Sure, it normally starts with our local privates, JFK and Le Rosey, but an increasing number of discerning English-speaking parents have been taking a long look at Aiglon College in Villars, modeled more closely on the English boarding school system. We'll have more on Aiglon and all our local private schools on this site in the coming months, but for starters we thought we'd give you a unique perpsective of Aiglon College through the eyes of one of its students, Oscar Ortmans. Oscar interviewed his headmaster, Peter Armstrong (see photo above) in the run-up to a recent awareness and fundraising event that Aiglon College held at the Gstaad Palace in March.

By Oscar Ortmans

Let me introduce myself, my name is Oscar and I am 14. I have been fortunate enough to live in Gstaad for all my life. Before attending Aiglon I went to the John F Kennedy School in Sannen. As I became too old for the school I had to make the important decision of choosing a school to carry forward my secondary education. I needed an English-speaking school, a school with outdoor activities, a school which emphasizes religion and of course, a school which is located near Sannenland. Aiglon was my choice as it fulfilled all of my requirements. This is my second year at Aiglon and I am enjoying this school very much. To give you a better idea of the ethos of Aiglon and the way it operates I asked a few questions to the current headmaster Mr Peter Armstrong prior to a recent school event in Gstaad.

Sir, have you ever been to Gstaad before?
No, although I have heard a lot about the beauty of Gstaad, and I am looking forward to the function that will be held at the Gstaad Palace in March.

Sir, why have you chosen Gstaad as the place to host your development reception?
I have chosen Gstaad for a number of reasons. The parents of many Aiglon students own properties in Gstaad, as do many of our alumni. Also Aiglon is very close to Gstaad; Villars is only 45 minutes over the Col de la Croix. Futhermore we have a good connection with the John F Kennedy School which is also an English-speaking private school. Mr Lovell, the headmaster there, sent his own children to Aiglon, where we offer a very natural continuation to the studies offered at the John F Kennedy School.

Le Rosey is the most famous private school in Gstaad; what do you think the main differences are between Aiglon and Le Rosey?
Parents are extremely fortunate to have two very good schools to choose from; however there are some significant differences between both schools. We are run by a charitable trust rather than being privately owned by a family. We have an unashamed commitment to an outdoor education program that requires every student to be involved. We also have a multinational and multifaith community. We have a spiritual focus central to all that we do in Aiglon offering a number of different opportunities to children of different faiths.

Above: outdoor activities at Aiglon College include autumn camping trips. Below, en route during a ski mountaineering expedition.

The headmaster was quite intrigued on why I chose Aiglon and if I liked it...so he decided to ask me some questions;

Oscar, why did you choose to come to Aiglon?
I chose to come to Aiglon because I like being in the mountains. I love the mountains. I also wanted to have a school with a good outdoors program. At Aiglon we go on regular expeditions. In summer and autumn we are given maps with a set route, money to buy our food, together with a tent, a cooker and other camping utensils. We do this over the weekend and walk to all sorts of interesting places around the area. In winter we go ski mountaineering on Sundays. I really enjoy the expedition program. As well as expeditions we also have sports twice a week like athletics in summer and in winter we go skiing twice a week, or three times if you are on the race team (which I am part of). Another reason for choosing Aiglon is that I wanted a school which had a religious and spiritual aspect to it. Aiglon's motto is ‘God is my strength’ and we have regular services to celebrate Christian events. We also have chapel service which occurs every Wednesday morning at 7:55 which I always attend.

What do you like about Aiglon?
I like many things in Aiglon but the best one is that we are a very close knit community which is made up of many different people. There are many different nationalities and cultures and we all learn about each other and to live with one another. Aiglon is unique in every way as we have so many people who all come together to speak English and learn.

What would you change in Aiglon?
If I could, I would change Aiglon's location and move it to Gstaad as it is my home town and I like it very much. I would also abolish 'laps'. For those of you who don't know, a lap is a punishment which used to involve running once around the campus, but now one lap is 15 minutes of work. It is impossible not to get laps and they are not very pleasant to do as some involve shoveling snow or writing lines.