and aspirations. Parents have an important role to play here through their own reflection and discussion with their teenagers. For example, understanding that the need for family isolation is as much about protecting others in society by limiting the spread of the virus as it is about protecting themselves and their immediate family, is an important broader perspective. If teenagers can be helped to develop an appreciation of these broader perspectives through this experience, parents will have taken an important step towards producing something positive from a serious situation. Discussion around the subject of reliable sources of information might be a good place to start. ●

And finally …

Social media – help or hindrance?

Social media offers a means for teenagers to keep in touch with each other during this time of physical isolation from their friends.

In terms of school work, it offers a means of peer consultation that is essential to learning. It is also a medium through which teenagers can remain informed about the outside world. However, there needs to be a balance so that social media is not allowed to become the sole source for information or a means of procrastination.

Helping teenagers to develop a sense of control over their social media use, rather than allowing it to control them, will be a further valuable way in which parents can support their teenagers through the present crisis.

teenager feel they are a valued member of the household, and able to make a valid contribution to its shared life.

Be available to listen and talk. Often, teenagers do not want to talk with their parents about their difficulties, fears and hopes; but sometimes they do. Being available, without becoming pushy, so that teenagers can talk when they are ready to do so, is a valuable means of support in times of tension.

Give space, even where there is none. There will be times when your teenager simply needs space and permission to be on their own. If your household inhabits a small living space, this will be especially difficult, but recognising when your teenager needs such space and finding ways to create that space could be a hugely important contribution to the diffusion of tension. Helping your teenager to recognise that others within the household have similar needs and allowing others space (from their music for example) is another important aspect of learning to contribute to a strong family life.

Family conferencing. The development of a weekly family conference, where difficulties can be expressed and mutuallyowned solutions developed, could be an approach that some families might find useful. It is certainly a route to involving the entire family in recognising each other’s difficulties and promoting active participation in family decision-making.

Fun helps relieve tension. The global situation of a health pandemic is a serious situation. However, finding ways for the family to have fun together will help relieve some of the tensions, ●

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Supporting teenagers in the face of death. Given the number of deaths projected to result from the pandemic, most of us will know someone who dies as a result of contracting this virus. For our teenagers, this may mean the loss of an elderly relative, of a close family member, or of a friend. For many teenagers, this might be their first experience of being faced by the death of someone they know. In such circumstances, knowing they have permission to grieve in whatever way they find natural and helpful, to be sad at their loss, to mourn the person who has died, to express their grief, anger and sense of loss, is vital. Here, more than in any other area, parents who make themselves available to listen, comfort and talk, will provide valuable support to their teenagers at a point of genuine crisis in their lives.

The importance of hope. Human beings need to know there is hope. The pandemic is the most serious global situation that most of our teenagers will ever have experienced. However, they need to know that it will not last for ever and they need to learn to see such events in perspective. Helping their teenagers to develop a realistic sense of hope in difficult times is yet another way in which parents can offer invaluable support through the present difficulties.

Dr Steve Sims is author of the blog Regarding Teenagers, Director of the Basel Learning Hub in Switzerland, and Director of Learning Hub International. https://www.regardingteenagers.com/

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 62

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From Library to CoLab D

WRITTEN BY JAMIE WILLIAMS AND MICHAEL KEWLEY

espite pedagogical innovation being one of the key drivers of the Ecole Internationale de Genève’s foundation nearly a century ago, as the world’s first international school, it was only very recently, in 2018, that incoming Campus des Nations Secondary Principal Jamie Williams realised that the way the campus library was designed and used reflected an ancient tradition that was inconsistent with how students learn, especially in an IB Continuum school. Effectively a “book warehouse”, the library was laid out and furnished - as most libraries are - in such a way that made it easy to store and find books, and provide spaces to read in silence. However, it hadn’t taken into account changes in the way 21st century learners access knowledge and information.

Williams realised that in order for the library to meet the needs of the campus’ 1000 students, and to enable them to become “inquirers” in line with the IB learner profile, the space needed to be redeveloped from the ground up to offer everyone the possibility to inform themselves, learn and co-create according to their interests, needs and desires.

As Jamie Williams notes, “It seemed clear to me that if we

wanted to create greater agility in the way of thinking among our students, we had to create spaces that were in line with those ambitions. The space needed to encourage and enable flexibility, teamwork and collaboration. We wanted to rethink the layout and the furnishings to allow for a beneficial experience for our students and remove the typical barriers that libraries contain. This would create a welcoming impression that encouraged students to come in. Previously students entered and exited through a single door, passing through security barriers under the watchful eye of the librarians, and entered a silent space. The furniture was functional, but not necessarily comfortable, and we realised that the large bank of fixed desktop PCs was no longer needed since we had become a Bring Your Own Laptop school. There was a real chance to send the signal that the library was an open and welcoming area where they should feel inspired to pop in and hang out, and provide spaces where they could browse through resources, read the magazines and journals, work with friends, or on their own, or just read for pleasure.”

Working with architectural specialists Knight Frank, Jamie

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 64

Williams, the student council and campus facilities manager Martial Thévenaz developed a futuristic and student-centric proposition, which they presented to Director General Dr David Hawley. Formerly Chief Academic Officer at the International Baccalaureate, David Hawley was inspired by the vision that proposed the development of “spaces that invite and inspire learning in many different ways, from silent spaces for reading and contemplation to collaborative spaces that optimise human interaction, design thinking and problem solving, real learning spaces, and inspiring and creative places for students to learn together”.

Opened in September 2019, the library has been entirely rethought in terms of its space and composition. Gone are the security barriers, and single entry and exit point. Internal walls have been removed, creating a much larger, more airy space, and large windows promote transparency and help communication with the outside. Students can enter the library through several doors, removing the sensation of “checking in” and “checking out” of the space, and a dedicated area has been created for silent study.

A range of new types of furniture has been introduced, including informal easy chairs that encourage students to relax and read, individual study carrels with power points and USB chargers for students wishing to work on their laptops, and soundproof collaboration booths that provide the perfect places to work in small study groups or conduct meetings with their tutors or mentors. The colour scheme is composed of neutral tones, and natural materials such as wood connect the library to the external environment.

Library staff and IT technicians all share an open workspace in the centre of the library, so students and staff can see where they are and ask for help whenever they need it to find a resource, or fix a technical bug. The library has become a space of expression where the work between students is highlighted. Students were invited to participate in a contest to name the space, with the winning name - the “Co-Lab” - highlighting the importance of working together, but also the concept of research which is central to an inquiry-led approach to learning.

Having been in use for six months before the Covid-19 pandemic caused the campus to close, the ultimate test would always be whether students would use the library more than before. Jamie

Williams has no doubt: “I walk through the Co-Lab several times every day, and there is no question that this refurbishment has completely transformed the way students and teachers use the space. There is a palpable buzz all the time, and the area is pretty much full from 8am till 5pm every day. The Co-Lab is probably the most used area of the campus. You can literally see the learning happening before your eyes, and as an educator, there is nothing more inspiring. It is fulfilling our aim for it to become the heart of the school.”

For more information, please check out their website here: https://www.ecolint.ch/ Jamie Williams is Secondary School Principal at Ecolint Campus des Nations. He is a British national, with a rich experience in schools in the UK, Monaco and Geneva. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Soil & Environmental Sciences from the University of Reading and a PGCE from the University of East Anglia, Jamie is a geography specialist. Having worked closely with the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) on the development of the IB Diploma geography syllabus, Jamie remains an examination writer and team leader, as well as a workshop leader, for the IBO. Jamie also previously served as Chairman of the Council for International Schools Environmental Education Committee.

At Ecolint since 2004, Jamie was Assistant Principal before stepping into the Secondary School Principal role. Passionate about developing professional learning communities, using technology to improve learning and data to inform and monitor decision-making, Jamie has been at the heart of significant innovation and improvements at Campus des Nations.

Michael Kewley is Director of Marketing & Stakeholder Relations at Ecolint. A dual British-French national, Michael read for a BA and MA in Modern Languages at Magdalen College, Oxford and has been resident in the Geneva area since 2004. Passionate about language and communication, Michael worked for 17 years at Procter & Gamble in a wide variety of local, regional and global marketing roles. Alongside his professional obligations, Michael is a volunteer fire and medical first responder and has been an elected local councillor in France since 2008.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2020 | 65

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