Inside the world's most expensive and exclusive private school where parents including royals fork out £150,000 per year for full boarding in Swiss mountains with ski tuition, yoga and global travel | Retrui News | Retrui
Inside the world's most expensive and exclusive private school where parents including royals fork out £150,000 per year for full boarding in Swiss mountains with ski tuition, yoga and global travel
SOURCE:Daily Mail
Switzerland's Le Rosey is aptly nicknamed the 'School of Kings', with King Juan Carlos of Spain , King Fuad II of Egypt and King Albert II of Belgium all among its alumni.
It is aptly nicknamed the ‘School of Kings’, with King Juan Carlos of Spain, King Fuad II of Egypt and King Albert II of Belgium all among its alumni.
Past pupils also include Winston Spencer Churchill, grandson of Winston Churchill, Princess Diana's ill-fated lover, Dodi Al Fayed, and many of the world’s wealthiest families, including the Rothschilds and Rockefellers.
Established in 1880, there’s a high chance Switzerland’s Le Rosey wins the title as the world’s most expensive and exclusive private school, where parents fork out £150,000 a year for their children to live among princes, shahs, and baby billionaires.
But at more than double the price of Eton and Harrow, is Le Rosey really worth it?
With a £39 million, 1000-seat concert hall, access to a 38ft yacht, and a pupil-teacher ratio of five to one, the elite institution is truly in a league of its own.
What makes Le Rosey immediately distinct is the fact that it has two beautiful campuses in two locations, one for the summer and one for the winter.
In the warmer months, you’ll find students based at the 14th-century Château du Rosey estate in Rolle, but after Christmas they settle in chalets in the ski resort of Gstaad right up until March.
With a whole host of extra-curricular activities on offer, from skiing and sailing to yoga and making VR films, life at Le Rosey is a far-cry from the average state school in Britain.
A general view of the Institut Le Rosey Gstaad winter campus on January 16, 2014 in Gstaad, Switzerland
Auditorium Carnal Hall at Le Rosey, Rolle, Switzerland
The futuristic structure is nicknamed Le Rosey’s spaceship for its dome-like design by Bernard Tschumi
Le Rosey’s main campus is located halfway between Geneva and Lausanne on a sprawling 28-hectare estate, where age-old trees surround the boarding houses and sports fields.
There are indoor and outdoor pools, private riding stables with 30 horses, and a nautical centre on Lake Geneva fit with a spa, sauna and hammam for stressed-out pupils after a long day.
The Radziwills and Metternichs studied at Le Rosey, Sir Roger Moore and Elizabeth Taylor sent their children there, and so did John Lennon, who enrolled his son Sean.
Its list of royal alumni is seemingly infinite, including the Shah of Iran, Prince Rainier, the Duke of Kent and the Aga Khan.
A defining characteristic of the school is the 10 per cent cap on each nationality, designed to create a genuinely vibrant mix of cultures and languages.
Indeed, when writer Cécilia Pelloux visited campus for Forbes in 2018, she was struck to 'walk around and notice students switching from Spanish to Arabic to French, changes springing from one and the same student simply talking to different friends'.
With 460 students from 70 countries, and books in over 20 languages in the library, children are expected to be bilingual and can study up to four dialects at a time, including Dzongkha or Swahili.
The school boasts that some 30 per cent of its alumni join universities ranked in the top 25 in the world, including those in the Ivy League, MIT, and Oxbridge.
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The three months students spend in the breathtaking Gstaad campus (pictured above) in the Swiss Alps turns them into elite skiing pros
Le Rosey’s main campus, pictured above, is located halfway between Geneva and Lausanne on a 28-hectare estate
The Radziwills and Metternichs studied at Le Rosey, pictured above
After Christmas students settle in chalets in the ski resort of Gstaad (pictured above) right up until March
Visiting day at the Institute Le Rosey, 1957
Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran (1919 - 1980, standing, second from left) in sports attire at his boarding school, Institut Le Rosey, in Rolle, Switzerland, circa 1935
Summery park at Institut Le Rosey, Rolle 1941
But what does a typical day at Switzerland’s oldest international school look like?
For starters, teachers run a tight ship at Le Rosey.
Students must not consume alcohol during the week, on or off campus, and bedtime is between 8.45pm and 11.30pm, according to age.
Students found on the ‘étage’ (floor) with ‘a person of the opposite sex,’ as well as ‘excessive demonstration of affection,’ is considered an offence, as per the school rules.
Children are expected to wake up at 7.00am before enjoying a breakfast buffet with their classmates.
From 8.00am until midday, there are six classes, as well as a quick morning break involving a cup of traditional hot Swiss chocolate or the in-house café.
After lunch, classes kick-off again for three periods until 3.30am - but the day is far from over.
From 4.00pm to 7.00pm, it’s time for students to take part in either sports or arts activities, and there’s a host of options to choose from.
The Paul & Henri Carnal Hall is the school's arts and learning centre, complete with three orchestras, two choirs, three theatre groups, photo studies, and chances to get involved in dance, art, and gastronomy.
The futuristic structure, built in 2014, is nicknamed Le Rosey’s spaceship for its stainless-steel, dome-like design by Bernard Tschum, that sits at the edge of campus.
Meanwhile, the Rosey Concert Hall has welcomed some of the world’s most prestigious music ensembles: from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic or renowned soloists such as Hélène Grimaud and Maxim Vengerov.
Over 60 per cent of the students play an instrument or sing, and there are 28 music teachers and over 320 music classes each week.
The school offers over 25 sports every year and has onsite football and rugby pitches, an athletics track, basketball courts, beach volleyball pits, tennis courts, two fitness rooms and even a shooting range.
Rowing is a longstanding tradition at the school, dating back to 1951 when Aga Khan IV led his team to victory at the Swiss nationals. Le Rosey was also triumphant in ice hockey in 1948.
After extracurricular activities, dinner is served at 7.30pm, and it’s a formal affair: boys must wear a navy-blue blazer, shirt and a school tie, while girls must don a navy-blue blazer with a white dress.
Students must sit at a seat marked by a personal napkin, which is fixed for the rest of the term. They dine among six to eight other students alongside one or two teachers.
Children take turns serving dishes at the table, and must rise from their chairs when an adult arrives. They aren’t allowed to excuse themselves until invited to do so by a director of boarding.
Even after dinner, activities continue. Whether that’s homework in the study hall, cultural outings, or Model United Nations debates, the intellectual enrichment doesn’t stop until late into the night.
Side elevation towards library and learning centre in the Auditorium Carnal Hall at Le Rosey, Rolle, Switzerland
Side elevation of the Concert Hall with a lighting feature
July 18, 1953: Edward George, Duke of Kent (right) and his friends celebrate the end of their final term at Le Rosey boys' school in Geneva with a visit to a local cafe
Classes are taught in French and English, in a system called 'à la carte bilingualism’, and all students sit official external examinations - the International Baccalaureate (IB) or the French baccalauréat.
Only those who can expect to get into university are offered a place at Le Rosey, with only one in five applicants gaining acceptance.
While the school prides itself on its cultural, athletic and academic programme, a defining characteristic of its student population is of course exorbitant wealth.
‘Seeing a helicopter land on the football pitches with a Russian pupil stepping out with his parents, I was somewhat shocked at the in-your-face parades of wealth,’ Annabel, who previously worked as a housemaster’s au pair at Le Rosey, told the Telegraph.
‘It is very different to a British boarding school - it is run like a business. One pupil had “I AM RICH” planted across his jumper. I felt the boys definitely wanted to prove their wealth in a more crass way than the girl pupils.’
But the school consistently denies that money is an issue that comes between pupils. ‘No one goes around, saying: “I’m richer than you”,’ Michael Gray, its former British headmaster, told the Times.
‘It’s completely unsnobbish. If people put on airs and graces they wouldn’t survive. We had someone recently from a famous family, and after three days it didn’t work out and he left.’
Once you attend the boarding school, you never truly leave because you are invited into a global web of the elite who stay in contact for life.
There’s an Anciens Roséens alumni programme and a strictly private directory, allowing past students to network with likeminded super-rich old boys and girls, who may offer each other career opportunities or holidays in their second homes.
Evgenia Lazareva, a managing director of Carfax Education, a London-based educational consultancy, went to Le Rosey. She deals only with families hoping to place their children at Swiss schools. ‘People stick together,’ she told the Times.
‘My first job was through the alumni programme. If you’re going to a new country you can open the alumni book and ring virtually anyone in it, and they will help you. I’ve had three people from Le Rosey doing internships at Carfax and one has a full-time job here.’
Old Roseans, it seems, are set up for life after they graduate at 18, following a decade of skiing, learning in world-class facilities, and dining with the sons and daughters of billionaires.
State of the art sports facilities at Le Rosey
Elevated view across the main entrance at the Auditorium Carnal Hall at Le Rosey, Rolle, Switzerland
July 18, 1953: Edward George, the Duke of Kent packs his luggage on his last day at Le Rosey, an exclusive boys' school in Geneva
Three boys from the prestigious boy school, Le Rosey, in Gstaad, Switzerland, wearing maxicoats acquired in London
On the topic of skiing, the three months students spend in the breathtaking Gstaad campus in the Swiss Alps turns most into elite pros.
From January to March, students move 77 miles away from the summer campus, where the daily schedule is specifically designed to allow children the time to perfect their winter sports without losing out on teaching.
Classes last until 12.45pm, while in the afternoon students are given time to hone their racing skills down the slopes. Boys bolt down Eggli and Wispile while girls conquer Schönried.
‘I went from the bullying in an English public school to torchlight ski descents in Gstaad,’ one ancien Roséen (as alumni are known) told Town and Country Magazine.
‘It's the only place I know where 20 years on, people still post pictures of it on Facebook. They love it more than you'd think possible for a school.’
‘I was amazed by the efficiency of the move my first time,’ said former headmaster Gray, who was educated at a Liverpool grammar school.
‘One day blue trucks came up here, and in 24 hours the whole place moved to Gstaad, where there are crisp blue skies and dry mountain air.
'Mind you, it's high altitude and exhausting, so we always say the best day is the day we go there, and the second best day is the day we leave.'
A former student told the magazine: ‘If you ski for three months a year, from ages eight to 18, you will be a near-Olympian.’
Lounge and administration office at Le Rosey, Rolle, Switzerland
August 1, 1953: Aga Khan IV, Karim, son of Aly Khan, at Le Rosey boy's school, Lake Geneva
July 18, 1953: Edward George, Duke of Kent (left) revises from a book on English Social History for his end of term exams at Le Rosey boys' school in Geneva
‘The Gstaad term is quite an intense term,’ Felipe Laurent, an alumnus and Le Rosey spokesman, told Business Insider.
‘I mean, eight to nine weeks in the Swiss Alps, I think it would tire anybody out.’ After a holiday in March, students head back to the main campus until June.
‘It's important to have that break after that and then to come back to a different campus, with a fresh mind, to continue the academic year,’ Laurent added. At the end of June, they are off for the summer holidays.
As opposed to going home to their families, students also have the option of enjoying organised trips abroad, but such adventures aren’t included in the £150,000 per year price tag and must be paid for on top of school fees.
A full Le Rosey education is split into four stages: juniors, cadets, jeunes seniors, and seniors.
Despite the wealth of all the students, they share their dormitories and rooms are a modest size - hardly fit for a prince.
In an example of luxury, relative to the average school in Britain, most classes have fewer than 10 students, and lessons aren’t your typical set-up of a teacher dictating in front of a whiteboard.
For example, when learning about plants and gardening, Le Rosey has an impressive greenhouse full of rare specimens for children to analyse and cultivate themselves.
Even weekends are scheduled, but students are allowed to take part in a host of leisurely activities, including bowling, go-karting, cinema, or shopping in Geneva - accompanied by teachers.
That’s if they’re not making the most of the school’s elborate facilities on Lake Geneva, equipped with a sailboat, rowing boats, and four motorboats for waterskiing.
‘Of course we are an expensive school. Of course the families need to have the means to be able to come to this school,’ Laurent told Business Insider.
‘So you would think that we would perpetrate that, that our students maybe would only be talking about their luxury cars, or their homes, or their planes ... but, in fact, it's not.
‘It's about them just being normal children. And they're going to talk about heartbreak, and they're going to talk about Lucy who made out with Jack. They're just going to have a normal life.
‘And it doesn't mean we don't help them understand that they do come from privileged backgrounds and that with that privilege comes responsibility.’
It is true that teachers often accompany students on humanitarian trips, during which children volunteer to help disenfranchised communities around the world.
But there’s no escaping the fact that if Le Rosey is preparing its students for anything, it’s for a life in the one per percent.