Back to All News

Our family at St George’s International School: A place for everyone

At St George’s, springtime is our favourite time of year, and it’s not just because our landscape bursts dramatically into bloom, but because we are preparing to welcome a host of new families into our school community. Our choice of vocabulary is significant: we embrace not only a cohort of new students, but every member of those families that come with them. At St George’s, we strive to make our school a place that everyone may call home – a place where every student can learn, relax, be themselves, and flourish with friends, and a place where their parents can be part of a vibrant and supportive community that understands their needs and challenges.

Image
Our family

Every child is part of our family

Having chosen St George’s for your child, you will no doubt be familiar with the teaching quality that our school delivers, and the opportunities that day and boarding attendance provides for your child to excel in their studies. But our school offers yet more than that. Life at St George’s nourishes the whole child – physically, mentally, and emotionally – by providing professional teaching and pastoral care, an array of extra-curricular activities, the friendship of a diverse and encouraging peer group, and, for boarders, an extended ‘family’ within their house. Also, we know that student happiness at school is underpinned by their parents’ engagement with school life – a relationship that is vitally important to our ethos, and that benefits everyone. Let’s take a closer look at these in turn.

A hobby for every child

Extra-curricular opportunities at St George’s are unparalleled. Making use of our extensive on-campus sports and recreational facilities, our clubs range from active outdoor pursuits such as golf, ski fitness and rugby clubs, through tranquil activities such as art, sewing, and chess, to a flamboyant array of dance clubs, to groups that support academics such as homework club, spelling and grammar, maths study buddies, and modern languages. In addition, boarders also have access to clubs in the local area, such as horse riding and fencing. Every child, from the most spirited to the most contemplative, will find their perfect niche here, affording them a profound sense of self, of comfort, and belonging.

Hobby golf


Friendship for every child

Our school attracts students from all walks of life and corners of the globe, exposing your child to a rich cultural diversity. This means that every child, no matter their background, has the opportunity to meet like-minded peers with whom they can forge meaningful and long-lasting friendships. Firm friendship is central to emotional well-being – promoting calm, developing emotional maturity, sharing cultural insight, and providing support with personal challenges. Many of our students take these nourishing relationships with them through university and onward into adulthood – providing priceless continuity in our changing modern world. In addition, these same friends will invariably be motivated to do well at school, which means that your child will be surrounded by thoughtful and conscientious peers on the same path in their learning. Providing motivation, problem-solving, kinship, compassion and encouragement, the value of such friendship at St George’s cannot be underestimated.

Friendship


One house, one family

Students who board with us at St George’s become part of their house ‘family’. Under the care of professional house parents, your child will live within one house for the duration of their school career. This extended family of around 100 students, aged 11-18 years, provides a supportive constant that echoes the intimacy of life at home, including younger and older ‘siblings’! Flexi-boarding also allows day students access to this caring community when they need it most. This can give your child a welcome break from tiring commutes to school, or periods of unsettling change at home, allowing them to rest within a familiar structure, and make the most of their working week. Whether your child is a weekly or a flexi-boarder, house parents will provide round the clock nurturing and pastoral care, ensuring that they perceive, and respond to, the emotional needs of every child. Holistic well-being is the primary focus of our house system, a foundation which crucially underpins not only your child’s happiness and developing sense of self, but their long-term academic potential. Within their house, every child has a place to feel safe, to thrive, and to be themselves.

Your part in our family

It’s not just your child who will find themselves part of a larger family at St George’s. The Parents Liaison Group, or PLG, is an active group of parent volunteers that promotes closer links between home and school. As well as organising fundraising events, the group brings staff and parents together frequently throughout the academic year. As a new parent, you will be invited to the school’s Welcome Coffee Morning, where parents can meet each other and exchange contact information. In addition, the PLG hosts an informal coffee morning where parents can mingle and make new friends. In Term I the PLG organises the popular Family Picnic for all students and a Halloween Party for Junior pupils. In Term II and III, there are Cheese and Wine evenings and Quiz nights, too. The PLG also helps out with school trips and other events, and organises the termly sale of second-hand school uniforms. Busy new parents finding their feet can access the PLG babysitting lists, and language support resources designed for new families. The group is an invaluable resource for all parents new to St George’s, who may also be getting to grips with life in Switzerland for the first time, too.

A place for everyone

When your child begins their academic career at St George’s, they become part of our family and ‘one of our own’. But, at George’s, we know that students achieve a deeper and happier connection with school life when their parents are equally engaged with the school community. That’s why, at St George’s, as we receive your child into our campus, we bring you into our community too. Welcome home.