A New Adventure with Nils and Friends

Every winter, SISOG comes together as a community to celebrate art, creativity, and courage with a SISOG original theatrical production performed by all the children, from the youngest preschool children to the oldest primary students. 

This year the show centered around a re-imagining of the beloved Swedish classic “The Adventures of Nils Holgersson.” In SISOG’s version “A New Adventure with Nils and Friends” Despite the final performative nature of this event, we always keep in mind the value of process over product. In SISOG’s show, Nils and his beloved Morton, travel all around Sweden meeting famous Swedish characters and visiting famous Swedish places. These character are taken from the names of the Preschool classes (Astrid, Nobel, Vasa and Svea) and these places are taken from the names of the Primary classes (Gotland, Lappland, Kebnekaise, Stockholm, Kiruna, Sigtuna, and Vanern). At SISOG, we believe meaningful learning needs to be relevant and meaningful to the children. 

At SISOG, the mention of shows or concerts ignites excitement in the students' eyes. It's not just about enjoying a day of music and laughter with their families; it's about the thrill of contributing to the festivities through their performances. These opportunities extend beyond the confines of the music classroom, offering valuable learning experiences.

The shows at SISOG foster extensive cross-curricular collaboration. From writing and painting to movement and design, the preparation for a performance integrates various subject areas. Engaging in these performances allows children to unleash their playful and creative sides while working together towards a common objective. Within the supportive SISOG community, they feel empowered to explore their curiosity and experiment with new ideas.

After the show, we came together as a whole SISOG community to kick off our 50th Anniversary with a beautiful SISOG cake and delicious cakes and treats made by generous parents, tasty savory treats and refreshing drinks, a trivia game, a funny photo booth area, and lots of laughing and socializing amongst children, teachers, staff, parents and families. We treasure our SISOG community.

SISOG Celebrates 50 Year Anniversary

Welcome to the SISOG 50th Anniversary Celebration Blog! In 1974, The Swedish School of Geneva was founded as a small non-profit school exclusively serving Swedish children. Now, 50 years later, The Swedish International School of Geneva remains a non-profit, but serves beyond the Swedish community, welcoming international families with more than 50 nationalities.

SISOG offers two bilingual programs (French & Swedish and French & English) in preschool and primary school for children 1-12 years of age. We often talk about our “Swedish-ness”that permeates everything we do here at SISOG. With our Swedish Preschool curriculum and our Swedish-based SISOG primary school curriculum, we value the development of the Whole Child. At SISOG, this Swedish-ness can be seen in democratic values, pleasure being in nature, balance between child-led and teacher-lead, importance of the child’s voice, the value of a strong school-home connection, and a true love of learning to name a few. 

Beyond these fundamental values, the “Swedish-ness” can be seen in practical activities where all children participate in Swedish cultural activities. In the kitchen, the children are preparing semlor buns in February, gingerbread in December and cinnamon buns in October (which are the exception to our regular low-sugar policies.) If it’s June, children will be dancing like frogs around Midsommar poles and if it’s December the children sing while holding candles on a chilly dark Lucia morning. 

The vast majority of SISOG families do not originally come from Geneva/neighboring France, so SISOG becomes a home away from home. Our community is built by developing meaningful relationships and connections amongst children and adults based on our values of equality, empathy, commitment and love of learning. Swedish traditions become the shared experience of all our SISOG families, where in many cases parents are learning alongside their children. 

This blog will highlight our “Swedish-ness” throughout the year. Please check back regularly for updates!