Saconay
A third option for the new campus and overall future structure of the Foundation.
An alternative to the 'class 1 to 13' and 'class 11-13 terminal campus' options is a third 'class 6 to 13' middle and upper school for the Foundation.
Under this option, the Board would charge the architectural concours to design a facility capable of accommodating up to 1300 students, ages 11 to 19. These students would primarily be concentrated in an upper school comprised of classes 10 through 13 with the balance of the population in a middle school for classes 6 to, 9.
If the single terminal campus concept became more widely accepted and desired by the community at some point in the future, a minimum of modification and deviation frorn the original design concept would be required to shift to that option. With a design capacity of 1300 students, the facility could house a terminal campus with appropriate capacity for expansion of enrolment beyond the current Foundation-wide numbers in class 10 - 13. The 'class 6 to 13' design option would not allow the possibility to effectively use the facility for primary school students.
Under the 'class 6 to 13' option, the Foundation could continue to have an upper school programme at either or both La Grande Boissière (LGB) and La Châtaigneraie (LC).
• The upper school (class 10- 13) at the two existing campuses would be limited to
around 60 to 72 students (3 class sections) in each class level with English as the primary language of instruction and the IB as the only terminal degree offered,
• The Saconnex campus would handle the balance of the population (120 to 200
students in each class level in classes 10- 13 with smaller numbers in each class level in middle school). It would provide the widest range of options such as accommodation of special needs children beyond Primary school, French language of instruction for Baccalauréat International, Maturité Fédérale degree as well as IB/BI options such as Music, Drama and Design Technology which draw limited numbers and/or require specialised facilities.
The expectation would be that the constant expansion and shrinking of class offerings at LC and LGB would be eliminated; these campuses would have a fixed number of places in the basic course offerings to fill in middle and upper school. Once these places are full, or if students have special desires for courses not met at these campuses, they would be accommodated at Saconay, which is a feasible alternative for students (particularly those in class 10 and above) and their families living on either side of Lake Geneva.
This approach has a number of inherent benefits:
• It keeps a full range of students on the campuses where they have been historically offered - diminishing the potential alienation of alumni and answering the concern about -interaction between senior students and primary school children.
• It ensures the Foundation continues to utilise the new science labs at both LC and LGB as well as the new multi-media centre at LC.
• It could allow unique and successful programmes such at the IGCSE at LC to continue as a choice for those families that desire it.
• If paired with the existing Pregny campus, A could help realise the vision of a school with the ability to serve and mainstream students with special needs across the full range of ages.
• It could consolidate the relatively small French language of instruction secondary programmes at LC and LGB. At LC, this small programme, split between the BI and MF continues to struggle to maintain a critical mass. At LGB, the small numbers have reduced the secondary French language programme to only the BI. If these programmes were consolidated across the Foundation onto a single campus, the larger number of students could help the programme remain viable and successful. Note that the Charter of the Foundation mandates that if provides both English and French as languages of instruction, but it does not require that both languages be offered at each individual campus. [Webmaster note: see comment here]
• It is not the total sweeping change that might be desired (or feared); however, the resizing of the senior ELP at LC and LGB and the combination of the senior FLP from the two campuses would appear to give the Foundation an opportunity for renewal that is desired.
• It allows a more efficient use of our most scarce resource, land available and authorised for construction, as a senior school can be designed as a multi-story building, increasing its capacity, whereas a primary school requires more land for play space and is generally lirrùted to a two story structure.
As with the other two options, there are some risks, drawbacks and obstacles with this
proposal as well:
• It requires that the Primary student classes currently operated in the Grand Saconnex temporary facility be absorbed back into other campuses (through reallocation of facilities no longer needed at LC and LGB due to the middle and upper school capacity created at Saconay) or into a new, stand-alone Primary facility
• It may require that the Mies facility remain open for an indefinite period.
• It would not provide the natural mandate for a Foundation-wide uniformity of curriculum.
John Boggs,
5 October 2000