1. Please mention about the school and its mission/vision and various infrastructural facilities.
About:
Founded in 1910, Beau Soleil is one of the most sought after private boarding schools in Switzerland. We provide a full boarding education for students aged between 11-18 years old and who come from around the world. Located in a beautiful and safe alpine location and offering a challenging and friendly international education experience, Collège Alpin Beau Soleil has long been regarded as one of Switzerland’s finest schools.
Mission / Vision:
At Beau Soleil, we believe it’s what you do that counts. From a student’s first days at the school, they begin an immersive education journey based on our four core values which are woven into all areas of school life. Respect and Responsibility drive the sense of community and belonging at Beau Soleil, whilst Ambition and Determination lead students to succeed in a wide range of challenging learning and activity.
At Beau Soleil, learning takes place not only in the classroom setting. We challenge and inspire our students through a vast range of exciting experiences which are incomparable to any other boarding school. From our unique series of outdoor challenges, extensive winter sports programme and international trip programme, our students discover new cultures, experience real-world learning and develop a commitment to succeed in whatever they choose to do in life.
Combining tradition and modernity the stunning Beau Soleil campus is built to capture the best our magnificent alpine surroundings, offering our students an inspiring environment in which to live and learn.
Our campus:
From the historical main school entrance, which dates back to the school’s foundation in 1910, the campus has grown to incorporate the latest technology in every classroom, outstanding sports facilities and dedicated spaces for design, technology, music, dance, yoga and theatre.
With much of our campus “under one roof” our students benefit from multiple social and study spaces which contribute to the family-style atmosphere
Outside of the main campus our students have access to our mountain chalet on the ski slopes and to the many facilities of the village, including an ice-skating rink, swimming pool, tennis courts and more. It is an enviable lifestyle.
2. Kindly mention about the prominent personality of the school and his/her role in the development of the school.
Great schools are built on community and shared endeavor. Beau Soleil’s success comes from the part that everyone – students and staff – plays in the school every day. A shared sense of purpose helps us to be a little better every day. We all grow together: that is the spirit of the school.
3. What new services or activities did you establish at your school?
Recent Facilites
Most recently, we have opened The Hub, our brand-new Design Technology, Computer Science and Film facilities where all our students can thrive and boost their creativity to the maximum. Thanks to The Hub, students and teachers can push the boundaries of technology and enjoy new unique learning experiences.
Whether it’s in wood crafting, digital design, coding or filming, students are free to work on their own projects and improve their problem solving, creative thinking, digital skills and collaboration.
Recent Activities:
At Beau Soleil, we offer our students the chance to participate in professional learning programmes designed to provide real-life experience and qualifications. A prime example is our student-led, not-for-profit coffee company, 17g Coffee. Through this initiative, our students gain qualifications as baristas and roasters. They collaborate with local farmers for sourcing and partner with other businesses to market and sell their coffee. This is just one of the many professional learning programmes we provide.
4. Please mention what steps are you taking beyond the traditional curriculum to ensure the overall development of the students?
At Beau Soleil our educational philosophy encourages students, who come from more than 50 different nations, to be the best they can be. We believe it’s what you do that counts.
With a capacity of only 300 students, we create a family atmosphere where each student is offered individual attention and a home-from-home boarding experience.
Exciting experiences both inside and outside of the classroom — from extended curriculum days to educational trips across the world, full-school challenges and our winter ski programme — help our students to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of the world around them and to develop skills including teamwork, collaboration and resilience, important for their future.
Outstanding academic results are ensured by our passionate teaching staff who inspire and support our students to be the best they can be.
5. What steps does the school take to motivate and develop the students’ interest towards education?
WB Yeats wrote about education as “the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a pail”. Beau Soleil creates opportunities in every area of life and learning, so students find their own passions through self-discovery, leading to education as an extension of the self. Success and motivation can be supported from outside, but must be driven from within.
6. What makes your school unique?
Beau Soleil is a school where our students’ experiences are way beyond those of a normal boarding school. What goes on outside the classroom challenges every member of the community in many ways and throughout the day, weekend and week. Adventurous, intellectual, challenging activities happen in school, on the mountain, across Switzerland and at an array of amazing destinations around the world.
7. What are some ways you keep up with changes in education trends?
We are fortunate not to have to follow other trends. Our mission is to find the best of education, from inside and outside, and apply and innovate it to create a new school environment for our students. Staff and students are encouraged and supported in new directions for education.
8. Please enlighten us about the school’s major awards/achievements, its accomplished/renowned alumni, remarkable collaborations, and major accreditations.
We are proud of a range of different kinds of recognition each year, and we are proud to be able to collaborate with people and organizations from many different parts of the world. Most of all, we are proud of the achievements of each and every student, whether well-known or privately happy in life.
At Beau Soleil, we instil in our students a sense of internationalism and the collaborations we have with leading institutions and associations across the globe offer unique opportunities to our students.
As part of the Nord Anglia Education group, Beau Soleil offers a range of world-leading partnerships from exploring the world of music with The Julliard School, to our STEAM partnership with MIT. We are also a member of the Round Square organization which offers our students the opportunity to work with like-minded peers across the globe through regional and global conferences and service projects.
9. Kindly elaborate about the future plans of the school in the same.
Above all, Beau Soleil is a school built on community. Our values need us to remain at a size where every student is known as an individual, and where relationships are strengthened every day by shared activity in and out of school. We’ll continue to develop innovative ways of educating, inspiring students to be passionate about their own learning, but we like the size and the culture we have: some change is good, and some things need to stay the same. Generations of alumni will attest to the spirit of Beau Soleil, but they are also constantly surprised by the way education here moves ahead of the times.