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!