International School of Geneva
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The International School of Geneva, also known as Ecolint, is an international school in Geneva, Switzerland. Its French name is L'Ecole Internationale de Genève, or Ecolint for short. It is a bilingual school, teaching in French or English. The school has three campuses:
- La Grande Boissière is the oldest and largest of the three. Primary School (starting from age three) has 650 students, and goes until grade 4. The Middle School has 450 students, and is from grades 5 to 8. The Secondary School has 650 students, beginning with 9th grade and going to grade 12 or 13. All three stages offer bilingual programs.
- La Châtaigneraie is located in the Vaud countryside, near to a town called Founex and overlooks the Alps and Lake Léman. It has a primary and a secondary school, and has 1420 students.
- Pregny-Rigot is a school from pre-school, kindergarten to grades 1-6. Its campus is located by the United Nations building. It has a student population of 270.
- From September 2005 onwards a new campus, Nations, has opened next to the ILO. This campus offers classes from grades 1 through 13 and incorporates both the Rigot and Pregny campus.
History
From 1920 to 1921 the League of Nations and the International Labor Office, established their headquarters in Geneva. In 1924 the International School of Geneva was founded by senior people from the two international organisations, in conjunction with Adolphe Ferrière and Elisabeth Rotten.Ferrière housed the first class in his family's chalet. He was also technical adviser to the school from 1924 to 1926. Other prominent people involved in the creation of the School were Arthur Sweetser and Dr. Ludwig Rajchman. They were supported by William Rappard, Rector of the University of Geneva and Sir Arthur Salter, a senior official of the League of Nations.
The foundation continued to evolve and it acquired new campuses in the Vaud countryside at La Châtaignairaie (also called "La Chat") near Founex and at Prégny (near the European Headquarters of the United Nations. A sports hall was built in 1977 and a new primary building was built in 1980 on the Châtaigneraie campus. Then in 1993 a sciences building was built and the old "la ferme" building, which used to house a girls' boarding school became the music building. Then the most recent development was the MMC (Multimedia Centre), finished in 1999. The next planned development project is a new sports hall to replace the aging "Bubble" which was inflated in 2000.
The International School of Geneva was also a pioneer in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which most English-speaking students at the school follow.
Famous alumni
- David Chardavoyne - American attorney, professor, and author.
- Richard Corbett - a Member of the European Parliament.
- Joe Dassin - a French-speaking American musician, "Les Champs-Élysées".
- Indira Gandhi- Former Prime Minister of India.
- Douglas Hofstadter - an American academic, Pulitzer Prize winner.
- Yasmin Aga Khan - Daughter of Prince Aly Khan and Rita Hayworth.
- Eric Margolis - a prominent journalist.
- Bob Rae - 21st Premier of Ontario, and the first leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) to serve in that capacity.
- Norman Schwarzkopf - a retired United States Army general who, while he served as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991.
- Her Majesty Queen Sirikit - Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand. She was born on August 12, 1932. She attended kindergarten class at Rajini School, but subsequently went to St. Francis Xavier convent school at Samsen District in Bangkok. Her father later on became Thai Minister to France, then to Denmark and, ultimately, Ambassador to the Court of St. James in England. Her Majesty accompanied him and continued her general education in the three countries and lastly in Switzerland.
External links
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