Blog

Thursday October 25th is National Digital Day in Switzerland. This government run initiative is in its 2nd year and aims to promote and encourage digital skills across the country.

Boarding school life is about so much more than just the learning. It’s about belonging to a community, sharing experiences, growing and developing alongside others.

Living with others of the same age creates a unique bond; you share triumphs and joys and you’ve also got people to support you when the going gets tough. The friendships you make during your time at Brillantmont will shape and impact your life.

So much has already happened at Brillantmont since school started back in September. Our new students have settled in well and already feel very much at home in our warm, friendly community and we are proud of how our returning students have made them feel welcome. As Mr Mc Clean, Assistant Academic Head enthuses, “It has been a terrific start to the new academic year. The students are positive, engaged and working hard but more importantly the sense of enjoyment is tangible.”

We are delighted to announce that Brillantmont will be coming to Korea, China and Japan. Our travel dates are as follows:

• 30th October - Seoul, Korea
• 1st November - Beijing, China
• 3rd November - Shanghai, China
• 4th November - Tokyo, Japan 
  

September 2018 saw the launch of our new coding classes in our mathematics and technology department. In partnership with TechSpark Academy and EPFL, all of our grade 8 and 9 students are now learning computer programming as part of their core Brillantmont curriculum. These courses have been met with great enthusiasm by our students. Brillantmont is the only school in Switzerland to make such a course a compulsory part of the learning programme. Isn’t that a fantastic opportunity?

Today is a big day! It's the day we welcome back boys and girls from all over the world to start the new school year. The transition into a boarding school abroad can be daunting and even scary. It's normal to feel a bit anxious and apprehensive about being far from family, maybe for the first time.  Here, we share some advice to help make this new stage in your lives as smooth as possible.

Sports are an important part of Brillantmont life and provide students with much-need time out from their studies, a chance to think about something else, as well as to get fit of course! The sporting year at Brillantmont is rich in diversity as we aim for students to try many different sports. With an excellent range of sports facilities on campus, plus those of the city and lakeside, the programme is varied and fun.

Sports teach students perseverance, how to work as a team, how to take the lead, how to develop strategies and above all, sports celebrate friendship, which is at the heart of boarding school life, as Maria, captain of the volleyball team explains, “Being in this team allowed me to meet an amazing group of girls whom with I have shared laughs, cries, stress, nerves, disappointment but mostly satisfaction and joy. We all have grown closer together and improved infinitely together as well, getting to know the sport better than I thought I would. I have experienced teamwork like I never had never before, and a unique sense of belonging and unity.”

The 1^st term sees students getting back into shape after their long vacation and with the ski season on the horizon, the focus is on developing physical strength through ice skating, running by the lake, urban workouts or specifically targeted exercises. The 2^nd term focuses more on team sports, playing lots of volleyball (we are proud winners of the inter-school cup), unihockey, basketball and football and the swimming pool. The highlight has to be the week long ski week to Zinal, summed up simply by Nina, “Ski week was one of the best weeks in my whole BM life. So happy I went. I had a great time.”

As temperatures rise, students head outside, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine, playing more tennis, beach-volleyball by the lake or in the athletics stadium.

Living in the city means students can enjoy famous Lausanne sports events, such as the Midnight Run, where hundreds of Father Christmas figures run through the old town. Over a third of the school ran the popular Lausanne 10km and 20km, with fantastic results and we have the fun filled Colour Run to look forward to in autumn.

Sports are a great way to forget the stresses of the day, to disconnect from academics for a while and to enjoy developing a new skill.

Brillantmont is very proud that our Student Wellbeing & Pastoral Care Coordinator, Mrs Julianne Brown, is on the National Executive Committee of NAPCE (The National Association of Pastoral Care in Education- www.napce.org.uk).

"A while ago, we shared our preparations for Geometry Week at Brillantmont International School. It's in full swing and the students continue to be engaged in interesting and exciting new ways of connecting maths to the world around us.  All this week students at Brillantmont are improving their geometry skills and getting to grips with abstract concepts. Every year our mathematics department joins forces with a different department and asks students to consider the links between subjects. This year we are connecting the dots between mathematics and art. Students have been learning about geometry and creating designs using abstract compositions and impossible shapes.

We're always thinking cross-curricular at Brillantmont and trying to find ways to engage the students in Maths by thinking creatively. We are currently in the throes of the "Splat competition", which is a regular annual event for which students can win a prize by completing as much of the booklet as possible. The Brillantmont Splat Challenge 2018