International School of Geneva
The International School of Geneva, also known as "Ecolint" or "The International School", is a private, non-profit international school based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1924 in the service of the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization, it is the oldest international school in the world, and the largest one with 'international' in its name. In the mid-1960s, a group of teachers from Ecolint created the International Schools Examinations Syndicate, which later became the International Baccalaureate Organization and then the International Baccalaureate.
Ecolint is composed of three campuses in and around Geneva, each with its own principal working under the Director General of the Foundation of the International School of Geneva and a Governing Board elected by parents, staff and alumni with co-opted members from the UN and Swiss Government. Ecolint is a bilingual school, with instruction primarily in English and French. In addition to the IB, it is a testing centre for the US college boards, the British IGCSE and the Swiss Maturité fédérale.
Ecolint is a member of the G30 Schools Group. In 2006, The Guardian newspaper listed Ecolint as one of the best international schools in the world for those seeking a UK-style curriculum. According to the Good Schools Guide International, "the International School of Geneva turns out well-educated, happy students who are comfortable with themselves and ready to move on to tertiary education around the world."
Accreditation
Swiss
Ecolint is authorized to offer the Maturité fédérale suisse programme in its La Châtaigneraie campus.International
Ecolint's various programmes are accredited by the and the . The last full accreditation was conducted in 2011, with an interim assessment in 2016.Ecolint has satisfied the authorization procedures of the International Baccalaureate to offer the PYP, MYP, IBDP, and IBCP.
Campus La Châtaigneraie is an approved school, offering IGCSEs.
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 members of these two international organizations, most notably Arthur Sweetser and Ludwig Rajchman, in partnership with Adolphe Ferrière and Paul Meyhoffer, educators from Geneva's Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Since its inception, the school's mission was conceived as educating for peace and the inculcation of humanitarian values such as inclusiveness, respect and inter-cultural understanding. It describes itself in its website as "resolutely not-for-profit; mankind is the only beneficiary of our work, not corporate shareholders or private equity firms."Ferrière housed the first class in a chalet that was part of his family's estate, on the Route de Florissant in Geneva. He was also technical adviser to the school from 1924 to 1926. The nascent school was supported by William Rappard, Rector of the University of Geneva, the neurologist and child psychologist Édouard Claparède, and Sir Arthur Salter, a senior official of the League of Nations.
The school became a Foundation in 1968, and continued to evolve as it acquired new campuses: in 1974 La Châtaigneraie near Founex in the Canton of Vaud, and subsequently Pregny. Facilities were extensively developed at La Châtaigneraie as from 1977, with the erection of a sports hall. In 1993 a sciences building was built and in 2002 the old "La Ferme" building, which used to house the girls' boarding lodgings, became the music building. The new multimedia library was finished in September 2001, adding a third floor to what is known as the "New Building". In September 2008, the new sports hall was opened, replacing the long-defunct swimming pool, the aging "Bubble", which was inflated in 2000 to protect from harsh climates, and the old PTA offices. This was achieved with the financial help of the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. A state of the art primary school building was opened in September 2011, bringing the total capacity of the campus to 1600 students.
The third campus, Campus des Nations had two beginnings. The first was in the 1940s with Rigot which became Pregny-Rigot, the second in 2005 with the closure of Rigot and the opening of Saconnex. The Pregny-Rigot campus was a pre-K through year 6 school that adopted the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program in 2002. This campus had two buildings, Rigot which was an old Swiss farmhouse just off Place des Nations housing the early childhood classes, the other a unique architectural structure up the hill from the United Nations and Red Cross which hosted the primary school and learning center. In 2005, Pregny-Rigot shifted with the opening of a new building, Saconnex, near the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization. The early childhood classes at Rigot were moved to a renovated Pregny and Rigot was returned to the city of Geneva. Years 3-6 were moved from Pregny to the new building, Saconnex, which also opened a secondary school. The Secondary school offers the IB's Middle Years Programme, the IB Diploma and the IB Career Related Programme.
Campuses
La Grande Boissière is the oldest and largest of the three. The primary school has approximately 550 students, and runs through grade 4. The middle school also has about 550 students, and runs from grade 5 to grade 8. The secondary school has around 800 students, beginning with 9th grade and going to grade 12 or 13. All three stages offer bilingual programmes. The Primary School Principal is Mr Duff Gyr, the Middle School Principal is Ms Shona Wright and the Campus and Secondary School Principal is Dr Conrad Hughes.La Châtaigneraie became part of Ecolint in 1971 and is located in the Vaud countryside, near Founex, overlooking the Alps and Lake Léman. It has a primary and a secondary school, and has approximately 1600 students. The oldest building on campus is the main secondary building which was completed in 1908, when La Châtaigneraie first opened. The Primary School Principal is Mrs Jennifer Armstrong and Campus and Secondary School Principal is Mr David Woods.
Campus des Nations, opened in 2005 and operates on two locations in and in the vicinity of Grand Saconnex. It has around 1000 students. Campus des Nations is the only campus to offer all four IB programmes. The Early Years Principal is Ms Isla Gordon, the Primary School Principal is Ms Christelle Lonez and the Secondary School Principal is Mr Jamie Williams:
- Saconnex is located near the International Labour Organization and World Health Organization headquarters. Saconnex offers classes to 800 students from years 3 through 13. All classes taught at Nations follow the IB curriculum, consisting of PYP, MYP and DP or CP.
- Pregny is located near the United Nations and Red Cross HQ and is a school of 200 students from pre-school and kindergarten to year 2.
Notable Alumni
- Harry Albright - Journalist and former Editor of The Friend.
- Anjum Anand - British Indian food writer and TV chef.
- Ilse Barker - German/British writer and poet.
- Shadi Bartsch - Ann L. and Lawrence B. Buttenwieser Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago.
- Roger Boylan - American novelist and critic.
- Gail Carpenter - Professor, Boston University, Director of the Cognitive and Neural Systems Technology Laboratory.
- David Chardavoyne - American attorney, professor, and author.
- Members of the Chehab family.
- Richard Corbett - Member of the European Parliament and Labour Party leader in the Parliament.
- Milein Cosman - Portrait artist, founder of the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust.
- Joe Dassin - French-speaking American musician, famous for singing Les Champs-Élysées.
- Maya Deren - Cinema director, filmmaker and actress.
- Hernando de Soto Polar - Peruvian economist and his brother Álvaro de Soto, Peruvian and UN diplomat
- Michael Douglas - Oscar-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American actor and producer.
- Elizabeth Frank - Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
- Harold Furth - Austrian-American physicist and former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
- Indira Gandhi - Prime Minister of India; named "Woman of the Millennium" in a 1999 online poll organised by the BBC.
- Ronald M. George - Chief Justice, California Supreme Court.
- Douglas Hofstadter - Pulitzer Prize winning author, Professor of Cognitive Science, Indiana University in Bloomington, Director of the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition.
- Mieko Kamiya - Japanese psychiatrist and writer.
- Yasmin Aga Khan - Daughter of Prince Aly Khan and Rita Hayworth.
- Rami G. Khouri - Journalist, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.
- Riad al Khouri - Economist, Director of GeoEconomica GmbH, Amman & Geneva
- Christopher Lambert - French actor famous for films such as Highlander and Greystoke.
- Lori Lieberman - Singer and songwriter
- Eric Margolis - Prominent journalist.
- Olivier Perez - Swiss actor.
- Bob Rae - 21st Premier of Ontario.
- Edouard van Remoortel - Former conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
- Baron Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild - Financier and philanthropist.
- Tatiana Santo Domingo - Colombian socialite heiress to a beer and airline empire.
- H. Norman Schwarzkopf - U.S. Army General and Commander of U.S. and coalition forces for Operation Desert Storm.
- David Shaffer - Child psychologist.
- Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand.
- Albert Sjoerdsma, Jr. - Playwright; some of his plays have been produced on Broadway.
- Kellogg Stelle - Professor of Physics, Theoretical Physics Group, Imperial College, London.
- Maya Stojan - Actress who plays the role of Tory Ellis in Castle.
- Simone, American singer and actress, daughter of Nina Simone.
- Edward A. Tenenbaum, U.S. economist who created the Deutsche Mark and helped to relaunch Germany's economy after WWII.
- Mark Trueblood - American engineer and astronomer. Pioneer in the development of robotic telescopes.
- Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana Princess of Thailand and the elder sister of King Ananda Mahidol and King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
- Alex Wilson - Pianist, composer, producer and arranger.
Languages offered
Ecolint offers its core curriculum in English and French to varying degrees depending on the campus and section.Ecolint also offers many other modern languages such as German, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish as part of its curriculum. Arabic, Dutch, Finnish, Japanese, Norwegian, Swahili, Swedish and many other languages are available via private tuition but can be counted towards credits or as IB programmes; this route is often chosen by students who have little other opportunity to formally study their mother tongue.