Leadership & Personal Development Summer Programme in Switzerland

Course Description: Leadership & Personal Development Summer Programme in Switzerland

🎓 Course Overview

"Make It Count!" is a two-week summer programme in leadership, life skills and personal development for teenagers, taught in English. Through a series of hands-on challenges, from a cooking competition to an engineering project for communities in Africa, students build creativity, confidence, teamwork and resilience. Mornings are dedicated to the workshops; afternoons and evenings bring sport, outdoor adventure and excursions at a small, family-run international boarding school above Lake Geneva.

📚 Academic Content

The morning learning programme runs from 09:15 to 13:15 (around 20 hours a week). Students work in small teams on hands-on workshops:

• MasterChef Challenge: creativity, time management and organisation under pressure in the kitchen.

• TEDx-style Debates: critical thinking, confident public speaking and learning to defend different points of view.

• Safe Water Cube: an engineering project to build a drinking-water fountain for villages in Africa, developing teamwork and leadership.

• Outdoor Survival Challenge: problem-solving, perseverance and resilience through nature-based challenges.

• Entrepreneurship: developing ideas and an enterprising mindset.

Throughout the fortnight the emphasis is on learning by doing: planning, collaborating, presenting and reflecting, so that students leave with practical skills they can use at school and beyond.

📍 Campus & Location

The camp takes place at a family-run, year-round international boarding school founded in 1966 in Blonay, in the canton of Vaud. The campus overlooks Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps, close to Vevey, Montreux and Lausanne, with easy access to the rest of French-speaking Switzerland. The summer camp is deliberately small, welcoming around 65 students from all over the world, which keeps the atmosphere personal and family-like. The school holds the Swiss Made label and is a member of the Swiss and Vaud private-school federations (FSEP and AVDEP).

🏫 Accommodation & Meals

Campers live in the school's boarding house, in rooms shared by two or three students, with separate living areas for boys and girls. Full board is provided: breakfast, lunch and dinner are balanced, home-style meals prepared with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Day students take lunch and, on the full-day option, dinner at school.

🚌 Excursions & Activities

Afternoons, evenings and weekends are packed with activities and excursions, all included in the boarding fee:

• Adventure & discovery: lake and mountain adventures by scooter and bike, an outdoor camping experience, sunrise and sunset forest hikes, sleeping under the stars, trips to major Swiss cities and heritage visits such as the salt mines, a chocolate factory and caves.

• Europa-Park: a two-day trip to the theme park in Germany.

• Sport: aquapark visits, kayak, paddle and sailing, self-defence and fitness, ropes park, archery and climbing, football, basketball, volleyball and tennis.

• Arts & creativity: cooking and baking, painting, arts and crafts, dance and music, and 3D printing.

• Evenings: games, workshops, picnics and social events.

Optional professional sport academies, run with local clubs, are available at all levels in football, basketball, tennis, ice hockey, golf and horse riding, and can be combined with the morning programme.

⏰ A Day in the Life

A typical day (subject to change):

• 08:00 — Wake up and breakfast

• 09:15 — Morning learning programme

• 13:15 — Lunch

• 14:30 — Afternoon activities: sports, academies, outdoor adventures and excursions

• 19:15 — Dinner

• 20:30 — Evening activities: games, workshops and social events

• 22:00 — Lights out (depending on age)

2027 Dates & Fees 📅

This two-week programme runs from Sunday 18 July to Sunday 1 August 2027. Fees are quoted in Swiss francs (CHF):

• 18 July – 1 August 2027 — 2 weeks — Boarding CHF 4,950 — Full-day CHF 3,200

The boarding fee of CHF 4,950 for two weeks is all-inclusive. Students can arrive earlier and join the general summer camp from 27 June (up to five weeks in total).

Day camp: a full-day option (08:45–21:45, with lessons, lunch, dinner, activities and excursions) costs CHF 1,600 per week, and a half-day option (lessons and lunch, 08:45–13:45, no activities) costs CHF 1,100 per week. Day students pay CHF 200 for return airport transfers and CHF 300 for the Europa-Park trip if required.

Sport academies (per week): football, basketball, half-day tennis or horse riding +CHF 600; ice hockey, full-day tennis or golf +CHF 800.

Payment: a non-refundable first payment of CHF 800 secures the place, and the balance is due at least 30 days before arrival (in full at registration if booking later). Written cancellations more than 60 days before arrival are refunded except for the first payment; between 31 and 60 days, 50% of programme fees are refunded; within 30 days there is no refund. If a visa is refused, all sums except the first payment are refunded on presentation of the official refusal. Prices are published as indicative.

✔️ What's Included

For boarders: courses and materials (20 hours a week), full board, 24/7 supervision, all activities and excursions, two days at Europa-Park, and airport transfers (08:00–18:00).

Not included: medical insurance (CHF 8 per day), sport academies, and for day students, airport transfers and the Europa-Park trip.

🛡️ Safety & Welfare

The school is run by its founding family, who live on site together with the educational team, providing attentive supervision around the clock. A school health supervisor is on site and a permanent night watch is in place. Boys and girls have separate living areas, and screen time is deliberately limited so that students spend more time on sport, arts, the outdoors and making friends. With only around 65 campers, staff know every student personally and offer individual support.

💡 Who This Programme Is For

This programme suits teenagers aged 12 to 16 who want to grow in confidence, speak up, work in teams and take on real challenges, in English, alongside students from around the world. It is a great choice for young people who learn best by doing and want a summer that is both meaningful and fun.

Chantemerle International School — Google Maps ↗

Chem. de Chantemerle 7, 1807 Blonay, Switzerland Google Maps ↗