The Haut-Lac Student-Athlete Pathway is a 4-tier programme open to students in the school’s sports community, who apply and are accepted.
It builds strength, encourages resilience, and fosters a sense of responsibility by asking athletes to give back.
Step by step through Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, emerging and elite student-athletes get the support they need to grow and succeed on and off the field.
These athletes are often just starting out on their sporting journey.
They show strong dedication to their sport through regular participation in a local club or school team, but don’t yet require extra coordination or support.
They are typically:
These students balance their studies with a significant training load.
They compete at cantonal or regional level, and are recognised by their coaches for their potential and commitment.
They are typically:
These athletes represent their sport nationally or internationally.
They are officially certified by their sport’s national body and follow a demanding schedule. They receive tailored support to meet both academic and athletic demands.
They are typically:
It’s not easy to train, compete and study challenging IB programmes, but our emerging and elite student-athletes aged 8 to 19 are doing just that. They are passionate about chess, golf, swimming, skiing, gymnastics, karting and rowing, to name but a few, and want to keep their options open as they know competition is tough in the sporting world.
Here are some of the student-athletes on the Haut-Lac Sport & Study programme:
Sport is more than an activity; it’s a lifestyle that inspires all Haut-Lac students and staff.
Weekly PE lessons, infant and primary swimming lessons and regular winter term ski outings make staying fit, building skills and developing a lifelong commitment to well-being fun.
And it doesn’t stop at the end of the school day. Our modern, fully-equipped sports facilities play host to after-school sports clubs and inter-school competitions, so that students can continue developing valuable life skills such as collaboration, resilience and perseverance with like-minded peers during an activity they enjoy.
Read interviews with our student-athletes to see how they manage their IB studies and intensive training and competition schedules at our Athlete-Friendly Education Centre.
Student-athletes who train at least 10 hours a week to compete at regional, national or international level in their sport. They should also have a recommendation from a senior coach and/or be certified by their sport’s national governing body.
Yes. Haut-Lac students can and have obtained their IB Diploma and secured sports scholarships to universities in the USA. You can read about footballer Karl’s journey here.
Student-athletes on the Sport & Study Programme at Haut-Lac follow the IB Diploma Programme or the IB Career-related Programme.
The Ski Racing Academy is a sport & study partnership between Ski Zenit in Saas-Fee and Haut-Lac International Bilingual School in St-Légier-La Chiésaz.
It is designed for elite young ski racers aged 11 to 18 who want to pursue the IB Diploma or IB Career-related programme and a professional ski racing career.
Academic progress is monitored in a similar way for other students and student-athletes who travel frequently. Recognition and support is tailored to the demands of each athlete’s training and competition schedule to ensure they can progress academically and stay on track.
The student-athlete coordinator may authorise and support occasional absences for competitions, depending on the student-athlete’s level.
A major area the Sport & Study Programme focuses on is helping student-athletes develop their organisational skills.
We provide several layers of support to ensure absences do not result in students falling behind. This includes peer-to-peer support, teacher support, and regular sessions with the student-athlete coordinator to highlight any areas where further support is needed.
Haut-Lac’s sport & study programme is relatively young, but alumni have already gone on to secure university football scholarships, play Division II basketball in the USA, and participate in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics with the Swiss Olympic team.
We currently have student-athletes with promising careers in golf, chess, horse-riding, gymnastics, football and skiing.
At Haut-Lac, infant and primary students have two lessons of sport per week, middle school students have 1 double period and 1 single period of PE per week, and high school students have 1 single period for sport per week.
Student-athletes are advised to study MYP Physical Health Education, so that they get three additional lessons per week on topics related to their sporting context.
E2 to P5 students (Pre-kindergarten to Grade 5) also swim once a week for a full half-term, and all students from P1 to IB1 (Grade 1 to 11) have regular ski outings during the winter term.
Yes, Athlete-Friendly Education Centres accredited by the World Academy of Sport can cater to student-athletes with passions for a wide range of sports.
At Haut-Lac, our student-athletes train and compete in football, basketball, horse-riding, golf, skiing, chess, gymnastics, karting, ice-skating, athletics and tennis.
