Extracurricular Activities

There are many ways to express yourself. Be creative, learn how to visualise with drawings, paintings, clay, and other fun techniques. The endless opportunities that visual arts have to offer will keep you busy for the rest of your life.

Moving on the rhythm of the beat,.. dancing is a great way for our students to spend some energy and learn new moves together with friends. The music stream is mainly modern jazz, but of course any other kind of music will make our students get into the groove.

Explore your singing, dancing, or acting talents, your musical ear, or simply continue improving with your personal music instrument, our performing arts department has everything you wish for, with state-of-the-art high-quality music rooms and instruments.

Music is part of our curriculum, but if you want to explore your talents further, our extracurricular music activities will answer all your needs. And if you want to become part of a band, then our school band will welcome you with open arms. Some of the instruments you can play are: Guitar / Bass / Piano / Drums / Violin / Clarinet.

Are you a skilled ball magician or would you like to discover this most popular team sport? We have what it takes to get you to the next level. Working closely together with no less than the Juventus Football School, our Juventus Academy has a place for you. Become part of our La Garenne football team, play in the local competitions and measure your talents with those of the other schools in regular inter-school matches and tournaments.

You can dunk, shoot and score with all your basketball friends as much as you like. On top of that, our coaches will teach you new tricks that you can easily use to show off in front of the crowd! Let’s just call it a slam dunk

Passionate about these magnificent creatures? Then we have just what you need. Enjoy taking care of horses and ponies, learn how to ride them and improve your technique with highly skilled trainers.

Get ready to receive the ball, play it up to your teammate and smash it down for another point. Our volleyball teams are having a lot of fun getting better together and actually winning regularly against other schools in competition. Looking forward to keeping the ball up? Come join our amazing Volleyball activities.

A sport Switzerland is well known for, is, of course, ice hockey. Although we do not have enough players in our school to have our own ice hockey coach, we do have all the connections to get you playing in the local club of Villars.

Living in the Swiss mountains, we can of course not escape the limitless possibilities to climb. Rock climbing is a fantastic physical sport, which requires body and mind to become one. With the many training facilities available, it is an obvious choice for many of our students.

Here at La Garenne, we care a lot about the well-being of our students. Yoga fits in perfectly well, because it is beneficial for children and teenagers in many ways, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Plus, yoga offers incredible benefits to them as they grow, including improved posture and spine health, flexibility, balance, strength and coordination. Yoga is not just an activity, but more a way of staying healthy and in shape.

Both Pilates and Yoga are low-impact exercises, but there is one important difference. When practising yoga, you typically adopt a position and hold it, or flow into another position. In Pilates, you adopt a position and then challenge your core by moving your arms or legs.
This control of body and mind really helps our students to get to know their physical and mental selves better. It has a long term positive impact on their health. Come and try it, you’ll love it!

Fast and explosive, quick reactions and reflexes, plus a pretty good hand-eye coordination. Squash is a racket sport that can be played all year round in our Squash halls just around the corner. It is part of the family of racket sports like Tennis, Badminton, Padel and even ping pong. And if you have never tried it before, you will be amazed how quickly you learn, while having fun.

One of the world’s most popular sports, tennis is a sport that many students practice. Our teachers are happy to teach you the technique, so you too can play single and double matches with your new friends here at school!

Move like a butterfly and hit the shuttle like a bee. Badminton is a fast sport that many of us play during our holidays on the beach or in the grass. Take it one step up and become a master of the little shuttle, in single or double games. Our teachers will teach you all the little tricks and strategies, for you to impress.

Relatively new but already immensely popular, Padel is a creative alternative to tennis. Played on a much smaller terrain than tennis, with the possibility to use the walls around you, it is a fast and furious 3D-game to learn.

The Olympic disciplines like running, jumping high, jumping far, and throwing discs and spears, Athletics allows you to learn many different skills for which you develop all your muscle groups. Jump into the footsteps of Jesse Owens or Usain Bolt and start crushing some world records if you are up for it!

If you feel like a fish in the water, then you must become part of our swimming club. Every week there is time to use the pool and improve your swimming technique, for competitions against other schools, if you are up for it. Or you join because you know how great it is for your body to swim at your own pace.

Some people say it is an art, some say it is a state of mind, or a way of living. Whatever you think it is, you are definitely right. Joining our Karate lessons means you are enjoying the important values of respect, order, and discipline to get you towards a black belt.

With the forest and the mountains in our backyard, our passionate mountain bike students feel like they are living in Disneyland! They can’t wait to get out and blaze new trails. Our mountain bike activities, however, suit all different levels, from beginners to the experienced diehards! Come and boost your adrenaline level and dare to ride down the mountains with your new bike skills.

Many of our students experience cycling for the first time when they arrive here at La Garenne. Creating the love of cycling is something each person will keep for the rest of their lives. And as they say: Once you’ve learned how to ride a bike, you will never lose the skill. So enrich your life with the pleasure of cycling.

Each year our students impatiently wait for the first snowflakes to fall. It means the start of the winter season here at Villars, one of the world's most beautiful ski resorts. For the whole winter season, you will enjoy going up the mountains multiple times a week and improving your ski technique, conquering the Villars mountain slopes and getting familiar with living in our snowy boarding school. No other school in the world is as close as we are, with only 10 steps to take before arriving at the ski lift. Now that is what we call convenience!

Cross-Country skiing is one of the most physical winter activities we have on offer. More importantly though, is the beautiful natural environment in which you will find yourself. Away from all the noise and busy ski slopes, you slide through magic forests and white snowy landscapes.

Strategy, smart thinking, anticipation, and surprise. Chess is a fascinating game to learn and many of our students play it regularly. Especially when it is being taught by our very own champion.

The world is a wonderful place full of innovation and opportunities. Is your child the curious type who enjoys building and repairing things? Our Robotics classes introduce your child to the wonders of modern techniques and even a bit of AI.

We are a dog-friendly school and we believe that the interaction between our students and our many dogs, has a positive influence on the well-being of our students. Each week, a group of students enjoy walking the dogs in our beautiful surroundings. Playing and running with men’s best friends is one of many unique features your child can benefit from.

Next to Rock Climbing in the spring and summer, nothing thrills students more than getting hooked to ice climbing. Fully geared up with ice picks and safety instructions, there is nothing that holds our students back from conquering the icy walls.

Creativity and imagination, that is all that is required to have a blast with the colourful building blocks. Many generations have grown up exploring the unlimited possibilities with the famous Lego and our students are no different. A great way to have fun with friends after school is over.

The world of today is digital. That’s why our computing is a popular after-school activity. It teaches our students everything about the art of programming. Discover the basics of coding and get a better understanding of what makes our world turn, our computers tick, and our phones ring.

Learning the basics of video and moving images, students discover how much fun it is to create stories with the help of Lego, photography, music, and video production software. Creating their own animated video is really a lot of fun!

Measuring ingredients, learning to follow a recipe, and understanding the process of creating food, is a delicious way to become a chef in the kitchen. Our courses are a sweet way to get introduced to the fine art of cooking.

There are different ways to get down a snowy slope. Sledging is probably one of the most fun ones for the youngest and the bit older students we have. And the great thing is, that you don’t need to go far! The best Sledging slopes are just a few minutes walk away from our front door.

Our students are doing a lot of sports during the week. But for some it is never enough. They want to not only stay in great physical condition, but also want to shape their body in our state-of-the-art fitness facilities. With a personal trainer, a plan is created for our students, to do this safely and responsibly.

Boxing, one of the martial arts here at La Garenne, is taught by a true professional. The boxing club attracts students who learn about precision, respect, and physical power. A great way to strengthen body and mind, for both boys and girls.

Extra study time to do the necessary homework is not a luxury in such a fully packed and busy school programme. Taking the time to study is important for most students, especially when they are preparing for different exams.

Extra support for those who need a little push to get to the necessary level expected in class. During the after-school activities, many of our students use this time and opportunity to work on their maths and get support from specialists.

Creating accessories for Theatre and Musical shows is a great way to make use of artistic talents. Our students actually work on the props that are needed for the annual Musical, a big event for all our students, staff, parents and even the local community.

Model United Nations - Students reflect on world issues and work together on solutions on an international level. Students who participate in the MUN, participate in international events and learn how to look at global issues from different angles, to learn to understand the politics and negotiations that come with global problem-solving.

English is our main language here at La Garenne. For some students it is easy to pick up and develop their language skills, but some of our students, especially new arrivals, require a bit of extra support and benefit from our EAL (English as Additional Language) courses. It helps them to get their English to the necessary level, to follow classes, and boost their confidence.

All of our students have French classes. The richness of this beautiful language, also the language of our region, helps students to develop their French skills and prepare them for the official French language exams DELF/DALF, which provides them with an official diploma, needed in some cases, to access universities.