Aiglon College

An Alpine Campus Unlike Any Other

Aiglon College's campus occupies a mountain plateau at approximately 1,200 metres above sea level in Chesières-Villars, canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The setting is not merely scenic — it is pedagogically central to what Aiglon is.

Location and Access

• Address: Avenue Centrale 61, 1885 Chesières, Switzerland
• Nearest station: Villars-sur-Ollon (~5 minutes by shuttle bus)
• Nearest airport: Geneva International (~1.5 hours by road)
• Coordinates: 46.3000°N, 7.0500°E

Aiglon runs free daily shuttle buses from both Villars-sur-Ollon and Aigle railway stations on school days, and arranges airport collection at the start and end of each of the three terms.

Key Facilities

Sports & Outdoor:

• Tony Jashanmal Sports Centre (large multi-use indoor sports hall)
• 12-metre indoor climbing wall
• Tennis courts, football pitches, basketball courts
• Direct ski slope access for the school's renowned ski programme
• Horse stables supporting the equestrian programme

Academic:

• Modern science laboratories
• Applied Innovation and Robotics (AIR) Lab — a STEAM facility with 3D printers and robotics equipment
• Library Learning Centre

Arts & Culture:

• Music Centre with practice studios (All-Steinway piano school)
• Visual arts studios (painting, ceramics, printmaking)
• Dance and drama studio

Community & Pastoral:

• Ten boarding houses (Alpina, Exeter, Belvedere, Le Cerf, Clairmont, St Louis, Delaware, Le Trient for senior students; La Baita and La Casa for junior students), each with bedrooms, common rooms, and a dining room
• Aiglon Chapel — a historic 1883 Anglican wooden chapel acquired in 1996, used for assemblies and services
• Health Centre with 24/7 nursing, examination rooms, and overnight care beds

The Boarding Community

With approximately 80% of students boarding across ten single-sex houses, Aiglon functions as a genuine residential community. House parents provide round-the-clock pastoral care, while senior students take on leadership roles as house captains and prefects. The intimacy of house life — shared meals, evening common rooms, weekend activities — creates the close friendships and cross-cultural understanding that Aiglon considers central to its mission.

The Aiglon Ethos

Founded in 1949 by John Corlette in the Alpine village of Chesières-Villars, Aiglon College was built on a deceptively simple but radical idea: that education should develop the whole person, not merely the intellect. Corlette articulated this as the balanced development of mind, body and spirit — a phrase that has remained the school's guiding principle for more than 75 years.

Mind: Rigorous Academics in Small Classes

Academically, Aiglon offers the Cambridge IGCSE (Years 10–11) and the IB Diploma Programme (Years 12–13), supplemented by a structured junior curriculum in the earlier years. Classes average just 12 students with a 5:1 student-to-teacher ratio, creating an environment in which every student receives genuine individual attention. The school's consistently strong IB results — a 100% pass rate and average scores of 35–36 over recent cohorts — reflect the seriousness of academic purpose without sacrificing breadth.

Body: The Mountain as Educator

The Alpine setting is not incidental — it is integral. Students participate in expeditions as a formal part of school life: ski touring, mountain biking, rock climbing, and extended wilderness trips into the Swiss and European mountains. These experiences are understood not as extracurriculars but as core to the curriculum of character. The campus itself includes a climbing wall, ski access, and horse-riding facilities that make outdoor challenge a daily reality rather than a seasonal event.

Spirit: Character, Service, and Community

The third dimension — spirit — encompasses moral character, resilience, compassion, and a sense of community responsibility. The school's ten boarding houses (five male, five female) are the primary unit of pastoral care, with house parents and senior students sharing responsibility for the wellbeing of younger boarders. Service programmes — from foodbanks to refugee centre volunteering — run alongside the Round Square international service and leadership network.

The Director's Vision

Current Head Nicola Sparrow reinforces the founding ethos in her welcome:

*"At Aiglon, education is not merely about academic achievement — learning should inspire curiosity, develop character, resilience, and a lifelong sense of purpose. We embrace challenge, creativity, and compassion."

This articulation connects Corlette's 1949 vision directly to Aiglon's present identity, ensuring the ethos is not merely historical nostalgia but a living framework that shapes admissions, timetabling, co-curricular programming, and the school's relationship with its mountain home.

IB Excellence at Aiglon

Aiglon College operates a Cambridge IGCSE programme for Years 10–11 and the IB Diploma Programme for Years 12–13, delivered entirely in English with French as a compulsory second language through the IGCSE years.

Recent IB Results

The school's IB performance has been consistently exceptional:

Class of 2023 (80 candidates):

• Average score: 35 points (36.2 after remarks)
• Pass rate: 100%
• Scored ≥ 30 points: 85%
• Scored ≥ 40 points: 21%
• Bilingual diplomas: 26%

Class of 2024 (66 candidates):

• Average score: 36.2 points
• Pass rate: 100%
• Scored ≥ 30 points: 88%
• Scored ≥ 40 points: 29% (including three scores of 44 and one perfect 45)
• Bilingual diplomas: 18%

These results place Aiglon consistently above the global IB average of approximately 30 points, and the 100% pass rate is a rare achievement sustained across multiple cohorts.

University Destinations

Recent graduating classes have secured places at institutions including:

• USA: Columbia, Cornell, Duke, University of Chicago, University of California campuses
• UK: University of Cambridge, UCL, University of Edinburgh
• Europe: Sciences Po (Paris), TU Delft
• North America: McGill University, University of Toronto

With 75 graduates in 2022 and similar cohort sizes since, virtually all Aiglon graduates proceed directly to university.

Academic Structure

The school organises its curriculum into named year-group phases:

• Wonder & Discovery Years (Years 2–6): broad foundation curriculum
• Discovery Years (Years 7–9): MYP-influenced preparation
• Exploration Years (Years 10–11): Cambridge IGCSE
• Inspiration Years (Years 12–13): IB Diploma

All academic subjects are taught in classes averaging 12 students, with a 5:1 student-teacher ratio ensuring that support is proactive rather than reactive. EAL provision supplements the core curriculum for non-native English speakers, enabling students from 69 nationalities to access the full academic programme.

Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

For a school where 80% of students live on campus, pastoral care is not a supplementary service — it is the daily architecture of school life. Aiglon has built its wellbeing infrastructure around the house system, professional support staff, and a culture that treats emotional safety as a prerequisite for academic growth.

The House System

Aiglon organises its boarding community into ten houses:

• Senior Houses (ages ~13–18): Alpina, Exeter, Belvedere, Le Cerf, Clairmont, St Louis, Delaware, Le Trient
• Junior Houses (ages ~6–13): La Baita, La Casa

Each house is led by resident house parents and supported by tutors. Senior students serve as house captains and prefects, creating a mentorship culture that bridges age groups. Students share rooms with up to three peers, building daily habits of cooperation and mutual respect.

Professional Wellbeing Support

School Counsellors: Aiglon employs school counsellors whose remit is to promote student success and wellbeing. Counsellors are accessible directly or through referral from house staff, ensuring that students experiencing academic stress, homesickness, or personal difficulties have professional support promptly.

Health Centre: The on-campus Health Centre operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, staffed by an Associate Director of Nursing and additional nursing staff. Facilities include examination rooms and several bedrooms for overnight care, meaning that students who fall ill are never left without medical attention regardless of the time.

Anti-Bullying and Proactive Wellbeing

Aiglon runs annual anti-bullying programmes as part of a broader school-wide wellbeing calendar that includes special events, workshops on forming healthy habits, mental health awareness initiatives, and peer support training. The school's explicit commitment to safeguarding and the pastoral structures of the house system combine to create an environment where community norms actively discourage bullying.

EAL and Learning Support

For the linguistically diverse student body (69 nationalities), Aiglon provides targeted EAL (English as an Additional Language) support for non-native English speakers. Additional learning support is available through small-group or one-to-one tutoring, embedded within the school's culture of personalised attention. Twenty-one full merit scholarships are awarded annually, reflecting the school's commitment to making exceptional education accessible to talented students regardless of financial background.

Co-Curricular Life at Aiglon

If academics form one pillar of the Aiglon experience, the co-curricular programme forms another of equal weight. With over 50 structured activities on offer, Aiglon's programme is both unusually broad and unusually integrated into the school's core philosophy.

Sports: The Alps as Playground

The Alpine setting unlocks a range of activities unavailable to most schools:

• Winter sports: Alpine skiing, snowboarding, ski touring, ice skating
• Mountain sports: Rock climbing (on-campus 12m wall), mountain biking, trail running
• Equestrian: Horse riding using the school's own stables
• Team sports: Rugby, football, basketball, volleyball, netball, cricket, touch rugby, indoor hockey
• Individual sports: Tennis, badminton, golf, fencing, swimming, boxing, table tennis, taekwondo, skateboarding, padel
• Wellness: Yoga, circuit training, ski fitness

Arts, Music, and Performance

Aiglon is proud to be an All-Steinway music school, signifying a commitment to the highest standard of musical instrument provision:

• Ensembles: Orchestra, Chamber Choir, String Quartet, Brass Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Big Band, Rock Band
• Drama: Annual School Production (senior), Junior School Production, LAMDA Public Speaking and Theatre Arts
• Visual Arts: Ceramics, printmaking, photography, fashion and textile design, film making, architectural design
• Dance: Ballet and contemporary dance

STEM and Innovation

The Applied Innovation and Robotics (AIR) Lab is the hub for:

• Robotics: VEX Robotics competitive team
• Computing: Coding and computer science club, esports
• Enterprise: Business and entrepreneurship programme

Service and Leadership

Aiglon is a Round Square member school, connecting students to an international network of service and leadership projects. On campus, the sustainability committee, WWF club, recycling initiative, peer tutoring programme, student council, foodbank volunteering, refugee centre service, and thrift store operation all contribute to a culture in which service is normalised rather than exceptional.

Cultural Exchange

Reflecting the 69-nationality student body, cultural clubs — including Chinese cooking, Japanese cooking, and Portuguese language — celebrate diversity and deepen cross-cultural understanding within the community.

Taken together, Aiglon's co-curricular programme is the operational expression of John Corlette's founding vision: that the school day should extend well beyond the classroom, and that every student should be challenged, enriched, and known as an individual.