Parent's Review of College Du Leman in Geneva, Switzerland

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

College Du Leman

In what town or city is this school located?

Geneva

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

International School

What grade levels are represented at this school?

K-13

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

Students in the younger years (until high school) mostly come in with their parents or the school bus. In High school, many students take either the school bus, public transportation, or, if they live in Versoix, which many do, they walk. CDL is also a boarding school, so some children live on campus. The school cus fleet is impressive, with close to 30 state of the art buses. Some of them even have GPS systems.

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The facilities at CDL have changed greatly over the past 6 years. Today, it is mostly a very modern campus with easy computer access and large, well lit classrooms. The Anglo-American High school section especially has benefited from these changes as they are now located in a new and quite beautiful building. Other sections of the school are also being updated, mostly middle school, with also a new building, pre-school, which was made larger, etc.

As for extra-curiculars, I must say I was impressed. CDL is quite a small school compared to some north american standard, and its senior year only has roughly 150 students. However, in 2003, when my son graduated, there were tons of activities one could join up. The Yearbook, the Student Council, The student magazine come to mind. Special programs I really enjoyed however were the Student Coaching Association, an entirely peer-run system for coaching some JV teams and assisting "adult" coaches, as well as the student run musical, "Guys and Dolls", which was impressive.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

CDL offers a very wide curriculum, since they offer SAT1, SAT2, AP, IGCSE, AS, A-level, Maturite, French BAC, the International BAC and such exams. It is a truly bilingual system as you can choose to take courses solely in English, or in French, as well as from a bilingual program. The language department is quite laudable. Teachers are from a wide range of backgrounds, professionally, educationally as well as culturally, but the diversity just brings even more value to their teaching.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

Although the school itself does not do much to link up parents especially in the high school section, many parents do tend to know each other quite well, and feel very included in the school and their childrens' educations. Maybe the greatest single attribute of this relationship with the school is Terrence Gale, the headmaster who is very approachable, friendly and a mine of information when it comes to anything going on in the school. I would recommend to any parent of an incoming student to meet him, in my eyes he personnifies all the best of CDL.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

Go visit the school, but look beyond the normal attributes of a high school. Facilities are good, and so is the curriculum. The real wealth of CDL however lies in its student body and staff. Meet the people to witness the magic, encourage your children to meet as many people as possible, no matter the differences. I truly believe CDL was a life-changing experience for my son.

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