The majestic Alps, the placid lakes, the quaint villages, the cosmopolitan cities, and the towering castles – that is just a glimpse into what Switzerland has to offer. Lausanne, the capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud, combines a dynamic commercial town with the locality of a holiday resort. In the heart of this Olympic Capital, set amongst the beautiful surroundings near the Lake Geneva, lies one of the foremost schools of the country providing a safe and stimulating environment for students to grow – Collège Champittet.

Collège Champittet is a private day and boarding school in Lausanne, the French part of Switzerland with a unique location – just 500 metres from the famous Lake Geneva. The school was founded in 1903 by a group of Dominican Fathers from France. Their stewardship of this private school lasted for nearly 50 years. In 1960, Collège Champittet became a Swiss private school welcoming more than 600 students, including several boarding students. Increased demand for places encouraged the school to add another school building. In 1984, the school opened its doors to girls for the first time. A second school was then inaugurated in Nyon in 2004, 20 kilometres from Geneva.

Now, a total of 800 students are enrolled in the school. Collège Champittet has embraced the learning potential of 21st century technology, providing primary and secondary classes with iPads as part of a mobile classroom initiative in partnership with Apple and having collaborations with world known MIT, Julliard, and UNICEF.

An Excellent Vision

Champittet excels at raising positive leaders of tomorrow, citizens of the world, confident in their academic abilities but also endowed with social skills such as a sense of collaboration, empathy, constructive leadership, and curiosity about the world. Above and beyond instruction, together with parents, the school aims to contribute to the total education of young people: ‘academic performance + physical and artistic balance + spiritual and philosophical reflection’.

At Collège Champittet Pully, they offer secondary school students a choice of three diploma programmes in high school: The International Baccalaureate (IB Diploma), the Swiss Maturité and the French Baccalaureate. Each of these diploma programmes is internationally renowned and recognised by top universities around the world. Last year, the school had 100% passing rate across all Diploma programmes, with 35 average IB score. Students who are not fluent in English yet, can benefit from the EAL course (English as an Additional Language). The college also offers a unique full French immersion program for international students who are interested in learning a new language.

Leading the Educational Drive

Since Spring 2015, the school is managed by a Champittet alumnus, Philippe de Korodi (Managing Director), who had his career in the Swiss export industry. He is conscious of both academic exigencies and the market needs, and is giving a fresh start to Collège Champittet. “Allowing students to reach the best results at the exams, to grow up the best way as individuals and to obtain the confidence in their capacity to improve the world, Collège Champittet will accomplish its educative mission in the widest sense, respecting the Champittet values.”

To Engage and to Challenge

The student life at Collège Champittet is not limited to classes and homework. Students can significantly enhance their education by supplementing their formal learning with extracurricular activities including various sports (basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, etc.), music, drama, language classes, programming, and much more.

The students also benefit from collaborations with world leading organizations such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), that worked with the institute to co-develop its multidisciplinary STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) program; The Juilliard School for the Performing Arts, with whom Champittet has developed its world-class performing arts program for younger students; and UNICEF, with whom the institute works so that its students can use their knowledge to help tackle important, real-world issues.

Korodi, had this to say: “We enrich learning and encourage social responsibility through one-of-a-kind opportunities, such as our humanitarian expeditions to Madagascar, Cambodia and Thailand as part of the Collège Champittet Foundation initiative.”

Aspiring to Make a Difference

Collège Champittet is a Swiss school open to the world. There they welcome students of more than 50 nationalities while approximately 40% of students being native Swiss. This creates a nice combination of Swiss-ness and internationalism at school. The bilingual education (French and English) offered by this school allows students to master one of the national languages, which helps international students to become part of a local Swiss community.

During the year, students learn about Swiss and worldwide traditions, cuisines, and cultures. Various trips are organised across Switzerland to learn more about this beautiful country and the nature enveloped around it.

Collège Champittet feels a close connection with the Olympic Games, with sport playing an important role in the lives of its students. The school also shares many values with the Olympic Movement and draws this connection to raise awareness of Olympism and its values, such as friendship, excellence, respect, courage, determination, inspiration and equality, among its students.

To the Future..!

Collège Champittet benefits from being part of the Nord Anglia Education family of schools. The students have access to the global campus, connecting them to students around the world and giving them the opportunity to take part in a variety of exceptional experiences whether in school, online or through international expeditions and trips. “The teachers also benefit from the support of a global network of world-leading teaching professionals and education experts, with whom they collaborate to ensure that the highest levels of education are provided for the children,” concluded the astute leader – Philippe de Korodi.

Parent Testimonial – Parents of Adriana and Marc

“Now that our children are leaving the school, I would like to use this opportunity to express our warmest appreciation to Champittet and all the teachers.

Adriana and Marc spent more than 7 years under the umbrella of Champittet. I must say that these were years full of joy and happiness for them. Champittet had offered them a lot: wonderful facilities, dedicated staff, interesting extracurricular programmes, good course selection and entertaining school tours. They met wonderful friends and we hope that these friendships will continue.

We would like to thank the school and the teachers for all the knowledge they passed to our children, for the attention and the encouragement, and for the good care they showed them through all these years. Thanks to them our children became more confident, they have grown up emotionally as well as academically.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding, and most of all, your ability to listen to them and value their thoughts and feelings.

We have always felt more than satisfied with the education our children received at Champittet, but more than that we will remain ever thankful to the teachers who helped our children become well-rounded young adults.”

Alumni Testimonial: Philippe Rebord, Head of the Swiss Army.

“I especially learned to think independently at Champittet. This helped me during my studies in Lausanne and my training at the ‘Collège Interarmées de Défense’ in Paris.”