International School Parent Magazine - Summer 2021

Pre-IB Advice From The Experts

Insider tips on IAs, Extended Essays and TOK

Exploring Switzerland This Summer

Unforgettable summer break ideas in Switzerland

Sleep

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Welcome to the summer 2021 edition of International School Parent magazine.

Isn’t it a wonderful feeling now that everything is opening up nicely? I visited my family in Oberäageri recently. During a tour around the local mountain passes, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing people sitting out on the terraces and meeting with their friends in the sun. With our newfound freedom, my family and I have enjoyed planning our summer holidays and looking at activity camp options for our eldest daughter.

We are well aware that foreign travel is still relatively limited (yawn), so we have prepared an absolute treasure trove of Swiss summer and family-friendly activities to enjoy: hiking, scenic train rides, cycling in the mountains, Italian-influenced adventures in Ticino and much more. There is also a range of unbelievable prizes to be won in our online competitions over the next few months. Keep an eye out on our Facebook page, newsletter, and website for more information on entering.

We have also had the fortune to meet some very interesting headteachers for this edition. We met with Andy Puttock, who has taken the helm at La Côte International School in Aubonne. Andy highlighted the need for a focus on student wellbeing and gave us his insights into the impressive journey that has framed his outlook on education.

Brett Gray, from The Ostrava International School, is another of our interviewees. A fascinating personal journey starting in Prague in the 1980s, Brett and his team created and shaped The Ostrava International School and have built it into a world-class IB International School.

As usual, we have some excellent articles from authors around the world, and we remain committed to the task of helping parents and children make the most of the opportunities an education at an international school in Switzerland provides.

Enjoy the summer break, see you in the Autumn!

Work hard and be the best.

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 2021 | 3

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Contents 06 M eet the Headteachers - Andy Puttock - La Côte International School 12 M eet the Headteachers - Brett Gray - The Ostrava International School 17 T reasured Alps, Threatened Alps - Colouring Competition Results 20 Positivity In a Pandemic 23 Pre-IB Advice From The Experts 26 - 40 Staycation in Switzerland

42 51

Liechtenstein - Princely Family Experiences

Ticino - The Sunny Side Of Switzerland

Zermatt - The Matterhorn Family Destination

Gstaad - An Adventure For All The Family

Exploring Switzerland This Summer

Hohsaas Bergbahn - Saas Grund

Appenzell - Discover The Hoher Kasten

Interlaken - Family Breaks in a Holiday Region

Engelberg-Titlis - This Is It!

Dents du Midi - Endless Possibilities

Canton Vaud - A Night Under The Stars

Schilthorn - Explore The Secret World

42 How Do Teachers Get To Know Your Child?

44 Sleep - The Bedrock Of Good Health 48 Stop And Smell The Roses!

51 Culture And Conversations 54 Dealing With Bullying As An Expat 58 Widening Gaps 61 T he Learner Passport: Reinventing High School Transcripts 64 When Should I Worry About My Child’s Stress Levels?

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 4

7 reasons to visit the Principality of Liechtenstein

4 Hike with an eagle

→ tourismus.li/en

5 1 Visit Vaduz Castle

2

Take the kids llama and alpaca trekking

6

Hike the Liechtenstein Trail

Stroll through the old town of Vaduz

3

7

Explore the mountain village of Malbun

Taste Liechtensteiner Käsknöpfle

© Ian Charles Stewart

MEET THE HEADTEACHER La Côte International School – Andy Puttock Andy Puttock, Principal at La Côte International School (LCIS) Aubonne, recently sat down with Nick Gilbert, Editor and Publishing Director of International School Parent Magazine.

A

ndy, like all school leaders, has been coping with the impact of the pandemic over the past year.

During this, he has not shied away from a new challenge: he moved from being Director of Education at Nord Anglia Education to the role of Principal at LCIS. “Young people’s wellbeing will either be the biggest crisis or the biggest opportunity of the second quarter of this century.” says Andy, sharing his vision for successfully leading international schools into their next chapter.

What initially inspired you to pursue a career in education?

I always wanted to be a teacher - My first job was in teaching, and it is my privilege to say that I will also finish my career in teaching. As a teenager I was active in youth clubs, volunteered in various settings with children and found that I really loved working with young people. I have always had a passion for languages and chose French, Maths and Latin as my A-level subjects. I then did a degree in modern and medieval languages and went on to become INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 6

a French teacher.

Following that, I worked as a languages teacher for a few years, went on to be Head of Modern Languages, became a deputy head, then head of a comprehensive school in Essex. I then moved to an even bigger comprehensive school in Dorset as headteacher, where I stayed for 12 years, successfully carrying out a complete rebuild of the school as part of its growth.

Although I loved my time in the UK public school sector, at a certain point I began to crave a new challenge, and

exploring international education offered an incredible opportunity to immerse myself in something completely new.

The challenge for me was to adapt my experience as a school leader in the UK public sector to leadership in the private international sector. I went to Beijing and spent four very happy years at the British School of Beijing, which is part of Nord Anglia Education. Nord Anglia was smaller then, we only had about 13 schools when I joined. At the time, I joined because I loved the school and later learned about the benefits that being part of the group brought to the school, teachers and students. LCIS is now part of a group of 73 premium international schools, which are attracting both staff and families because they are part of Nord Anglia Education. It has been a big change in the last eight years.

What did you learn from the Beijing experience?

Honestly, I learned everything. From a professional point of view, I think I was the classic principal coming out of a public sector environment, thinking that the skills were all just eminently transferable when moving to the private sector. And of course, many of them are transferable.

I had managed very large budgets; I had led schools. But of course, the private sector is very different. The for-profit aspect was new to me, and it was of utmost importance to me to learn how to respond even more closely to the needs and wishes of parents whilst at all times maintaining my educational integrity.

Beijing has an incredibly competitive international school market: there are huge numbers of international schools there, and a growing Chinese middle-class is seeking international education. They value the truly personalised, nurturing, and supportive nature of education that international schools offer, and of course, they understand that internationally recognised diplomas such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme open doors to top universities around the world. Navigating those professional and commercial challenges, and of course living in Beijing, I learnt so much about life. It is a brilliant city and my family, and I spent a wonderful four years there.

What have you learnt from your time as a headteacher of an international school?

I have always passionately believed in the concept of personalised education. When you step into an international context, you realise exactly what that means. All the individual cultures, values and aspirations require a very personalised approach to learning. Not only do we have to ensure that learning really meets the individual needs of students and provide them with a broad range of opportunities to discover new talents and passions, but it is also essential that we establish a strong school family and welcoming culture that celebrates real openness and true diversity.

This is crucial: when you are living in a country where most of your students are expats, the school is so important to them, it INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 7

is the centre of the community, it is family.

Even when I was head of a school in the UK, we talked about the school being a family, and especially in international schools such as La Côte, this is now true more than ever.

What characterises the students graduating from La Côte?

The school has always, I think, been clear about its purpose. It has established itself well as a highly inclusive family school, where children feel nurtured and well looked after. I think that is one of the advantages of being a school of our size.

But we have also really focused on our academic record of excellence in the last three or four years, which of course is the key factor for our parents and students who

“We offer just the most phenomenal opportunities to allow our students to discover things that they never knew they would love.” aspire to joining great universities.

And so, when I look at our graduating class this year, they are ready to make a difference in the world, they are eager to go out and become leaders in their respective fields. We already know some our students will receive outstanding IB diploma results and fantastic university offers. We have students with offers at the Ivy League, MIT has made early offers, and we have students gaining places at top UK universities.

How has the recent shift to online learning affected how you teach your students?

We were actually very lucky in Switzerland - we only had one closure in the spring. And although we are ready to switch to virtual learning if needed, it looks like we will remain open - fingers crossed. Of course, virtual learning will never be the same as being in school. However, we established a high-quality virtual school experience, which was very much appreciated by parents.

For our graduating classes, preparing them for the future has also been critical.

Our recent LCIS graduates already tell me that much of their university learning is now online, even pre-pandemic, for lectures and even some tutorials. At university, learning is still a social activity, but it does

not necessarily mean being in the same room as your peers. And I think the way we can prepare our students for that is so important. So, our virtual learning provision is not just a reaction to the pandemic, but a deliberate preparation for their future at university and beyond.

What would you say makes the learning environment at La Côte extra special?

We are quite a compact school, which allows us to follow each of our students closely as they grow, from the youngest children right the way through to the senior students, and we make sure that every single student benefits from this close relationship. The other facet that that we have always focused on and that we are passionate about is true personalisation in all its different aspects.

One of these is well established in many schools. Most schools today make sure that they know each individual student well and tailor learning to their needs. But the thing I see is crucial to an education that really supports students to thrive, and again Nord Anglia is at the heart of this, is making sure that we offer just the most phenomenal opportunities to allow our students to discover things that they never knew they would love.

One of the dangers a school, especially INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 8

an international school, can fall into, is trying to be all things to all people.

International should not just mean ‘British international’ or ‘IB international’ school or ‘the international school of somewhere’.

A school like ours, whose raison d’être is to be international – and not just in the sense of curriculum – is all about offering global perspectives, global opportunities, and an international mindset. Our location in Switzerland, set in beautiful countryside but close to truly great global cities, gives us a unique opportunity to do this. It is crucial that we support our children to flourish within their own culture and language, and we must nurture in them the active values, attributes and skills needed to facilitate positive change in the future.

Which features of the school do parents value the most?

Even though I have not yet met many

of our parents in person because of the pandemic - and I cannot wait to do so - I am in regular contact and have had many great conversations with them, which I value very much. This dialogue, this working in partnership with our parents, gives us invaluable insights into what we do best and where we still need to develop.

Openness and transparency are something I have always made one of my benchmarks for success and failure in my career as a headteacher. When we have a decision to make, we involve the parents. When we have something going on, we inform them about it.

Take for example the COVID situation in the school. If we have a student who has tested positive or is affected, we inform our parents. Of course, we maintain confidentiality and privacy of the students, but we make sure that we handle such situations with as much transparency as

possible. Some of our parents have children in other schools where this is not the case and they have clearly expressed their appreciation for our approach.

Which other areas of education and extracurricular activities are you developing?

Well, during the pandemic our students became very good at skiing and badminton.

And we will hold a lot of badminton matches in the future because it is the only non-contact sport you can have in school at the moment! Joking aside, skiing is an integral part of our academic calendar and we provide several opportunities for our students to get involved with the sport during the school year. But our competitive links with other schools in team sports are also important, both in Switzerland and through the Nord Anglia Education European schools’ network, where we have INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 9

had great successes.

Also important are our links with MIT, Juilliard, and UNICEF, thanks to Nord Anglia. Now globally, those have really taken off the last two or three years. So, as we develop the mission and vision of the school, there are two things which we want to take even further.

One is the concept of - I am trying to find a word other than “21st century skills” because that is a phrase I really do not like. I think it is much more about values and attributes and not just the functional sense that the word “skills” conveys. It is about the sense of being exploratory and preparing for a future that does not exist yet. How do we prepare our students for a world in which they may have 20 different jobs?

And then there is the clue in the name: We are La Côte International School Aubonne, based in Switzerland, the

heart of so much that is international. To prepare our students to lead in the world of tomorrow, we really want to build on our connection with UNICEF, really work with the Sustainable Development Goals, leverage the opportunities the Model United Nations conferences offer, really harness those leadership opportunities. We want every student to leave school not just with the right mindset to change the world, but with the skills to change the world.

What is the best thing about leading an international school in Switzerland?

I think the biggest shock to me - and it is a wonderful shock - is just how close everything is. I have lived in Hong Kong, London and Beijing, places where it took us a very long time to get anywhere. I love the fact that we could be in Lausanne, in Geneva, by Lac Léman, in the mountains, all within about 25 minutes of where we live. Switzerland is a great country to live in.

And it is remarkable how at home we feel here, considering that we arrived in the middle of COVID and could not do any of

the things you normally do to feel at home.

And that is a great credit to our colleagues and our community, who all do their utmost to continue contributing to that sense of community that is so important to us at LCIS.

What are the main trends in education that you are seeing now?

I think one must be careful to take the pandemic out of the equation, but equally, we must recognise that the pandemic has highlighted trends that already existed.

Young people’s wellbeing will either be the biggest crisis or the biggest opportunity of the second quarter of this century. The influences that our young people, our teenagers are exposed to, the uncertainty of the world, the uncertainty of future careers, the immediacy of social media, the fake news, the need for instant validation through social media ‘likes’ etc., family disruption, social disruption, you name it - all of that has been magnified a hundredfold by the pandemic. But these things were there before, and even if the pandemic had not happened, I would say

exactly the same thing.

Of course, the pandemic has given us opportunities to explore different ways of working, remotely and at distance. But what I think the pandemic has really reinforced is the value of togetherness, be it in our own families or in schools. But, if we take that for granted as schools, we are in big trouble.

If we trust that parents will send their children to our schools just because there is no alternative and because they do not like their children being at home, then there is a real danger that the world of technology will take over. We need to look deeply at what value we bring to our families, to our students. There is a real opportunity for schools to reinvent themselves as places which inspire a love of learning in every child and young person.

About La Côte International School (LCIS) LCIS is a multi-cultural and supportive IB school located in Aubonne, welcoming students aged 2-18. It is a part of the international education group Nord Anglia Education.

We personalise learning so that your child will leave our school with everything they need for success – whatever they choose to be or do in life.

Find out how!

La Côte International School Aubonne is a private international school conveniently located between Lausanne and Geneva. LCIS offers its students unmatched international learning opportunities, combined with truly personalised academic support and the highest standards in education, ensuring that your child not only succeeds in life, but truly flourishes.

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Geneva

Meet Brett Gray Founder and Director, The Ostrava International School (TOIS)

I

n the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic, a visionary Canadian leads a multi-cultural community of learners in the country’s first authorised International Baccalaureate Continuum School. The Ostrava International School (TOIS), founded by Director Brett Gray in 2008, is the culmination of over 30 years of dedication and love for a place at the coalface of sweeping late-20th century cultural and political changes. The school offers an internationally recognised programme for learners, emphasising academic challenge, open-mindedness and respect. ISPM talks to Brett Gray about his journey to creating an educational beacon in post-communist Czech Republic and his vision for a school that encourages students to discover, connect and achieve.

Tell us a bit about your background and what inspired you to become a teacher.

The truth is that I never thought in a million years that I would ever become a teacher.

My educational background is in Broadcast Journalism and French from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. As a teenager, I was deeply interested in human rights. I wrote my university admissions essay on how I would like to be part of helping to free Nelson Mandela and bring down apartheid in South Africa through reporting and honest journalism. That was in case Plan A – become a professional baseball player – fell through.

In my junior year of university, I joined a study-abroad programme at the Sorbonne INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 12

and Sciences Po in Paris. This was in 1987, and I spent that Christmas break going through Czechoslovakia and Hungary by train to have a peek behind the Iron Curtain. Perestroika was rumbling, but the people I met were still very closed – cautiously curious, but not in a position to communicate openly. It was a considerable risk for them. The impending collapse of communism across Central and Eastern Europe was certainly not on anyone’s radar at that moment.

Fast forward to the fall of 1989: communism was crumbling, and I was fascinated. Back in Los Angeles to complete my university degrees, I had become inspired by Czech writers, especially Václav Havel – playwright, philosopher, and general thorn in the side of the Czech

Communist Party. With books like Letters to Olga, Open Letters, and the Power of the Powerless, written from prison and addressed to his wife, the country’s leadership, and ostensibly the whole world, Havel led me to a greater understanding of the importance of Civil Society, and how, without firm democratic principles and mechanisms in place, none of us can be free.

By December 1990, I was the proud owner of two freshly-minted university degrees and hungry to be a part of a democratisation process that seemed to be happening all over the globe. In January 1991, I decided to spend some time in the country that had just re-cast its playwrightphilosopher into the role of President of Czechoslovakia. I wanted to write firsthand accounts of the social, economic, philosophical, and ecological impact of the country’s transition to democracy. Maybe to teach a little English on the side to help pay the bills, for a year or maybe two.

Well, it is thirty years later, and I am not writing news articles, but leading The Ostrava International School, an organisation that promotes academic excellence, with a mission and core values that are tightly aligned with the principles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile.

I would like The Ostrava International School to be a place where students develop an interest in making the world a better place.

getting into trouble.

This was about as far away as you could get from the teachings of the country’s famed native son and internationally recognised “Teacher of Nations,” Jan Amos Comenius. He had laid out 500 years earlier an approach to teaching that heavily emphasised learning through play. Statues of the famed pedagogue dot the MoravianSilesian Region, but you would never know why judging by the school system’s organisation in the 1990s.

The school had almost no English language resources to speak of, except for the ever-present “Angličtina pro-Jazykové skoly”, a series of textbooks that local schools had used for years. They were tightly edited by the state authorities to ensure adherence to the political ideology that had recently come crashing down.

Each chapter consisted of a text revolving around the semi-moronic-but-happy-tolive-under-socialism Prokop family; Mr Prokop was a satisfied factory worker.

Mrs Prokop was a housewife. Their son was clever. Their daughter was pretty. Mr Prokop expresses his gratitude for living in a socialist country where people do not have to live homeless under bridges, like in the UK. In terms of anglo culture, the books also contained hundreds of pages of debatably informative facts, everything from the colours of mailboxes in the UK and the US, to the names of a few British composers, or a strangely select group of English and American authors, from

What were your experiences of teaching when you first arrived?

When I arrived a little more than a year after the fall of communism, there were many mixed feelings about the West. There was fascination and a strong desire to see what was out there. But there was also some trepidation about what the West would bring. For whatever reason, as a Canadian, I was warmly welcomed in the small town where I began to teach at a Czech gymnasium, which is a secondary school that prepares students for university.

I found an education system that relied almost entirely on rote memorisation.

In this pre-internet age, knowledge was quantified, approved by the authorities, and delivered from the teacher to the student.

The kids (and their parents) were afraid of openly expressing their thoughts for fear of INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 13

Shakespeare up to the 1950s, and lots of other government-approved bits of knowledge that were deemed appropriate for English learners to memorise.

It occurred to me fairly early on that many adults communicated with each other in a similar way. Rather than engaging in a discussion or exchanging ideas, conversations are more of a process of exchanging and counter-facts past one another.

But the kids generally pined for something else. In the first couple of years, two brilliant students were excellent at Maths and Physics and dared to dream of studying in the United States. We spent a lot of time working on essay writing and practising SAT and ACTs. When the results came in, one student was offered a full scholarship to Princeton for Physics, the other a full scholarship to study Mathematics at the University of Chicago.

At that moment, I felt like I had found my purpose in life.

And yet, I would also see some of my best students fail to pass entrance examinations at Czech universities because they had neglected to memorise the names of four specific British composers listed on some page buried within the hundreds of pages of the Happy Prokop Socialist Bible.

Over the years, I began to struggle more and more with the Czech education system’s resistance to modernisation, its continued reliance on facts, and its lack of emphasis on developing skills.

So, in the late 1990’s I began to look for

other things to do. I felt I had to move on from teaching for a while.

So how did you come to start The Ostrava International School (TOIS)?

As my frustration with teaching in the Czech education system grew, the City of Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Regional Authority reached out for help with re-working some of their promotional materials. They were trying to attract foreign direct investment into the area and wanted to polish their presentations.

At the time, their promotional materials were an obvious by-product of the education system. Long lists of undigested facts, most of which were either unuseful to potential investors or even downright off-putting.

I was eventually asked to make actual presentations to visiting companies, investment funds, banks, and other potential investors to speak as a Canadian living in the region for the last decade. After several close-but-no-cigar negotiations, we were told by CzechInvest, the State authority helping to guide foreign direct investment into the country, that Ostrava had lost out for one main reason: No international school.

It was a classic chicken-and-egg situation.

There were no international companies because there was no international school.

And there was no international school because there were no global companies.

So, how to break the cycle?

Naively, I jumped in, thinking it would be an exciting project - for a year or maybe two.

After several false starts, I finally teamed up with two partners, Iva Konevalová and Jan Petrus. We finally managed to launch the project: an international school that would support both ex-pats and Czechs in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Our first-class of 16 Czech 15-year-olds began in 2005. After several years of operation, we concluded that our clientele, which was starting to include non-Czechs, would be best served by establishing two separate schools working together.

The Czech gymnasium we started would continue to serve Czech students, with many subjects in English mainly, but using the Czech state curriculum. Graduates would receive the Czech Maturita, and the braver ones could also sit for IB DP certificates or the IB Diploma. It would

be a symbol of what a progressive Czech school could accomplish. But, because of limitations imposed by the Czech system, it would not primarily serve the foreign community.

The other school would focus on meeting the needs of the city’s growing international community. As readers of International School Parent know, there are many issues specific to the international community that need to be addressed, including adaptation, student well-being, the curriculum, mother tongue support, and on and on. The purely international school would be fully accredited by the most recognised international accreditation agencies and deliver the entire International Baccalaureate Continuum.

Tragically, both Iva and Jan died within a few years of the creation of the second school. From April 2012 until last year, I did my best to lead both of these schools as Executive Director and firmly establish their identities. In February 2020, I left the Czech gymnasium to entirely focus on the continued development of The Ostrava International School.

What is your vision for The Ostrava International School?

For me, an international school is a place where everybody feels safe being who they are – however different that might be. As someone who came here 30 years ago with little knowledge of the language or culture, I can empathise with the children coming through our doors. We all need a safe place INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 14

to encounter others. That is the first step to breaking down barriers, gaining respect for yourself and the people in your community, opening up to the wondrous possibilities out there, and developing resistance to a world where differences are increasingly used to spread fear and hatred and, ultimately, ignorance.

The school celebrates the simple and fundamental idea that each of us has rights and responsibilities to enjoy freedom and equality. We can interpret things differently and follow different paths and belief systems. I would like our students to have the tools to move beyond pointing fingers and accusing “the other,” which seems to take up so much space in our public forums these days.

As our Guiding Statement declares, we strive to create a caring community of lifelong learners, each equipped with the knowledge and skills to succeed in an everevolving world.

How are these founding principles reflected in the curriculum? What does the school offer academically?

As an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, we are part of an academic community that emphasises the balanced, holistic growth of the child. We strongly believe that when learners are in safe, respectful and supportive environments, they feel free to engage in a more meaningful way.

I am a firm believer in learning through meaningful play and discovery

– essentially empowering a young person to be motivated in their learning, as an individual or as part of a group. One of the things that I love about the IB Diploma Programme for older students is the mandatory core subject called Theory of Knowledge. Students analyse how we know what we think we know and consider truth and fallacy. DP students also write a 4 000 word essay on a topic of their interest that must be meticulously researched, using internationally recognised MLA citation guidelines.

We’re very proud of the fact that TOIS is the only school in the Czech Republic authorised as an International Baccalaureate Continuum School, offering the Primary Years Programme (ages 3-10), the Middle Years Programme (ages 11-16) and the Diploma Programme (ages 17-19).

Academically, the results of our IB Diploma Programme graduates are consistently above the world average.

What makes TOIS so unique? What do your students and parents value most about the school?

We asked the TOIS community of students, parents, staff and supporters to reflect on our Mission: Discover. Connect. Achieve.

Across the board, our students, parents

and staff said they feel the school provides a welcome and safe environment. Regardless of their English level, students reported that they feel little or no barriers to Discovery and are learning even to enjoy making mistakes, try new directions, re-build, and see what is out there.

The idea of Connection resonates strongly with everyone; connecting discoveries with previous knowledge; connecting socially with people who are different from me; feeling a sense of belonging to the group or the wider world.

We constantly hear from parents how impressed they are with their children’s progress in developing their ideas and opinions. Parents also appreciate the school’s honest effort to keep the doors of communication open and bridge potential cultural and linguistic barriers.

In terms of Achievement, students consistently bring up how refreshing it is not to be taught to the test and to have the opportunity to show what they know.

We strive to empower students to make meaningful progress from whatever points they started from. Students and parents have told us that this is highly motivating and almost always leads to deeper understanding and more meaningful achievement than simply studying to get INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 15

the highest possible number of points. The proudest moments for us are when we are told variations of “I see my child growing and learning and doing things in ways that I couldn’t do when I was my child’s age” and “I see a level of critical thinking and self-reflection that I didn’t grow up with.”

It’s lovely to see our students’ development and achievements, and our philosophy of learning within a safe, respectful and supportive environment brings about positive outcomes and strong academic results.

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your teaching methods?

We have been impressed by the power and variety of online tools available to enhance learning, and I am sure that we will still be using many of them in the postpandemic teaching environment. We’re exploring how we might use the flexibility of concurrent teaching (simultaneously teaching to students in the classroom and online) as a permanent fixture of the TOIS Curriculum. This could be of great use to students at home ill for more extended periods or for our high-performing studentathletes who may be training or playing in tournaments outside of the Czech Republic regularly. It has been interesting to observe

the overall buy-in from the staff, as every one of us has had to improve our online skills quickly.

That said, I think there has been a considerable increase in the awareness of how we as humans are social beings and the damage that isolation under the COVID restrictions has caused. We’re excited about integrating technology further as a school, but there is no comparison to face-to-face learning and connection.

And in regular times, what sort of extracurricular activities do you offer?

We think it’s essential to keep our students active and engaged in activities that are not directly linked to the curriculum but complement their learning and help develop new skills.

We actively survey our students during regular times about the kind of extracurricular activities they would like to participate in. So the choice of clubs can differ from term to term and year to year. We regularly provide team sports like basketball and football, but there are all kinds of Clubs for Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Crafts, Chess, Lego, Robotics,

Languages, etc.…

During COVID, students from across the school established and published the bi-monthly student magazine, Crispy – and I think it’s actually better for having been established during COVID because everyone’s computer and graphics skills have improved dramatically.

What are your hopes for students graduating from TOIS? They will say that TOIS gave them the tools, motivation, and conviction to follow their dreams and turn their goals into reality. I also want our students to find common ground with, and mutual respect for, the “others” of the world, see opportunities for greater collaboration, and stand up to those that would threaten it.

What do you think the challenge is for education going into the future?

To not allow the entire system to collapse from information overload. Schools must be wise in choosing what can be thrown out of their curriculum to make way for what is needed. To allow children some quiet time for reflection and finding themselves. To

continue to empower kids to be skilful and capable of dealing with the technological challenges coming up and still have a meaningful moral foundation or belief system about the kind of world they want to live in.

Having lived in the Czech Republic for 30 years now, what’s your take-away about the opportunities it has to offer?

I am grateful for having been given a chance to give something of myself that has been meaningful to others. In some small way, I have been allowed to change some lives for the better and make a small corner of the Czech Republic a better place than when I first came here. Living here has given me the chance to be a better person, fight for what I believe is right, reflect on my mistakes, and move on.

Most importantly, it has given me three beautiful boys and an extended family of beautiful people who love me and support the adventure of creating an inspirational international school in Ostrava.

Find out more about the school on the internationalschoolparent.com website or here: tois.world

Barbara - SIS Mannedorf

Colouring Competition Results!

Treasured Alps, Threatened Alps

Anwita - St. George’s International School

The results are out! Thank you so much to everyone who entered our Bergli Books colouring competition. Running a competition like this for the first time, we had no idea what to expect. We were completely blown away after receiving so many entries from all over Switzerland! We have spent the last few months going through each and every one, and we’ve found it incredibly difficult to pick only 8 winners.

Each piece is so special, and we can see that a lot of time and passion has gone into them, so it was a very tough job for us to judge them!

I would like to say a big thank you to Richard Harvell and his team from Bergli Books, who donated the beautiful colouring books for the competition. The quality of the book is wonderful and we are huge fans. Another thank you is to the great schools that we work with who have generously helped us promote this competition.

Overall, this has been a great learning experience for us. We had so much fun that we would love to do another at some point in the future. Congratulations to the eight winners, whose artwork is displayed in the next 3 pages.

Further entries can be seen online at www.internationalschoolparent.com Visit www.bergli.ch for bestselling and award-winning books about Switzerland INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 17

Ioana Vlagea - SIS Basel

Amelia St. George’s International School

Freya - International School of Schaffhausen

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 18

Eunse Ko - Grade 2 - InterCommunity School Zurich

Baptiste T - Geneva English School

Giovanni Schuster - Grade 4 - InterCommunity School Zurich

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 19

Parents & Students exploring strengths & coaching

POSITIVITY IN A PANDEMIC

How to Buffer, Bolster and Build Family Well-being in These Challenging Times WRITTEN BY CLIVE LEACH

O

ver the last year we’ve heard all about ‘what the science says’ with regards to how to treat, minimise the spread of, and vaccinate against the physical impact of the Covid-19 virus as it has rampaged across the world. Alongside this we have seen the corresponding calls to address the ever increasing levels of anxiety, stress, depression, psychological distress and post-traumatic stress that many adults, young people and

children are experiencing.

What we’ve heard much less about is ‘what the science says’ about how some of us might have been able to protect and even enhance our own and our family’s mental health and well-being during the pandemic. This is despite facing the inevitable and understandable distress associated with the common adversity we’ve all faced, and resulting challenges, pressures and stresses brought

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 20

about by sickness, bereavement, social distancing, isolation, home schooling, job loss and financial insecurity.

Positive psychology – the ‘Science of Well-being’ suggests ways to both protect against the negative mental health impacts of Covid-19, and also to embrace the future and build our capacity to flourish in our school, work and personal lives as we slowly transition and adjust into the ‘new normal’.

So I’d like to share with you a summary of very recent research (van Nieuwerburgh et al, 2021; Waters et al, 2021) and provide some practical action points to try for yourself and your family.

The research, much of which was carried out during the pandemic itself, highlights 6 interventions that have been shown to: • Buffer against mental illness in adults and young people • Bolster capacity to navigate through and sustain our resilience in the face of adversity created by the pandemic.

• Build our mental toughness and potential to learn, achieve, embrace opportunity and indeed strengthen and grow through their experience.

1Self-compassion

I often ask my coaching clients ‘Who is the most important person for you to have a positive relationship with?’ Invariably the answer is either their partner or kids. I then say ‘Wrong! It’s you!’

The reality is that we are often our own worst critic and say things to ourselves that we just wouldn’t say to others. If parents can learn to be more self-compassionate to themselves they can then show greater compassion to their children (and partners) and that has positive well-being outcomes for the family. People who practice self-compassion are less likely to experience self-pity, anxiety and depression.

Self-compassion involves treating yourself with the same kindness and care you would show to a good friend when they are struggling in some way. It also involves perspective taking and recognising everyone is suffering in one way or another and we are not alone.

It also requires the ability to be mindful and accepting of difficult feelings and emotions, to acknowledge them as opposed to fighting or suppressing them.

Action Points: • Check out a fantastic talk by leading researcher Kristin Neff about ‘Self-compassion in Difficult Times’ on YouTube https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=HoqSvlakeSQ&t=2484s • Practice saying words of comfort to yourself when you notice the inner critic taking over.

2 Positive Emotions

It’s only to be expected that a pandemic and all it entails would create worry, anxiety, anger, sadness, stress and fear for people.

These arguably negative emotions have a place and act as warnings that we need to take care and take action to protect ourselves. But it’s important to know that mental health and positive emotions can co-exist with mental distress.

The pandemic might be a scary and overwhelming time but it doesn’t mean we are unable to experience positivity. For example engaging in strategies to boost amusement doesn’t seek to ignore or minimise grief, but it does help to better manage and navigate through it.

It is therefore vital to keep a balance of emotions and to try and avoid the trap of the negativity bias and the risk of mental illness. This requires making a concerted effort to invest in positive emotions such as joy, serenity, gratitude, pride, curiosity, hope, amusement, inspiration, awe, & love.

The shared experience of these particular emotions has been shown to aid human survival because they broaden our capacity to think, see the bigger picture, retain perspective and allow for more information intake. This in turn builds our ability to find solutions, be creative, build social connections and builds the resulting resilience and resources to cope with adversity and life’s challenges and embrace the future. Positive emotions aren’t just the outcome of the good times, they help to create future good times too.

Action Points: • Discuss with the family how you can generate more of the key positive emotions highlighted above?

• Prioritise positivity each day ensuring it’s the top of your to do list, not left to last!

3 Gratitude

A great example of positivity is the emotion, practice and attitude of gratitude – to be able to recognise and affirm when good things happen or good things are received. Over 20 years of research has shown gratitude reduces stress and impacts on our physical and mental wellbeing, life satisfaction and resilience. It helps develop and sustain positive relationships and aids recovery from loss and trauma. It helps focus on the positive aspects of life, creates a better sense of what is really important and aids personal growth during a time of crisis and beyond.

Action Points: • Keep a gratitude Journal and share 3 good things each day between family members, • Make a gratitude visit (or Zoom call) to someone you have never really thanked properly and read out a letter of thanks which you can pass on after.

4 Character Strengths

Drawing upon our character strengths, has been shown through hundreds of studies to increase capacity to cope in hard times, enhance wellbeing and support performance, achievement and growth in school, work and life contexts.

Our ‘Signature Strengths’ are those top character qualities that are core to who we are. Sadly we often only hear about or share them in eulogies when it’s a bit late! They contribute to positive outcomes for ourselves and others, and help us to add value to the world. Their use can help buffer against anxiety, depressive symptoms, work stress, and hopelessness. They have also been shown to build resilience in adults and young people and support post-traumatic growth by highlighting resources that are often unrecognised or taken for granted.

Discovering your own and your family’s top character strengths, reflecting on how they show up already and finding new ways to use them, boosts energy, wellbeing and connectedness. It’s a fun and meaningful way to learn about each other and to help each other to maximise the resources we have available individually and collectively as a family.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 21

a ‘positive psychology coaching conversations’ approach for staff, students and parents as part of their well-being and positive education strategies.

Coaching for parents working from home

Action Points: • Check out the FREE Values in Action Character Strengths Survey at www.viacharacter.org It is available in over 40 languages and there are both adult and youth versions. It will rank the 24 character strengths and identify your top 5 ‘Signature Strengths’.

• Do a family ‘Strengths Spot’ and guess each others’ signature strengths before you share the results!

Note: Many schools use this survey as part of their wellbeing and positive education programs so ask your kids as they may know their top strengths already! (See photos: Parents and Students exploring strengths and coaching)

5

Positive Interpersonal Processes

One of the most challenging impacts of the pandemic has been on relationships. On the one hand many of us have been physically distanced from much loved family and friends, whilst on the other hand adjusting to life in very close quarters with our ‘immediate’ family which for some has brought great joy and others significant distress.

Understanding positive interpersonal processes can be helpful whether we are trying to stay positively connected to people we can’t actually meet or making the best of the time we have with those we are with. Everyday experiences like sharing laughter, being kind, feeling admired and being loved are all good examples.

Action Points: • Positive Interpersonal Processes emanate from the action points covered previously – being kind to yourself so you are better able to be kind to others, shared experiences of positive emotion, being grateful, sharing and using our strengths.

• These actions can take just a few minutes and be carried out face to face or virtually but the moments created with other people build our resilience and help us to embrace the future with hope.

6

Finally there is further indication of the potential for positive psychology coaching for parents working from home, which is likely to remain an ongoing challenge and opportunity for many people. A recent study (van Nieuwerburgh et al, 2021) provides an insight into how positive psychology coaching can lead to 5 key positive outcomes for home-based employees which will inevitably impact on both their personal and family wellbeing alongside their professional productivity and performance: 1. Valuing opportunity for safe reflection 2. Increasing self-awareness 3. Alleviation of negative emotions 4. Re-energised by identifying a way forward 5. Renewed confidence Action Points: • Check out your school’s well-being strategy and how coaching conversations might be playing a part, or add value to it’s objectives.

• Consider investing in positive psychology coaching for yourself to ensure you look after your own well-being so you can support your family.

Conclusion Regardless of Covid-19 the world is going to continue to present challenge, uncertainty and adversity. That’s life, and the associated distress that comes with it is normal, healthy and part of our common humanity. The science of positive psychology provides clues as to how we can recognise and avoid the negativity bias and the risks of spiralling into mental illness. It buffers, bolsters and builds by helping us to proactively focus on what is working even in dark times, to prioritise taking care of our own well-being so we can help others, and be bold enough to embrace opportunities for growth and positive change.

References: Lea Waters, Sara B. Algoe, Jane Dutton, Robert Emmons, Barbara L. Fredrickson, Emily Heaphy, Judith T. Moskowitz, Kristin Neff, Ryan Niemiec, Cynthia Pury & Michael Steger (2021) Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health,.The Journal of Positive Psychology.

DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2021.1871945 Christian van Nieuwerburgh, Margaret Barr, Alexandra J. S. Fouracres, Tia Moin, Charlotte Brown, Corinne Holden, Cornelia Lucey & Philippa Thomas (2021) Experience of positive psychology coaching while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coaching: An International Journal of

Coaching

As a coach who draws heavily on positive psychology and wellbeing science I know how powerful coaching conversations can be to provide people with a safe space for reflection on the relationship between their well-being, engagement and performance in work, school and life domains. Coaching allows people to set goals, consider options, take action, evaluate progress, be accountable and ultimately make positive and sustained change for themselves and those around them.

This is why in my own coaching and consulting practice supporting organisations and schools I encourage them to adopt

Theory, Research and Practice, DOI: 10.1080/17521882.2021.1897637 Clive Leach is a positive psychology coach and workshop/webinar facilitator working widely across the corporate, education, public and NfP sectors.

He provides executive, career & life coaching with a focus on well-being, and strengths assessment leading to positive outcomes for personal and professional development.

For further information email: coach@cliveleach.com or visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliveleachconsultancy/

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 22

Pre-IB advice from the experts What you need to know about Internal Assessments, Extended Essays and Theory of Knowledge.

WRITTEN BY LOUISE VALENTIN

W

orking in an international school I help many students through their IB and they often get caught out on the big written assignments.

So, in this article I want to break down these three elements of the IB core and help explain them for anyone new to the IB or to students about to start the programme next year.

Before heading into acronym diversity (EE, IA, ToK), it’s important for future International Baccalaureate students to understand what these mean and what they entail in terms of written assignments.

When students follow the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (or IBDP), they need to complete various important pieces of written work. It can sometimes be confusing for pre-IB students to grasp the distinction between each assignment, their characteristics and what is required for each.

Internal vs External Assessment It is important to note that there are two types of assessment: internal and external.

Both the Extended Essay and the Theory of Knowledge essay (also known as ToK) are external, since, just like final exams, they are sent directly to official IB examiners.

Internal Assessments are on the other hand marked by the class teacher.

The Extended Essay (or EE) – What is it?

The Extended Essay is mandatory for all diploma students and is seen as the main written assessment, since it has deadlines throughout both 12th and 13th grades.

In fact, 12th graders will already have developed their research question (i.e., the first step of the research process) in the IB1 year.

This 4’000-word independent piece of research is presented as a formal piece of academic writing. It demonstrates that the student has fully grasped the topic and helps INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 23

prepare them for writing at a university level. Just like the other written assignments, it encourages students to use and develop their own critical thinking.

Students must choose to their topic from one of the 6 following DP subjects, ideally one that is of interest to them personally: • Studies in language and literature • Language acquisition • Individuals and societies • Sciences • Mathematics • The arts Or students can also take an interdisciplinary approach and write a World Studies Extended Essay. This particular type of essay “must focus on a topic of global significance”. This encourages the student to reflect on the world today in relation to issues such as the global food crisis, climate change, terrorism,

The Theory of Knowledge essay (or ToK)

energy security, migration, global health, technology, and cultural exchange.

As the official Extended Essay Guide explains, a World Studies essay “gives students an opportunity to undertake an in-depth and independent investigation into a topic of their choice that considers the relationship between subjects and allows for meaningful connections to be made in relation to their chosen area of research.”

The assessment process of the Extended Essay is based on 5 criteria: • Focus and method.

• Knowledge and understanding • Critical thinking • Presentation • Engagement More and more IB students choose to write a World Studies essay, because links are created between the various IB courses and because these subjects tend to address current events that affect the 21st-century student.

Internal Assessments (or IA) Throughout the IB Diploma, students are also asked to complete internal

assessments for most courses. Common to both Standard Level and Higher-Level courses, the goal of this type of paper is to determine if students are capable of demonstrating the internal assessment criteria in relation to the research question.

In parallel to the Extended Essay, teacher assessments are also used for most courses, which include: • Oral work in languages • Fieldwork in geography • Laboratory work in the sciences (chemistry, biology, physics) • Investigations in mathematics • Artistic performances Internal Assessments are marked by the subject teacher and externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course and count toward the student’s final IB score for the diploma. The criteria for evaluating this type of assignment are as follows: • Knowledge and understanding • Application and analysis • Synthesis and evaluation • Select, use and apply a variety of appropriate skills and techniques.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 24

The ToK essay plays an integral part of the IBDP and is mandatory for all Diploma students. It asks students to reflect on the general nature of knowledge, and on how we know what we claim to know. The evaluation of the ToK essay is completed through a 1,600 word essay and an oral presentation. While the essay requires the student to focus on the concept itself, the aim of the presentation is to evaluate how students apply the thinking of the Theory of Knowledge to real-life situations. This essay also aims to go beyond and link the subject areas taught in school.

Both the ToK essay and the related presentation will draw on what the students have gained throughout their ToK classes. It encourages them to use their critical thinking skills. Both the essay and the presentation need to reflect who the student is as a knower, by putting forward and defending their own thoughts and views. Students will ultimately learn about dialogue and critical discussion, as well as analytical writing skills. Each of these will become increasingly important when having to understand knowledge-type of questions and create the student’s own accountability.

So, what is critical thinking?

Critical thinking contributes to the integrity of the student’s paper. It will give them a more disciplined approach, showing that they have understood the topic at hand.

People who think critically will constantly improve the quality of their thinking, which shows that they can form judgement.

Ultimately, the aim is that throughout the development of each academic piece of writing, students gain these skills which will become essential in their later studies.

Why is academic honesty important?

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of teaching and learning, where action is based on inquiry and reflection (“Academic honesty in the IB educational context”, International Baccalaureate Organization, 2014) It plays a crucial role in all written examinations of the IBDP. Students should visit the school library when they have specific questions (for example about what makes a good research question), or more particular requests about referencing their sources. The most used bibliographic

formats for all IB papers are MLA, Chicago, and ISO 690. The latter is used for students who choose to write their essay in French.

Keep all deadlines to avoid last minute panic and stress.

• At TutorsPlus we often get calls from desperate students who have left their work until the last minute and are suffering the strain of having many different deadlines arriving all at once. Listen to the advice from the IB Co-ordinator and follow the timings they have given you. They have planned the deadlines to make it easier for students to balance the heavy workload.

It goes without saying that students need to adhere to all assignment deadlines set in advance by the IB organization, since these are there to help them with the various chronological phases related to each assignment.

• It is crucial for all IB students to take all written examinations seriously, and therefore organization is key when taking on any scholarly piece of writing. As a secondary school librarian, I often see IB students in a stressful last-minute rush to finalize their written assignments. This can be avoided by being better prepared and organized. Plan your work and give yourself plenty of time to meet every deadline.

• It can also be easy to fall behind, especially with the other classes and assignments taking place during the two IB years. To avoid this from happening, students should set themselves personal goals and deadlines to stick to, as best as possible. Not only does this help them in regard to planning their work, but also shows responsibility and commitment to their assignment.

• Most importantly if you are stuck ask for help. Do not put it off. Your teacher, mentor and IB Co-ordinator are there to help, not to mention your librarian or the TutorsPlus tutoring team too!

What is the role of Mentors?

• All IB students are assigned a Mentor during their Extended Essay, and it is crucial that students should maintain regular contact with their own Mentor throughout the whole research and writing process and until the assignment is officially handed in.

• Mentors are there to help students with any type of feedback and it is important

“The ToK essay asks students to reflect on the general nature of knowledge, and on how we know what we claim to know.” that students take advantage of this opportunity.

How should students record their sources?

• Students should note down each source of information as they go, whether it is online or on paper. This is because the bibliography will need to cover all sources referenced throughout their assignment, the purpose being to avoid plagiarism.

• This organizational aspect will become especially useful when it comes to online sources, so as not to forget where the information originally came from and when it was consulted.

• If students forget to go this it can be a huge time drain to have to go back and try to locate all the sources later.

Use the school library to help with research.

• Students often rely on Google when researching online information for their assignments. It is highly recommended that students also use other evaluation criteria tools when doing so, such as the CRAP test (currency, reliability, authority, and purpose) that determines whether a website is credible or not. This tool will save students a lot of time and is sure to help them find great quality online resources.

• IB students should remember to visit their school library to receive extra help and feedback. This can be about the general structure and writing style of their essay or about finding relevant online sources. In this respect, librarians are there to teach students how to differentiate between good and poor-quality web sources.

• The role of librarians is essential. The purpose of their work, as well as that of the teachers, is to attain a common goal of helping the student achieve academic success.

If English is not your mother tongue these are our top tips to help • For students whose mother tongue is not English but chose to write their assignments in this language, it can sometimes be difficult to find the right sentence structure and be understood throughout the entirety of their paper. For the non-English student to hand in the best possible written assignment, there are various points to be considered, such as: • Using online dictionaries and encyclopaedias (e.g. Britannica, or Universalis when writing in French) to check the meaning and spelling of specific words and terminology used within one’s assignment.

• Depending on their availability, asking for help from at least one of the student’s language teachers, when revising the piece of writing and before handing it in.

• Getting an appointment with the learning support department within the school, where professional staff can help the student with any difficulties, they may face related to language barriers.

• Using the library resources to find any useful information that will guide the student towards success in academic writing (most likely all school libraries should have a section with this type of resources), as well as asking librarians for additional help.

TutorsPlus offer pre-IB tuition in all subjects to help international students prepare for this demanding programme.

Tutors are experienced IB teachers and examiners and tutor students in their Extended Essays, Internal Assessments and Theory of Knowledge.

Get in touch with us on 022 731 8148, or info@tutorsplus.com to find out more about our pre-IB courses and information about our tuition.

Louise Valentin is a TutorsPlus tutor and works for a Geneva International School. She helps students prepare and organize themselves to successfully complete their ToK, Extended Essay and Internal Assessments for their IB Diploma. If you would like to have tuition with Louise, please visit https://tutorsplus.com/find-a-tutor/ INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 25

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A detour to the new Fürstenkino, The Treasure Chamber of the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Kunstmuseum INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 27

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Sunset with a view, Monte Generoso

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© Ticino Turismo - Foto Alessio Pizzicannella

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Rewarded by effort, Monte Bar

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© Swingtheworld - Fabio Balassi

© Ticino Turismo - Foto Loreta Daulte

Swinging in nature, Blenio Valley

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Via Ferrata The “Schweifinen” fixed rope route high above the roofs of Zermatt guarantees INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 30

Zermatt’s mountain world makes travelling to the top of a mountain a fascinating experience. The viewing points do not just give one a view of the Matterhorn and 37 four-thousanders.

Matterhorn glacier paradise Touch the snow, all year round on Matterhorn glacier paradise. The Matterhorn glacier ride will carry you to Matterhorn glacier paradise at 3883m/12,739 ft. A world of snow and ice awaits you.

Gornergrat With its sunny viewing platform that can be reached throughout the year, the Gornergrat (3,089 m) has been the top tourist destination in Switzerland. The Monte Rosa Massif with the highest Swiss mountain and a view over the secondlargest glacier in the Alps.

Rothorn From the Rothorn, you can see the Matterhorn from its most beautiful side.

There’s plenty to see here: the mountains stretch before you, from the Dufourspitze to the Weisshorn, and, right in the middle, the Matterhorn.

Culinary Experiences It is not a secret that guests in Zermatt are spoiled around the clock. Zermatt has the greatest density of gourmet and mountain restaurants as confirmed by international restaurant guides each year.

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Destination Gstaad:

D

An Adventure for all the family

estination Gstaad offers various activities for families with small children to youths. After the opening of two adventure playgrounds in 2019 and the STATION in 2020, the whole family experience “Saaniland” will be officially launched in summer 2021 with two new themed trails.

Adventure playground Wispile (Gstaad): Kids have the opportunity to romp around and climb as much as they want.

Slides, climbing elements, water games and even a petting zoo with goats are integrated into this special playground. For some extra fun we recommend a descent by scooter (from 12 years)

Adventure playground Rinderberg (Zweisimmen): There is a great playground on the Rinderberg. A nice end after the panoramic hike from Horneggli to Rinderberg. Along the hiking path you will discover surprises and highlights such as a wakeboard lift, mountain restaurants and BBQ areas.

STATION: Are you up for a really special adventure?

The STATION is a world for working and trying things out. Here you will find an exciting engine room with a fascinating mix of ropes, gears, cranks and marble runs. At the different work stations, kids can let their imaginations run wild while working and making handicrafts. Outside they can climb around in the rope garden and play in the playground. The best part of all is that even if it rains, you won’t be bored. STATION is perfect for families with kids between 6 and 14 years.

A lot of kids don’t like hiking. If this is the case with your family, you should try the new adventure trails in Destination Gstaad!

On “Sanni’s Klangerlebnisse“ trail you will hear different sounds and noises. Listen closely, maybe you will hear animal voices or music coming from tree trunks. On the “Saani’s Bergerlebnis“ trail you work on your mountain climbing skills and coordination at 17 stations. You practice balancing and climbing. At the different stations you will also learn interesting things about plants, animals or the moor.

Sports Centre and outdoor swimming pools: Do you love water? Then, the outdoor swimming pools in Saanen and Zweisimmen are the place for you. The Sportzentrum Gstaad has an outdoor pool as well as an indoor pool, plus a mini-golf course, a playground and you can even play tennis here.

Beside cows, the white Saanen-goats are another trademark within the region. That’s why “Saani” the mascot from “Saaniland” is a small, sassy goat. In spite of its wealth of tourist facilities, the Destination Gstaad has retained its Alpine authenticity. There are 200 farms, 80 working Alpine pastures and around 7,000 cows! Alpine traditions are lived and breathed and local produce as well as craftsmanship are very popular. Local farmers appreciate people taking an interest in their work, which is essential in ensuring that nature remains intact.

Our tip: rent a fondue backpack and enjoy a delicious cheese fondue at your favourite place.

Rope park Zweisimmen: extremely fun for older kids!

Five courses, which include funny rope ladders, crazy zip-wires (up to 150 m long) and daring jumps up to 20 metres off the ground. But even the smallest children can have a special climbing adventure, thanks to a children’s course and a children’s playground.

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Exploring Switzerland this Summer

witzerland is blessed with beauty, history and spectacular landscapes for all the family to enjoy, and summer is the perfect season to step outside and explore. There’s nothing quite like a sunny summer’s day In Switzerland, when the sky is deep blue, the lakes are shimmering and you feel the cool breeze blow past as you and your family immerse in laughter and

fun whilst uncovering new adventures.

After the year we have had, now is the time for an unforgettable summer holiday in Switzerland and we have the ultimate guide to help plan your trip.

Aletsch-Arena: Guided glacier tours When you look out onto the Great Aletsch Glacier for the first time we guarantee the

view will take your breathe away. Through a guided family tour you will learn fascinating facts about the Swiss UNESCO World Heritage site and experience the longest stream of ice in the Swiss Alps. A number of one- and two-day glacier tours take place every day from June to October.

UNESCO Biosphere Entlebuch / Sörenberg Located in the foot of the Alps is Entlebuch, the first UNESCO biosphere reserve in Switzerland. Adorned with unspoilt moorlands, a relaxing atmosphere and multiple offerings for all the family.

Including energy and fairytale trails, mud baths, satellite-guided hiking and field trips.

The focus is on the mystical moor landscapes. Visitors of all ages will learn how a moor is formed, get to know the moorland inhabitants and will be encouraged to experience the moor with all of their senses.

Climbing with the family in Pontresina Pontresina is a romantic alpine village renowned for it’s various sports activities which include climbing gardens, high alpine tours and adventure parks. The INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 32

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mountaineering school is a popular attraction which aims to teach children aged 8 - 14 to experience the rock as a challenge that they can meet and tackle. All safety equipment is provided.

Hasliberg: Step into a fairytale The adventure of Hasliberg begins on the journey there by cable car, and once you reach the Mägisalp upper station the dwarf trail begins. This charming trail has play stations that align with the Muggestutz storybook, which tells about the fairytale dwarfs that live in the Hasliberg area.

We recommend reading the Muggestutz storybook before you arrive to really bring this magical adventure to life.

In addition to the dwarf trail and a butterfly path, the surrounding areas of Hasliberg offer modern bike parks and several adventurous mountain bike trails where paraglider’s can be spotted soaring through the skies. Your family can also rent scooters to explore the mountainous landscapes and lakeside views.

Braunwald Bartli the dwarf with his long beard, red trousers and green jumper emerges from his

hut from mid-June to October to welcome families and show them around his magical forest at Braunwald. Follow along his 4km path and discover some wonderful places such as the dwarf ’s castle, the dwarf ’s tower and the dwarf ’s bathing spot.

Grächen The Ravensburger Games Trail boasts a fun alternative to hiking, with exciting challenges for the whole family. There is something for everyone in the six games cabins and seven activity stations including a tricky escape puzzle for you to crack.

As well as enjoying the games trail, this is a great opportunity to expand your own knowledge of local plants and animals with everything you need provided in a pack at the local tourist office.

Nendaz Raclette cheese is a Swiss staple that was invented as a way to warm up after a long day on the slopes, with a rich history that begins in the heart of the Alps. Guests of Nendaz can learn how to make this famous cheese with a cheesemaker at the Balavaux alpine pastures and find out their culinary secrets!

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Toggenburg With codes to crack and clues to uncover, the Foxtrail creative team and the Toggenburg holiday region have created a scavenger hunt for families to discover. Can you solve the riddles? It all comes down to sharp ears and team work.

Ascona-Locarno Children that love an adventure will be thrilled with the treasure hunts offered

by Ascona-Locarno Tourism. The four hidden treasures are a fun and stimulating way to discover the area as well as expand map reading skills and use tactical quick thinking. Top explorers can expect prizes for their courage.

Savognin (Autumn) Join spectators at Savognin who every year wait for the Cotti family to take a 4 hour ride down into the village with their livestock. 300 sheep are shorn each Saturday in October and local market stalls offer a range of regional products, including a variety of treasures made from soft sheep’s wool. This is a unique experience that immerses you in a Swiss tradition.

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Saas Valley, put your skills to the test and reveal the secret code. After a fine meal in a mountain restaurant, you will receive your reward at the valley station. The family day can be planned individually and lasts around 2 to 4 hours.

Culinary delight

Enjoy the summer in the cool mountain air

The family paradise of Kreuzboden / Hohsaas introduces itself Whether hiking, climbing, biking or relaxing on the panoramic terrace of the mountain restaurants: become part of an unforgettable nature experience!

Monster scooter Our monster scooters are just the thing for the adventurous. After a short introduction, the wild ride begins with small jumps and a great driving experience and extends into an 11km descent into the valley.

Bike trails Hohsaas

on the Kreuzboden. The 3 routes are each around 380m long and the children can easily get to the start of these routes using the conveyor belt. But don’t go thinking these routes can’t be challenging!

Guaranteed fun for the whole family!

Family day Experience an exciting day with us in the Kreuzboden - Hohsaas area. Together with your family, you will decipher puzzles about the

The Valais is an absolute treasure of the mountain bike scene. The KreuzbodenHohsaas area is perfect for scenic and varied tours thanks to its high-alpine topography. The view of the towering peaks and the 1700 metres of altitude that have to be overcome between Hohsaas and Saas-Grund are unique.

Bike Park Kreuzboden Kreuzboden is for the whole family, not just experienced bikers. This summer from July 2021, 3 new trails will be expanded INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 34

There is nothing more romantic than a candlelight dinner under the full moon, 2,400 metres above sea level. After an aperitif in the sunset, we will entice your senses with a 4-course meal by candlelight.

Afterwards you can enjoy a magical view in the moonlight with a fine digestive and a cozy blanket on the terrace.

Or treat yourself to something very special with our exclusive Wine & Dine experience. A 5-course menu in the middle of a breathtaking mountain panorama and the best wines from an exquisite Valais winery. Let us pamper you with culinary delights.

5% discount on all mountain experiences with the promo code “SunnySide” until the end of June 2021: https://shop.eguma.ch/bergbahnen-hohsaas/en/ gift-vouchers?promocode=SunnySide. By using the promo code, you agree to receive the Berbahnen Hohsaas newsletter. This informs you about great promotions and excursion opportunities.

Contact and further information: Bergbahnen Hohsaas AG, 3910 Saas-Grund, +41 (0) 27 958 15 80, www.hohsaas.ch

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Discover the Hoher Kasten in Appenzell Top tip for families Exploring the Appenzell Alps has never been easier or more affordable.

The Hoher Kasten is a mountain located in the Appenzell Alps Children up to 15 years of age can travel free of charge on the Hoher with a 360 degree unlimited panoramic view over six countries.

Kasten cable car throughout 2021 as It offers an incredibly diverse selection of hiking opportunities. long as they are accompanied by at least one adult. And the Hiking Opportunities s there a better way to start a journey of discovery than with offer is open to school for everyone an adventure in itself ? The Hoher Kasten cable car rides up groups too!

The Hoher Kasten is the perfect to the summit within eight minutes. The journey takes you starting point for a variety of hikes across green meadows from 900 to almost 1800 metres above sea across the entire Alpstein region - for all levels. From families level. Once arrived you will want to discover the surroundings with children to experienced hikers – there is a suitable hike for immediately. On the summit there are resting benches, free telescopes and various panoramic platforms, where you can admire everyone.

The best walking option for families is the family trail Hoher the view to the fullest.

Kasten – Kamor – Forstseeli - Brülisau, which begins at the cable car and takes hikers along the mountain ridge Kamor before Unlimited panoramic views on the Europa-Rundweg descending through a peaceful pine forest, where you can either circular trail continue to the idyllic Forstseeli Lake for a waterside picnic or to The Europa Rundweg Circular Trail circles the striking silhouette the mountain inn Ruhesitz where it’s possible to rent scooters to of Hoher Kasten and offers exceptional views in all directions. It is ride back into Brülisau for a slightly more energetic end to the trail. wheelchair-accessible and therefore also accessible for families with Another option is to hike to the dreamy Sämtisersee lake. Either prams and people with mobility issues. With good visibility, you will you hike from Brülisau up to the lake or you start your hiking have the opportunity to view six neighboring countries: Germany, journey from Hoher Kasten. This one is a little trickier but it’s still France, Liechtenstein, Austria as well as the summit of the Monte accessible for families. di Zocca in Italy. Switzerland counts too, obviously.

If you want a bit of a challenge you can try the Geological Along this summit trail, a unique alpine garden features up to 300 alpine plants for you to see. With 15 information boards, adults Trail from Hoher Kasten – Staubern – Saxerlücke – Bollenwees (Fählensee lake) – Plattenbögeli (Sämtisersee lake) – Brülisau. It and children can learn a lot about native plants and animals. The takes around four to five hours. With panoramic views over the Hoher Kasten alpine garden association breeds seeds with care, Rhine Valley and the rolling Appenzell hills, as well as over the resettling endangered alpine plants. Every spring when the snow surrounding mountains, this trail is a must for everyone who wants has melted, the plants awake from their hibernation. to go beyond his limits.

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The only Revolving Restaurant in Eastern Switzerland The only revolving restaurant near and far is located on top of Hoher Kasten. The restaurant revolves around its own axis within an hour, allowing for stunning panoramic views. Whether you are deciding to have lunch at the restaurant or simply a cup of coffee, try to spend some time inside the restaurant to feel the rotating effect! Needless to say, local Appenzell delicacies, friendly hosts and just all-around a great atmosphere complete this experience.

Season starts in May 2021 Due to construction work, the cable car and the revolving restaurant will be open from may 2021. Since November 2020, the connecting tunnel of the top station and the catering area has been renewed. A comfortable inclined lift was realized and new animation in the tunnel will make the trip even more of a unique experience. Please refer to our website for the exact opening date.

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Immerse yourself in a world of experience on a family break in the Holiday Region Interlaken

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ith its dazzling array of activities, an unforgettable family holiday is guaranteed, whatever the season in the Holiday Region Interlaken. Tear down the mountain on a scooter with your loved ones or take a kayak out onto Lake Brienz. Climb high up into the treetops at the rope park, go on a treasure hunt or explore the Alpine landscape on family hikes and themed paths.

different routes take you along unsurfaced and asphalt roads to the railway station in Beatenberg. It’s an unforgettable experience offering plenty of fun and action. Choose your own pace – leisurely or fast. The routes wind their way through verdant forests, passing lush meadows and gushing mountain streams on the way. If you feel like taking a break, you can stop at one of the well laid out barbecue areas, so it’s worth bringing a nice picnic with you.

Biking fun and views of the Bernese Oberland mountain peaks

Kayak across Lake Brienz

During the summer season you can hire scooter bikes at the Niederhornbahn’s middle station in Vorsass. The staff will equip you with the necessary equipment and helmet before you set off. The cable car takes you straight to Vorsass. Two

Learn the basics while you enjoy a fun-filled day with the whole family on Lake Brienz.

Be the captain of your own ship and spend two action-packed hours on the water whilst you tackle various sporting challenges.

If you love swimming and water-based activities this experience guarantees fun and a challenge to test your sea legs!

urism @ Interlaken To

River rafting in Interlaken – feel the power of water An easily accessible launching area on the lower reaches of the Lütschine river means that families can also book an adventurous river rafting trip on the famous whitewater river with our expert guides. The smaller waves and splashes ensure fun for all ages whilst a plunge into Lake Brienz at the end of the tour is the perfect way to round off this fun family experience.

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@ Interlaken Tourism

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Freshen up in the cooling waters of open-air pools by Lakes Thun and Brienz Around lakes Thun and Brienz you will find tranquil bathing spots and open-air pools whilst a spacious lawn awaits visitors to the Brienz Lido. At the lido on Lake Thun, you can swim lengths of several pools, race down the wide wavy slide or simply drink in breathtaking views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau from your lakeside vantage point. Alternatively, rent a canoe or standup paddle at various points on the southern bank of Lake Thun and ride the sparkling waters.

Nature and tradition at Ballenberg: An adventure for the whole family Immerse yourself in the past and enjoy a stunning natural idyll at the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum. Experience the culture and customs of Switzerland at close hand and visit all of Switzerland in just one day.

Unpaved roads and stone paths lead from the entrance of the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum to various centuries-old buildings representing every part of Switzerland.

The St. Beatus caves: A natural wonder

by Lake Thun Take a tour of discovery in the magical world of St. Beatus caves. Prepare to be fascinated by the incredible shapes and colours of impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations, and hear the rush and drip of the bubbling waters. The St. Beatus caves are one of the most popular day-trip destinations around Lake Thun, and it is possible to explore a kilometre of this on your own when you visit.

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@ Engelberg-Titlis Tourismus

THIS IS IT This is Engelberg-Titlis C

risp, clean mountain air fills your lungs, your gaze sweeps across majestic mountain peaks, your nose takes in the delicate scent of soil and Alpine flowers, and the silence is broken only by the harmonious ringing of cowbells. This is precisely what you have been seeking. You give a whoop of joy: This is it!

Rustic character and culture since 1120

5 reasons for spending family holidays in Engelberg?

During the holidays, the whole family hopes to have a great time and return home with wonderful memories. In Engelberg, that’s easy. As one of the sportiest family destinations in Switzerland, we offer a whole range of activities and experiences that add up to an unforgettable family holiday.

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Easy accessibility In one hour’s drive from Zurich to Engelberg and only 30 minutes later you are on Mount Titlis.

Family destination label since 1998

The “Family Destination” label is only awarded to holiday destinations that streamline their offers to the needs and wishes of children. With family-friendly facilities and loads of enjoyable activities, these destinations (such as Engelberg) offer children and their parents plenty of fun, action, variety and relaxation.

@ Engelberg-Titlis Tourismus

Engelberg is located 25 km south of Lake Lucerne in a wide mountain valley at an altitude of around 1000 metres. At 3,239 metres, Titlis mountain with its glacier, and Hahnen mountain at 2,600 metres, are towering over the surrounding peaks. The Benedictine monastery was founded in 1120 and has a big impact on the life of the village, even today. Monks still live, work and teach there. In combination with the pleasant Swiss flair, the special architecture lends the village its very own charm.

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Family programme

Every day there’s a new adventure awaiting you in Engelberg. There’s an attractive family programme of activities being offered once again.

Playgrounds and picnic areas

Engelberg has a range of adventure playgrounds that ensure excitement for the little ones. Also, Engelberg has numerous picnic spots, many alongside these playgrounds.

Hiking adventures for small and big alpinists

For your family you will find plenty of themed hiking trails in Engelberg. There are a total of 11 varied walking and hiking trails that are designed to be suitable for pushchairs.

Are you convinced? Or do you need more inspiration? Discover more: www.engelberg.ch/en/summer. See you soon in Engelberg!

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Région Dents du Midi: The possibilities are endless

Région Dents du Midi The Région Dents du Midi encompasses 6 charming villages perched high in the Swiss Alps near the south eastern end of Lake Geneva. Nestled in the spectacular Val d’Illiez, these villages are part of Les Portes du Soleil, the world’s largest international ski & bike area and one of the most beautiful places in the world.

In the summer, some 800 km of hiking trails and 600 km of mountain bike trails await outside your front door, with quaint alpine restaurants and sunny terraces at strategic intervals along the way. In the winter, the snowy landscape is a study in stark contrasts, from the hushed mystery of the frozen back country to the invigorating hustle and bustle of the state-of-the-art groomed ski slopes.

No matter the season, this is a place of exhilarating peaks and inspiring views, where the border between France and Switzerland has all but disappeared and your garden stretches as far as the eye can see.

In a land with no boundaries the possibilities are endless. At the risk of sounding cliché, there really IS something for everyone in the Région Dents du Midi!

Multi Pass Rediscover the Alps this summer with the Portes du Soleil Multi Pass, your golden ticket to over 100 free and discounted activities! Staying overnight in the Région Dents du Midi? The Multi Pass is free of charge. Alternatively, you can purchase a one-day Multi Pass for CHF 11 at the ski lift ticket window in Champéry and Morgins.

Free activities : Portes du Soleil Multi Pass: The all inclusive concept!

Chair lift: With 22 mountain lifts throughout the Swiss and France resort, you can explore the peaks and jump from one country to another!

Swimming pool: Swimming in the Région Dents du Midi! Whether you want to relax, play or do a bit more sport, entrance is free with your Multi Pass at swimming pools in INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 38

Champéry and Morgins.

Tourist train: Want to just enjoy wonderful mountain views? Simply use the inter-resort shuttles that will take you on a panoramic journey across the heart of our valley.

Discounted activities Trott’in Herbe: Trott en Stock’s fleet of 24 adult scooters and 8 junior scooters are an easy way to experience thrills in the mountains, with fat tyres and suspension to absorb the shocks of the rugged terrain and brake discs to stop on a dime. 10 km of trails with a 1000 m descent wind through alpine pastures and forests, making the Alps your personal playground.

Déval’Kart: Hurtle down the ski slopes in summertime on a 4x4 go-cart rigged especially for the rugged mountain terrain.

At the bottom, just hook your cart onto the ski lift and head back up for endless hours of fun.

Via Ferrata: Part hiking, part mountaineering, a Via Ferrata allows hikers to safely navigate treacherous alpine terrain.

With the proper equipment, adults and children alike can clip safely to a series of cables and iron rungs fixed to the valley’s rock walls. The Tière Via Ferrata is 460 m long and has an altitude gain of 125 m, skimming up sheer rock walls. The route crosses over the River Tière in three places, offering spectacular views of the rushing cascades below.

For more information visit www.rddm.ch

@Fabiano Mancesti –fabxplore

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A night under the stars Lake Geneva • Excursion up the mountains to Rochersde-Naye aboard a cogwheel train • Easy mountain bike route that is ideal for the family around the beautiful village of Les Diablerets • A day out on the picturesque shores of Lake Joux, combined with a dip in Lake Brenet for those who love cold water!

i –fabxplore

the time to discover some other summer activities in the canton of Vaud.

• A hike around the pristine waters of Lake Lioson, followed by relaxing sunbathing on the lakeshores • A family hike to the Ramaclé waterfall combined with the discovery of the famous Turrian Bridge • A walk in the terraced vineyards of Lavaux offering an outstanding view of

ain @PackedAg

@Fabiano Ma ncest

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ho hasn’t dreamt of spending a night out in the open air under the stars? It’s an experience that’s now available with family or friends in the Vaud Alps, the Jura, and the Vaud Plateau. Organised with the environment and the current regulations in mind, these bivouacs are supervised by an accompanying guide with a wealth of local knowledge to share with the participants.

There are six experiences on offer in total, each one addressing a different theme: from spotting wildlife to forest legends and marvelling at the splendour of the night sky. This product is in response to the current demand for outdoor activities and a desire on the part of many visitors to reconnect with nature. Each night is a genuine microadventure beneath the starry skies and an invitation to enjoy an experience that’s as exceptional as it is out of the ordinary.

If you come to enjoy a “Night under the stars”, why not take

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Explore the Secrets of Schilthorn I

GOOD TO KNOW

The cows are in Gimmelwald until about mid-June and then live on the alp for the summer before returning in September. The young animals t only takes 30 minutes by cable car to the summit The Schilthorn spend the whole year around the barn. of the 2970 m high Schilthorn. In front of Cableway Ltd also ● Thomas Rubin is personally on site whenever he the impressive panorama atop the 3km high offers a guided visit to has time.

Schilthorn, with Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, where the a farm in Gimmelwald ● The altitude and the visit to the stables require secret agent James Bond chased the bad guys there’s afterwards. Gimmelwald suitable clothing and good shoes. Don’t forget plenty to discover. The jewel in the crowd is the Bond is a traditional mountain sunglasses, sunscreen, etc.

World exhibit, which takes you into a world of its own farming village with just ● Offer, resp. price is also available and provides exciting details about “On Her Majesty’s under 100 inhabitants, without brunch in the 360°Secret Service” starring 007 actor George Lazenby. On the situated at 1367m above sea Restaurant Piz Gloria ●

world’s first 007 Walk of Fame, stars from in front and behind the camera leave their mark on the legendary Bond filming location.

After these exciting espionage experiences, the James Bond Brunch in the 360° restaurant Piz Gloria will taste even better. The restaurant rotates around its own axis during the meal, passing more than 200 mountain peaks. Afterwards, the cable car takes you down to Birg. Once there, you have the opportunity for two more amazing walks. First, the Skyline Walk platform leads you over the vertical abyss and provides a beautiful panoramic view across the whole mountain range. Secondly, for those who have not experienced enough thrills can dare to venture onto the Thrill Walk. Featuring crawl spaces, glass bottom floors, cattle-grids and more, this 200m walk is sure to get the spine tingling as you travel along the imposing rock massif and get an unrestricted view into the bottomless pit.

level between Stechelberg and Mürren. Immerse yourself in the everyday life of a Gimmelwald farmer and gain an authentic impression of traditional alpine farming.

Thomas Rubin, a farmer from Gimmelwald, opens his byre doors personally whenever possible and gives an insight into his varied everyday working life. He provides exciting details about his own milk, cheese and sausage production, his animal husbandry and a lot of interesting facts about the cultivation of the surrounding mountain meadows.

Make sure to take advantage of the 30 percent discount on the Stechelberg - Schilthorn return, valid until 14th November 2021 and includes the exclusive James Bond Brunch. Children under 6 eat and travel for free, making this a trip for all the family.

Book online at schilthorn.ch/reservation.

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HOW DO TEACHERS GET TO KNOW YOUR CHILD? INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 42

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“Greeting every child, allowing them to share their ideas, facilitating a group activity, and providing a thoughtful morning message, shows our students that they are heard and known.” the needs of a school community. We must always evaluate the meaning of ‘pastoral care’ and look to build learning environments that are supportive, productive, and positive. This does not mean being ‘permissive’ or unrealistic; it means having the systems, strategies, and communication in place to forge strong relationships on which outstanding learning can be based.

Knowing Every Child

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f the pandemic has shown educators anything, it is that our most fundamental responsibility is to care for those in our school community. If students do not feel genuinely safe, no achievement – academic or otherwise – is realistically possible. That some teachers and schools have been able to maintain achievement in the face of such disruption is testament to an unshakable truth; everything they have been doing has been based on care.

Such a principle, however, cannot only be seen in moments of crisis – it must be ever-present and ever-evolving to meet

Embedded in our school’s philosophy is the idea that, “…students learn effectively, feel safe, welcome and respected within the community…”, but we are always looking to improve. To do this, it’s often best to start at the simplest point - asking young people what they need from us. The answer, invariably, is simple. To be able to help them organise their learning – which is important, but ‘functional’ - and to know who they are, which is fundamental.

Truly knowing our students is not achieved simply by wanting to, it is done through deliberate processes. One such example is the ‘Morning Meeting’ in Primary School. Greeting every child, allowing them to share their ideas, facilitating a group activity, and providing a thoughtful morning message, shows our students that they are heard and known.

This may seem simplistic, but such research-driven ideas give direction to knowing our students better.

Managing Difficult Situations It holds that if we better know our students, we are better placed to build resilience within them. Resilience – the ability to ‘manage’ difficult situations – is highly individual but can be ‘worked on’.

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The more positive the environment, the more the scales ‘tip’ in favour of positive experiences in the mindset of the child, meaning they are better equipped to handle difficult times that might threaten to ‘unbalance’ them. We have seen our resilience pushed in recent months, but we have also seen it shine.

Respecting Digital Spaces We are all ‘digital citizens’ in the modern world. Our children – their parents or teachers – are ‘digital natives’, and may take features of the digital world for granted. It is our responsibility to extend the idea of ‘pastoral care’ to this space.

Our core messaging to students is based on ‘respect’ – respect for others, for oneself, for data, and for intellectual property.

Anything that impacts our students’ welfare is important to us.

Seeing the Invisible Schools must empower their teachers to be entirely committed to ‘see every child’. To further improve this commitment, however, staff must go beyond the superficial and attempt to see the invisible. With the right support system in place teachers can develop their expertise to better identify the features of every child’s background, interests, and character. With better knowledge, we can offer better care.

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 and we will arrange an appointment for you with our Admissions team. www.icsz.ch

sleep THE S

BEDROCK OF GOOD HEALTH

leep is the one single (in)action that we can take to reset our physical and mental health every day: a nightly rinse and repair of our brain and body. Humans are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep.

Most of us need 7-9 hours every night, and sleep cannot be banked. Losing just one hour a night impacts our memory, our ability to learn and our overall health and has been associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are finding it difficult to sleep, with anxiety and stress being the main causes of insomnia. The problem is that poor sleep worsens the symptoms of mental distress, so we find

ourselves in a spiralling cycle of deficient sleep and increasing stress.

The resulting tiredness leads many of us to turn to caffeine to help us focus and alcohol to help us get to sleep.

Unfortunately, both have a disastrous impact on our sleep. Caffeine, which blocks our natural sleep-onset hormone, hangs around in our body for up to 12 hours, meaning that the coffee we had at lunchtime can prevent us from falling asleep at bedtime. Alcohol induces anaesthesia, not sleep, and both liquid stressors impact sleep quality, so we awake unrefreshed the next day.

Blue light from screens at night-time blocks our natural sleep cycle by turning off the important sleep hormone melatonin, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 44

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HEALTHFIRST SLEEP WELL, LIVE WELL CHECKLIST

1

Start the day with a dose of bright daylight: go outside for 20-30 minutes in the morning, ideally before beginning your working day, to stimulate your 24hour clock.

2

Set your evening sleep routine alarm clock to start your evening wind down to get ready for sleep. Aim for the same 7-days a week bedtime and wake-up time to help stabilise your 24-hour clock.

vital for communicating the message to our brain that sleep should start.

A good night’s sleep starts in the morning by getting good light: just 20 minutes of daylight sends a strong message to the brain to wake up and sets up our 24-hour clock for the day ahead. To keep this clock well calibrated, we should ensure a regular bedtime routine 7 days a week. Setting an alarm in the evening to begin the night-time wind down can help fine-tune the accuracy of our internal clocks. Dim the lights an hour before bed, lower the temperature in your room to 18 degrees and take a nice hot bath, both to relax and to cool your core temperature down. Our body temperature naturally falls as we go to sleep, along with our heart rate and blood pressure, so anything that drives these up, hampers our sleep.

And if you wake up in the night and cannot get back to sleep, the best thing to do is to get up: retrain your brain that your bed is for sleeping in.

How about you? How is your sleep right now? Are you awaking refreshed in the morning or do you need a coffee to get started? What do you do to help get to sleep each night?

Our HealthFirst Sleep Well, Live Well Checklist provides tips to improve your sleep - mother nature’s built-in repair and replenish system.

Dr Mecky McNeil and Dr Michelle Wright from HealthFirst (www.healthfirst.ch) offer physical and mental well-being services and First Aid training online and face-to-face to individuals and organisations throughout Switzerland and globally.

3

Avoid bright light in the evening: tone down your evening lighting to softer yellow shades to help stimulate the night-time release of melatonin. Gradually toning this down will mimic the setting sun and send a message to your brain to start preparing for sleep.

4 5 6 7 8 9

Avoid eating your evening meal too late so your body can have a chance to digest before sleep.

Avoid exercise in the 3 hours before sleep to help calm your heart rate and body before bed.

Avoid afternoon naps post 3pm. They can interfere with your night-time sleep pattern.

Take a hot bath before bed, not only to relax but also to help lower your body temperature before sleep.

Lower the temperature of your bedroom to 18 degrees; a cooler room helps the onset of sleep.

Avoid screens and devices before going to sleep, not only to reduce the blue LED light stimulation that impairs melatonin release, but also to help calm the mind before sleep. Those last-minute emails may also lead to a spike in stress that can counteract the onset of sleep.

10 11 12

Keep your bedroom dark when you are asleep.

13 14

Avoid liquid stressors: no caffeine after lunchtime and beware of the alcoholic nightcap.

Avoid clock faces in your room. If you do wake up in the night, do not look at the clock.

Bedrooms are for sleeping in: if you wake up in the night, get up.

Move to another room and sit quietly in a darkened place, listen to music, or read a book until you feel tired and ready for sleep. Prevent your brain from associating bed with being awake.

Keep a journal and a pen beside your bed and write down your worries if they wake you at night. Putting your ‘to do’ list, worrying thoughts, or even 3 things you are grateful for on paper can really help to quiet your mind.

15

Switch off your snooze button. If you must set an alarm to wake you in the morning, you do not need to relive the stress impact more than once!

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We welcome and connect.

Did you know that ISBerne accepts new students year-round? If you are searching for school options, we invite you to visit our website, take our virtual tour, and discover the family-based community that makes our school unique. Combine this community with a continuous International Baccalaureate curriculum and a wide choice of extra-curricular activities, and you will quickly see why ISBerne students are happy and engaged! Contact us at: www.isberne.ch or call 031 959 1000

AWESOME SUMMER CAMP ZERMATT Web: www.awesomesummercampzermatt.com Phone: +41 79 709 00 06

Enjoy a full or half day of invigorating sports and activities

A Maximum Ratio of 4 or 6 campers to each camp leader

Age specific groups helping the children to make new friends.

From 3-17 years.

Email: info@awesomesummercampzermatt.com Phone: +41 79 709 00 06

Summer Day Camps We offer campers an exciting range of invigorating activities whilst developing key skills required to safely enjoy the outdoors. Each day we try to ensure that the children are making the most of the environment surrounding us and having fun, but also learning a bit about the outdoors!

Stop and smell the roses!

WRITTEN BY HESTER MACDONALD

R

oses are some of the oldest flowering plants, appearing in the fossil record around 70 million years ago. The original wild roses were not so different to some of our wild roses today, with 5 petals, and some fragrance, and can be found in most regions of the world. The beauty of the flower and the perfume made the rose a very popular plant. The Romans used it as confetti for celebrations, as well as for medicinal purposes and perfume.

The Greeks believed that the rose was created by Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, when running to save her lover Adonis, her tears fell on his blood, and thereby created a fragrant red rose.

The Ancient Egyptians, too, used roses as a cosmetic ingredient, and they also appear in tombs as funerary wreaths. The cultural and social meaning of roses is very broad, from the red roses that represent love in many cultures, to the white rose representing the Virgin Mary in Christian imagery. Did you know that a bouquet of roses has different meanings depending on the colour of the roses in it? Blue is for mystery, yellow is for friendship and orange is for passion.

Rose flowers Roses can be found in almost any colour, from the darkest purples, to the purest white. The two colours that are hardest to produce

in roses are blue and black. Black flowers, of any type, are quite unusual, and black roses are no exception. You will see roses with the word “black” in their names, like “Black Baccara”, for example, but they are actually very dark red. Blue roses are even harder to find. The Japanese company, Suntory , bred pansy genes into a red rose, and used an enzyme to “switch off” the red colour.

The resulting rose is more a purple colour than blue, as the red colour could not be entirely subdued. It’s called “Applause” and you can read about this lengthy project on Suntory’s website www. suntory.com The earliest breeding of roses has been documented in the Han Dynasty (141-87 BC) in China, where gardeners started to experiment with improving on the wild rose forms, that has just 5 petals. Later, the China rose, or Rosa chinensis appeared in Europe in the middle of the 18th century, and is the parent for many modern garden roses. It is multi-petalled and flowers more than once in the season, a feature known as “repeat flowering.” Rose breeding is a big business today, with hundreds of new cultivars appearing on the market every year.

Rose breeders are looking for plants that have a long flowering period, are fragrant, disease-resistant, with lots of healthy, glossy foliage. The International Rose Trial in Nyon, in the Canton of

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 48

Vaud in Switzerland, is the first trial worldwide to assess all these things, without spraying or treating the roses in any way. You can see the results so far on the website of the Rose Trial www. rosenouvelledenyon.ch and if the COVID restrictions permit, visit them during the open days in summer.

Rose fragrance Roses are described as the “cornerstone of perfumery” and are said to feature in 80% of womens’ perfumes. The roses most used in perfumery are Damascene roses, Turkish roses and Rosa centifolia that is principally grown around the French perfumemaking town, Grasse. Roses didn’t evolve their fragrance to make perfume, however, they evolved it to attract pollinators like bees.

Human rose breeders later on refined and developed those fragrant roses so that today we can smell dozens of different elements in one rose – vanilla, citrus, nasturtium, apples and cloves, for example.

You may also smell more unusual fragrances when you take a good sniff – honeysuckle, hyacinths, moss, peppers and even raspberry!

Over 300 compounds are known to produce fragrance in roses, and these can vary by time of day, and where the flower is in the development cycle. The compounds are produced by hundreds of volatile molecules, including some called monoterpenes. Rose oxide is a monoterpene, and you find it in in Damask roses, as well as in lychees, and some wines, like Gewurtztraminer.

Fragrance perception is a tricky thing in humans, as it depends on what you’ve been eating and drinking recently, as well as whether you are able to recognise the smell, so it’s no surprise that “noses”, professional people who smell things for a living, are in such high demand for many industries, including rose breeding.

One of the most common complaints about some modern roses is that they don’t smell, and the reason for this was only recently discovered. The analysis of the decoding of the genes for the China Rose “Old Blush” revealed that when some of the genes for flower colour were switched “on”, they switched off the gene for fragrance. This would explain why some roses, with very pretty flower colours, have no smell.

“Roses are described as the “cornerstone of perfumery” and are said to feature in 80% of womens’ perfumes.”

Rose “fruit” Roses are related to several popular fruit, including apples and pears, and produce fruit in a similar way, developing after the fertilisation of the flower. They are called “hips”, “heps” or “haws” and come in a wide variety of colours and shapes, adding to the attractiveness of the plant, long after the flowers have finished, Inside the fruit, a large number of hairy seeds , called “achenes” develop, and on the outside, a fleshy fruit, called the “pericarp” is produced. The pericarp is the part that is used to make jams or tea, and is very high in Vitamin C, containing 50% more than is found in oranges. The hips are attractive to wildlife, as well as people, and you will see thrushes and blackbirds nibbling the hips in the depths of winter, and finches enjoying the seeds.

Why are roses prickly?

Rose stems have “prickles”, which are outgrowths of the epidermis, mostly as sickle-shaped barbs, that help them to climb.

This way the rose can get more sunshine, and is more likely to survive. The prickles also help to deter browsing animals like deer, and are used an adaptation in sandy areas to trap sand at the base of the plant, helping to anchor it.

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“Roses are immensely adaptable plants, managing to survive in deserts as well as the far north, and as a result, are very useful garden plants.”

Cooking with roses Roses have been used as an ingredient in cookery for millennia, and you can easily learn to make your own rose mixes for sweet and savoury dishes. First of all, find a rose that you like the smell of. It’s important that it has been grown with a no-spray regime, as you are going to eat it. Most pink and yellow roses smell and taste nice, and some white varieties will work too. The best time to pick them is early in the morning, before 10:00, when the dew is still on them. Take the petals off the rose and snip off the white part at the base of each petal. This tastes bitter and needs to be removed.

Wash the petals in clean water and lay them out on a tea towel or kitchen paper to dry. If you want fresh petals, you will need to use them that day, but you can keep them for other recipes for up to a week in the fridge, or dry them for use later on.

Easy recipes Rose tea – put a handful of petals in hot water, let them brew for a few minutes and enjoy Rose sugar – put a handful of clean dry petals in a jar of sugar in a dark place for a week then sieve out the petals. You can use the

sugar in cakes, as decoration or to flavour other desserts Rose syrup – mix equal volumes of water and sugar in a saucepan, bring to the boil. Take off the heat and drop in a handful of petals and leave to soak for half an hour. Sieve out the petals and decant into a clean jar or bottle. This is delicious in desserts as well as soft and alcoholic drinks.

A rose for every situation Roses are immensely adaptable plants, managing to survive in deserts as well as the far north, and as a result, are very useful garden plants. There are roses for ground cover, for walls, for pots and tiny miniatures for when you’ve run out of space for any more roses! And if you don’t have any space at home, you can enjoy them in rose gardens and botanical gardens across Switzerland.

My book, “Gardens Switzerland” published by Bergli Books, available in all good bookshops, has lots of suggestions.

Hester Macdonald is a garden designer, writer, journalist and consultant. Her book “Gardens Switzerland” is printed by Bergli Books and is available in all good bookshops.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 50

CULTURE & CONVERSATIONS WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER CLYDE GREEN

A

few years ago, I was asked by some students if I wanted to help them with a club called “fight for rights”. It was initially made to address what they felt were inequalities within our school community and culture. At first, I was reluctant. I didn’t want to be tagged or labelled as an “activist”. After reflection I saw that this was a naïve move, as I had written about these ideas for years and as a teacher, I feel it is my duty to help to empower others. This group of students felt they were being left out of conversations due, what should be, unfathomable factors such as their sexual organs, their skin tone, how they walked, how they studied, or how much cash was in their pocket. It wasn’t right. Furthermore, teachers, students and staff in all the schools I have worked in have discussed the idea of culture and inequality.

We have all experienced what it is like having baseless judgments against us, but some have had to deal with it more than others. We all judge each other, but the judgments regarding the aforementioned list are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what makes us, us. They undermine what is really important: our physical & mental wellbeing with cultural appreciation at the centre. The main reservation that I had was: how could we address this theme in such a polarised world, which seems to favour the loudest in the room during the Internet Age? I recommended that they should realise that “fighting” isn’t the only answer, nor is it apparently, the most suitable way to get their point across in a centre of learning. Theoretically, my “teacher response” seemed to make sense, but INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 51

what happens when stakeholders do not feel comfortable or safe to state their opinion or ideas in open dialogue? In all the schools I have worked in verbal abuse seems to be commonplace, from the casual homophobic or racial slur masked as banter or locker room talk. In a way this subtle and sometimes not so subtle discourse managed to subdue those deemed to be the subaltern . In my experience when this issue has been raised teachers throw up a number of things to blame from the media to parents. The real issue is a lack of awareness of oneself and those around us. Breakdowns in healthy conversations usually stem from ignorance. How can we create spaces where people feel that they can express themselves freely, but at the same time respect the people around them and have culture awareness regarding what

and exposing injustices , but more often than not social media companies thrive from content that promotes outrage, deception and conspiracy. The more polarised we are, the better it is for them.

These extreme attitudes can bleed into classrooms, beyond virtual life and beyond veils of computer screens. There have been incidences of teachers controlling political views , students verbally attacking those that oppose them and teachers being physically attacked for questioning cultural practices; even killed. Has there been an increase in this kind of behaviour, or are we just seeing it more in the news?

Nevertheless, clearly what needs to happen is a development of spaces where conversations in schools allow freedom of expression (or the closest we can get to it). School classrooms should not be battlegrounds for culture wars, rather there should be a space where there is a search for identity rather than a “double down mentality” of one’s own identity or perspective. When I first introduced the idea of being prepared to be offended during debates in my class, I asked the following questions: Have you ever felt degraded or disrespected by someone? Why? What did you learn from that moment? ● Where is the line of what you can say and what you can’t say? Should there be a limit in class? ● Should it be a crime to hurt someone’s feelings? What if that person isn’t around to be hurt? ●

they say?

It seems natural that cultures and communities have tensions built within them. How we manage our diversity and learn from our differences is the key. Open debate should be viewed as healthy as it creates innovation and understanding.

Debates are some of our oldest practices.

That should be an international school’s focus: to embrace the variety in front of us and within ourselves, to promote positive change and also to be proud of what we have currently. There is, however, a battle between real-life and online experiences.

According to Cinelli, social media has

closed our open-mindedness, creating homophily and echo-chambers. The monetary-minded coders at numerous internet companies have composed algorithms that champion monothought, not heteroglossia. The world of social media is a behemoth for educators to battle against and we need to expose it for what it is. In some lessons we have educated students on the pros and cons of social media and looked at how it can affect our mindset when it comes to freedom of thought and freedom of expression .

Of course, there are positives to online engagement, such as encouraging activism INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 52

These three questions seem to open up a huge amount of critical thinking and debate in themselves before we even began discussions regarding identity, politics and culture or otherwise. Prior to debate, we must think about what we say and how we say it. This is different from censorship, this is developing our interpersonal skills and learning how to manage different situations. Some may see this as shrewd or political correctness, but I see it as surviving in a chaotic environment. The term political correctness has had its own evolution both on the right and left of the political spectrum. Initially seen as a satirical term but left it was used in the 1980s by the right as a weapon against inclusive language. Now perhaps it has an amalgamation of both stances. If

“There is a battle between real-life and online experiences. According to Cinelli, social media has closed our open-mindedness, creating homophily and echo-chambers.” people want to say what they want to say in any manner they see fit in spite of the situation, they must be prepared for the consequences: good or bad. This preparation and handling of situations and being prepared to speak our mind takes considerable emotional intelligence (skills that need to be taught more in school).

Students should also be open to hearing other opinions different to their own and reconsider their points of view in a sensitive and thoughtful manner. This will avoid “cancelling” people unnecessarily and an abuse of “woke culture”.

As educators we can facilitate discussion by possibly incorporating roleplay, or using other methods such as De Bono’s thinking hats. In Theory of Knowledge, IB students are sometimes restricted to certain Ways of Knowing in debates. From a teacher’s perspective we need to raise awareness prior to discussions about the stages for those who have been historically marginalised and the process it took for them to even have a ‘seat at the table’.

The three stages could be observed as so:

RECOGNITION – realising that we all have implicit bias.

LEGITIMISATION – the dominant power may perhaps recognise the rights of these marginalised people and may allow concessions.

TOLERATION – the dominant power recognises those marginalised as humans but doesn’t necessarily recognise their views.

In unmoderated debates on social media young people are interacting with users at various stages of the pyramid. The last step of recognition will be the hardest, for those who feel they are marginalised and also for those who feel they are in power, as we have varying backgrounds and experiences in the classroom. The classroom should be a level playing field and this can only happen with equity rather than equality. To navigate these “risky” cultural conversations successfully it will take empathy, humility, guidance and accountability. These aspects need to be modelled by the teacher and INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 53

other members of the school community.

I have been passionate about the meeting of cultures for most of my life. It’s one of the reasons I am an international teacher. We should be glad more people are becoming more aware of themselves and others and I know a lot of colleagues and students are hopeful that these conversations become something that comes naturally, enhancing an appreciation of each other and a willingness to accept our differences.

Schools have spoken a lot about diversity recently and we do need to have conversations about culture at the various points where they meet. Some stakeholders, including staff and teachers can be defensive when they hear that word. If that’s you: try not to be triggered; be hopeful. Diversity is nothing new. If you don’t like the way the word is being interpreted or used, take ownership of it.

Celebrate culture in the way that it reflects you, but doesn’t harm others. Diversity is part of you, it’s part of all of us. It’s what makes us who we are and it’s good to talk.

Dealing with bullying as an Expat WRITTEN BY LIZ MCEWAN

“It started with pulling out my hairbands, then progressed to name-calling. The incidents became more and more frequent. I found excuses to spend recreation inside, but this just gave them fuel to call me a geek and a swot. One day, a group of them pushed me to the ground and threw grass and mud on me. One slapped my face. My friends were too scared to help as they didn’t want the bullies to start on them.”

The above situation resulted in months

of fear and anxiety. A feeling of dread in the pit of the stomach at the thought of going to school, lousy sleep, nightmares and withdrawal from social activities.

How do I know how bad this feels?

This person was me.

Thirty years have since gone by, I am now a mother myself and work in education. When a friend approached me about a bullying situation it got me thinking about how I should advise her. More INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 54

specifically, how it can be extra challenging for expats who may feel isolated, and who lack the support or language skills necessary to deal with the situation.

My friend confided that she didn’t know how to help, that she didn’t understand her school’s approach to bullying, and she didn’t feel comfortable approaching her child’s teacher as her French isn’t good enough.

This article offers advice on recognising

convenient time for you.

Rather than jumping in and trying to solve the issue, your child can be more helpful to have their feelings validated. Try these responses: “That sounds tough” “I totally understand why that makes you feel sad.”

“I would feel the same in this situation.”

The STOP acronym can also be helpful to identify bullying.

S - Several T – Times O - On P - Purpose

It sounds like teasing.

Teasing isn’t fun for anyone. However, it is something that is usually best resolved by giving your child the necessary tools rather than intervening directly. Plus, by doing this, you will be helping them build assertiveness and social skills, which will help them through adolescence and adult life.

TEASING TOOLKIT

bullying, practical tips, and even a template letter you can use to approach your child’s teacher.

I hope it helps you feel more empowered and confident in approaching this topic after reading it.

Bullying or teasing?

Bullying exists on a ‘spectrum’ from ‘light teasing’ (not to be belittled) right through to verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

Before taking action, it pays to get the facts straight about what exactly is going on.

It’s essential to keep the lines of communication open and make sure your child knows that you are there for them. Children often choose bedtime to offload their worries – a time when us parents are tired and looking forward to an evening of Netflix! Remind yourself how important this is and try your best to offer a sympathetic ear whenever your child chooses to talk – even if it’s not a

Visualisation.

Children respond well to visualising words “bouncing off” of them. It can help them to realise that they don’t have to accept or believe what is said. This image can be demonstrated by showing how balloons bounce off a person.

“My daughter and I had a giggle practising this. I bounced a balloon at her whilst calling her ‘tragic’ (this seems to be the current teasing word of choice).

As the balloon bounced off her, I could see the effect of the word diminishing.”

Practise your confident voice.

Why not rehearse some quick and effective responses with your child? It’s very empowering for them, and responses like these can disarm the ‘teaser’.

“That makes me feel really uncomfortable.”

“Sorry you feel you have to make comments like that.”

Or perhaps a disinterested voice: “If you say so.”

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It sounds like bullying.

Reassure your child that you support them, that this will stop and that they have the right to feel safe and protected at school, and no one has the right to bully them.

Find out as many facts as you can.

Anything involving physical abuse, racial, sexist or discriminatory slurs needs reporting to the teacher immediately. An email followed by a follow-up face to face or phone conversation is usually best.

Often children don’t want their parents to get involved for fear it will make things worse. There are some situations where immediate intervention may not be the correct approach, but in more severe cases, informing someone at the school is essential even if that means going against your child’s wishes.

If you usually communicate with your child’s teacher in another language, it’s best to write the email and prepare for the meeting in this language. Our TutorsPlus language experts have prepared some useful phrases for those based in French and German speaking countries.

Here is an example of how you might communicate about a bullying situation in French: Je me permets de vous écrire concernant une situation à l’école qui touche beaucoup à Sarah en ce moment. Il s’agit d’un cas d’harcèlement……

Many schools have an anti-bullying programme in place. KIVA, an anti bullying campaign launched in 2009 in Finland, is used in over 19 countries worldwide, including many schools in Switzerland. Some schools have a playground buddy system or offer regular workshops for students.

“My daughter’s school has a ‘worry box. Children can write down an issue that is affecting them (anonymously if they wish) and post it to the school counsellor.”

Schools with a structure in place will usually set the wheels in motion straight away. However in other schools, you may have to work a little harder to get your voice heard. Don’t be put off – you have a right to seek support and advice when your child is being bullied.

Ask for a meeting with school staff.

Rather than heading straight to the top,

“With the hashtag #bekind trending at the moment, there has never been a better time for your child to learn that the cool kids are the kind ones, not the bullies.”

Helpful phrases She is clearly being bullied…..

C’est évident qu’elle est harcelée Es ist offensichtlich, dass sie belästigt / gemobbt wird…

I believe the perpetrators to be…..

approach your child’s classroom teacher first and ask for a meeting to discuss the issue.

Jot down in advance the points you want to make. Perhaps have a list of the bullying incidents to refer to, also include the steps you have already taken with your child to overcome this, and then the action you would like to see taken.

It’s seldom a good idea to approach the perpetrator or his / her parents unless you know them personally (and even then, it’s not usually a good idea). Parents tend to jump to the defence of their child, so you risk creating a conflict that won’t help the situation. Moreover, unless you are 100% sure what’s going on at school (and let’s face it, most of us aren’t), then you risk falsely accusing someone which will lead to, you guessed it, more conflict. Bullying is an emotional topic, and the thought of a child experiencing it can make parents,

understandably, very upset. It’s essential to keep your cool so that you can have constructive conversations with everyone involved.

Finally, remind your child and yourself that ‘this too shall pass.’ Thirty years on from my own experience of bullying, I can see that the situation, horrible as it was at the time, has ultimately enabled me to grow emotionally and helped me decide that I want to be a caring person.

With the hashtag #bekind trending at the moment, there has never been a better time for your child to learn that the cool kids are the kind ones, not the bullies.

The TutorsPlus Team support parents and children with a range of education issues. Our team are here should you need advice on a bullying issue. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us on 022 731 81 48, email us at info@tutorsplus.com or visit our website www.tutorsplus.com.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 56

Il me semble que les personnes responsables seraient….

Es scheint mir, dass die verantwortlichen Personen………………sind We have tried to resolve this together but I feel it’s now time to ask for your support.

Nous avons essayé de gérer cette situation en famille mais il me semble que votre intervention est désormais nécessaire …

Wir haben versucht, mit dieser Situation in der Familie klarzukommen, aber nun habe das Gefühl, dass wir Ihre Unterstützung brauchen…

Based in Geneva, Liz is a student advisor, ex-teacher and Client Manager for TutorsPlus, she is also a mum of 2 and writes about education, ex-pat life and parenting.

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.

Widening Gaps WRITTEN BY CONRAD HUGHES

T

he Coronavirus that first appeared in Wuhan and then rapidly became a global health crisis has disrupted schools and universities in unprecedented ways. Successive lockdowns across the planet have led to a cumulative deficit of about one year’s schooling and, according to some studies, this educational loss might have adverse effects on the economy for more than 60 years to come (Coughlin, 2020).

The pandemic has widened gaps between countries, systems and schools.

This is essentially related to differences in infrastructure. Some countries have wide scale broadband access, well-developed online learning capacity and, therefore, have been able to adapt to the challenges of Covid relatively quickly. Others, on the other hand, do not, and have been

living through Covid with patchy solutions such as using social media platforms or highly asynchronous, minimally scaffolded educational strategies.

These gaps, related to access and infrastructure, exist within countries among different sectors of the population.

In the United States, for example, the racial socioeconomic divide has become increasingly exacerbated because of educational gaps caused by Covid (Francis & Weller, 2020). In England, some argue that the educational gaps caused by Covid have caused a widening of almost 50% between rich and poor, affecting mainly BAME and disadvantaged students (Adams, 2020).

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been able to flip to online schooling seamlessly; and those from less advantaged backgrounds, already struggling to gain access to quality education. This has meant that those already predisposed to learning through technology have stripped further ahead, innovating with increasingly forward-looking expressions of online learning while those left behind have fallen and will continue to fall even further behind.

There is another dimension to this widening gap: it has increased between students at ease with their academic programmes and those struggling to access the curriculum: students with special learning needs will not receive the type of scaffolding and support they need when online and in environments that have been heavily disrupted by Covid, they will fall

even further behind.

This is called “the Matthew effect”, it is when the rich get richer by capitalising on their pre-existing wealth whereas the poor get poorer as they fall further and further into debt. In education, it means that consolidated knowledge and strong pre-existing access to knowledge can be capitalised upon and will create even greater dividends for the learner whereas gaps in learning will cause students to fall even further behind as the curriculum moves ahead and they become increasingly lost.

The fact that different institutions have dealt with Coronavirus in different ways has created further disparities. In the United States, in some states, private schools have continued teaching face to face

whereas state schools have not. This has led parents to opt out of the state system, despite the cost factor (Dickler, 2020).

If this trend continues, there will be an increased disparity between costlier private educational provision and state-run schools, leading to more division and ever-widening gaps.

It should be added that this is against a backdrop where the gap between the poorest and the richest worldwide has never been higher (Picketty, 2017), there is much heated debate in the UK about the future of private schools (Ryan, 2019) and the integrity of many elite US colleges has suffered due to the “Varsity Blues” corruption scandals that have exposed parents buying places for their children.

It is important to strive for an educational INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 59

system that is inclusive and broad-based, as envisioned in UNSDG4. This is because societal renewal, public goods and a healthy economy all require high literacy rates and high quality education across as many sectors of the population as possible.

So what should governments, ministries, examination boards and schools be doing to lessen these widening gaps? There are a number of steps that can be considered: State-private mergers whereby elements of privilege and high quality are shared across systems ● More impactful and wide scale scholarship programmes ● More varied and inclusive criteria for higher education admission, allowing students to short-circuit the “gilded path” ●

“There is a battle between real-life and online experiences. According to Cinelli, social media has closed our open-mindedness, creating homophily and echo-chambers.” and gain entry on the quality of their character and thirst for lifelong learning ● More developed high quality, certifying and free access online learning The state system in Switzerland is an excellent example of how quality and access can be married successfully.

In Switzerland there is an outstanding standard of high school education, a high quality professional stream that is not seen as inferior to the academic stream in any way (in fact, most students in the national system take up the professional stream) and some of the globally highest ranked and yet cheapest universities. As a result, Switzerland’s educational system has led to one of the least educationally divided societies in the world.

Works Cited Adams, R. (2020). Gap between rich and poor pupils in England ‘grows by 46% in a year’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/ sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-morelearning-study-finds Coughlin, S. (2020). Coronavirus: Lost school

time ‘will hurt economy for 65 years’ - study. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/education-53514564 Dickler, J. (2020). Families jump to private schools as coronavirus drags on. CNBC. https://www.cnbc. com/2020/11/08/coronavirus-why-families-arejumping-to-private-schools.html Francis, D.; & Weller, C.D. (2020).

The Black-White Wealth Gap Will Widen Educational Disparities During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Centre for American Progress. https:// www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/ news/2020/08/12/489260/black-white-wealthgap-will-widen-educational-disparities-coronaviruspandemic/ Picketty, F. (2017). Capital in the TwentyFirst Century. Trans. A Goldhammer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Ryan, F. (2019). There is no longer any justification for private schools in Britain. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2019/sep/19/private-schoolsbritain-labour-unjust Whistle, W. (2020). The Varsity Blues College Admissions Scandal Continues. Forbes. https://www. forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/09/03/ the-varsity-blues-college-admissions-scandalcontinues/?sh=63d2686771cb INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT SUMMER 2021 | 60

Conrad Hughes is campus and secondary school principal at the International School of Geneva’s La Grande Boissière where he teaches philosophy. Conrad, who holds two doctorates, is also a research assistant at the University of Geneva. He has published widely on education.

Conrad recently published Education and Elitism, which discusses polemical debates around privilege, private schools, elitist universities, equal access to education and underlying notions of fairness. The overarching question that runs through the book is about the future of education worldwide: how can schools and universities tread the tightrope between access and quality?

Reinventing High School Transcripts: the Learner Passport WRITTEN BY CONRAD HUGHES

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t the Ecole Internationale de Genève - or Ecolint - our aim is to educate students to be “global citizens with the courage and capacity to create a just and joyful tomorrow together”. But what does it mean to be a global citizen and what do we mean by a just and joyful tomorrow?

Our work with our historical partners, UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education, has led us to describe seven global competences that encapsulate the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to flourish as a global citizen and to contribute to a better world. These are the competences that we look to nurture in every student, and which go well beyond test scores or grades :

1 2

Lifelong learning: learning how to learn, curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, communication skills, problem solving, reflection and innovation.

Self-agency: initiative, drive/motivation, endurance/grit/ resilience, responsibility, entrepreneurship, accountability, selfmanagement, exercising rights and responsibilities, self-value.

3 4 5

Interactively using diverse tools and resources: impactful and efficient use of resources, responsible consumption, interfacing with tools.

Interacting with others: teamwork, collaboration, negotiation, leadership, followership, conflict management, respect for others.

Interacting with the world: balancing rights with responsibilities, balancing freedom with respect, balancing power with restraint, being local and global, environmental custodianship, global awareness.

Multi-literateness: reading and writing, numeracy, digital literacy, data literacy, technological literacy, coding, media literacy, financial literacy, cultural literacy, health literacy.

Transdisciplinarity: mastery within and across STEM (sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics), the arts, the humanities, social sciences, religions, languages and vocations.

There are many ways that we make these competences

6 7

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flourish in our students: through our unique Universal Learning Programme with its character, passion and mastery projects, which develop initiative, drive and endurance; through a transdisciplinary “Mission to Mars” project, which stimulates critical and creative thinking; through our Student League of Nations, which enhances global awareness and respect for others, and in myriad other ways.

We are not unique in our desire to educate the whole child, with many schools across the world aiming to develop similar competences, though when we invented the IB Diploma here at Ecolint in the 1960s, the approach was pioneering. All the IB programmes now do this, for example the Primary Years Programme Student Exhibition, with its emphasis on responsible action, the Middle Years programme with its emphasis on interdisciplinary study and the Diploma Programme, with its broad and balanced curriculum, core of Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay and CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service). All of these programmes are designed with much more than academic scores in mind as an outcome.

However, when it comes to admitting students to tertiary education, most universities only ask for a grade transcript and personal statement along with recommendations. All the work on creativity, thinking across subjects, developing responsibility and

citizenship that has been a core part of every child’s education is not looked at. The time has come to present universities with a much fuller story, one that truly reflects the breadth and depth of a quality education.

This is why we have designed our Ecolint Learner Passport: to take the story of learning all the way to the end of Secondary School so that universities accept students on a broader range of criteria.

The Ecolint Learner Passport allows students to gain credit for areas of competence development in the curriculum (academic subjects and class projects) and outside the curriculum (extra curriculars, vocational work, hobbies and passion). Each credit area, in describing a global competence, tells the story of how students have grown, who they are and what makes them stand out.

Working with other like-minded schools across the globe, we have created the Coalition to Honour All Learning, which is federating other schools and universities to join this movement, which recognises that students are so much more than a number or a grade. The Ecolint Learner Passport is a movement to celebrate the whole child.

To find out more about the Ecolint Learner Passport or to join the Coalition, contact conrad.hughes@ecolint.ch.

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When Should I Worry About My Child’s Stress Levels?

Tips for Recognizing When “Life Stress” Has Become Concerning Anxiety WRITTEN BY LAURA ANDERSON

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tressed out. Strung Out. Tentative. Shy. Obsessive.

Worried. Anxious. Panicked. These are all ways that your child or teen may feel sometimes. Each of these is a normal part of life. In fact, they can be an especially typical part of life in an expat family. I say this because change, newness and having to navigate unexpected things are common triggers for anxiety.

Additionally, friendship changes, as well as attending schools with different learning approaches are known to evoke stress in many young people. We ask our globally nomadic kids to be flexible and handle a significant amount of change. In the long run, this lifestyle has huge benefits for kids and teens. At the same time, it is reasonable to expect that they may experience a fair share of stress or worries that are distinct to third-culture-kid living.

Yet, there is clearly a point at which too much anxiety causes problems for kids and teens.

After more than twenty years of working with kids, teens and parents I have worked with my fair share of kids and teens who needed specific support to help feel calmer and more at ease. There is a point at which healthy motivating stress becomes debilitating or maladaptive anxiety.

Today my hope is to give parents an inside look at when your child may need specialist help to feel better. In a nutshell it comes down to an issue of moderation and the ways in which the symptoms of anxiety are impacting a child’s daily life, sense of self, schoolwork, family relationships, friendships and safety.

Here are 5 key signs that anxiety is impacting your child in a way that isn’t helpful for them.

is especially true if your child experiences more than one of the above.

4) They are experiencing panic attacks (racing heart, racing thoughts, chest pain, uncontrollable crying or upset) that mean they miss out on social time or other enjoyable activities because they are worried that more panic attacks will happen.

5) Sometimes mounting anxiety can lead to young people engaging in self-harming behaviors like scratching or cutting themselves. Occasionally, teens feel so overwhelmed by their stress and worries that they think about escaping the stress permanently.

These last two indicators of anxiety can be more disruptive for kids or teens, and worrying for parents. If your child is having panic attacks or is engaging in self-harm, or having thoughts about death or dying, it is recommended that you reach out swiftly to a therapist to do an assessment for you. It isn’t your job to determine how serious your kid’s anxiety is. When in doubt, this is a great time to call in an expert to help set up a safe space to talk to your child and to help the family make decisions about ways to support your child in feeling better.

It can be helpful to ask yourself these questions: Is my child missing out on activities and people they used to enjoy?

Are they spending tons of time talking about worrying about things they cannot control? In a wat that feels really obsessive?

Have they lost a lot, or gained a lot of weight?

1) T hey are worrying so much they cannot enjoy Is my child complaining of trouble falling asleep, or things they used to do. frequent bad dreams?

2) T hey have habit behaviors (like skin Do they have nervous habits that seem to be picking, hair pulling, or frequent use of getting worse? alcohol or other substances to reduce Is my child extra tearful and irritable A little bit of anxiety can be good for stress). lately? kids and teens. Anxiety helps them get 3) T heir eating and sleeping change.

Are they drinking or using other motivated to do well in school, sports, Really anxious people often eat a substances frequently as a way “to take theater or any of their pursuits. It can lot less or a lot more than usual. the edge off”? add a competitive edge - and keeps And anxiety often leads to trouble Have you seen or heard that they have them productive and crossing things off falling or staying asleep. been scraping, scratching or cutting their their lists. It makes them conscientious arms or legs? friends. It helps them anticipate, If your child is experiencing any of the Has my child talked about not wanting to organize and plan. above, it makes sense to reach out to a school be here, or about dying, because they are so counselor and/or therapist for support. This stressed out?

Fun fact

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“There is a point at which healthy motivating stress becomes debilitating or maladaptive anxiety.”

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“Talk therapy with specific goals and strategies (depending on some elements of the anxiety) can make a huge difference in a young person’s well-being.”

Although some of the things on this list are scary for parents, the really good news about anxiety is that it is highly treatable.

Talk therapy with specific goals and strategies (depending on some elements of the anxiety) can make a huge difference in a young person’s well-being. Good therapists will do a combination of individual therapy, parent sessions, and family sessions. This combination helps parents and their children develop specific coping and support strategies so that the young person returns to a more balanced, calm, hopeful state. Don’t we all want that for our children?

The good news is that there are an increasing number of therapists who specialize in supporting expatriate kids and families.

I always recommend that parents “Shop around” some and ask for

introductory meetings with potential therapists. A talented and committed therapist will appreciate that you are taking the time to ensure that they are a good match for your child and your family.

It is also important that in addition to a personality match, you will want to find a therapist who has specific expertise working with children or teens of the same age as your child. Finally it helps to make sure that the therapist has experience helping families assess for, and treat, anxiety.

In closing, remember that a little bit of anxiety is often a good thing. If you are unsure if “little bit” line has been crossed, that’s a great time to reach out for clarity and support. Take care and be well.

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