German European School Singapore

German European School Singapore (GESS)
Location
Singapore Singapore
Information
Type International Baccalaureate school
Established 1971
Principal Hermann Battenberg
Number of students around 1500
Website http://www.gess.sg

German European School Singapore (GESS, German: Deutsche Europäische Schule Singapur is an international, multi-lingual, co-educational school in Singapore. GESS is a not-for-profit school providing education to 1,500 students from more than 50 nationalities. The GESS philosophy of “learning to live and to give” forms the backbone of its approach to education as the school supports and nurtures its students to become balanced, responsible and informed world citizens. Since its foundation in 1971, the school has evolved into a one school – two system organisation. The European Section offers all three International Baccalaureate Programmes (PYP, MYP, DP) in English.[1] As a German government accredited “Excellent German School Abroad”, the German Section of GESS offers all German school leaving certificates.[2] GESS focuses on European languages and culture. For Dutch and Danish students the school offers a mother-tongue programme fully integrated in the curriculum of the European section with no additional costs. The Dutch programme is developed in cooperation with Rijnsland Education Worldwide.[3] A similar mother-tongue programme has been developed for Danish students as well, offering Danish lessons from preschool onwards and for Primary School it is intregrated into the time table(5 lessons per week)with no additional costs.[4]

History

The first lessons at the German School were taught on 25 August 1971 with six students enrolled. In April 1972, less than a year after the initial opening, the Kindergarten and Pre-School opened their doors. The school continued to grow quickly and the completion of a new school building at 72 Bukit Tinggi Road laid the foundation for what is now the GESS Main Campus. During 2004, the Board of Governors made the significant decision to offer students tuition in English as well as German and pursue accreditation with the International Baccalaureate Organisation. As a result, the school’s name was changed to the German European School Singapore (GESS). The following school year, the European (English speaking) section of the school started teaching the IB curriculum for grades 1 to 12. Growing student numbers, lead to the decision to open a separate Junior School campus at Jalan Jurong Kechil in August 2008. This is now home to students of both the German and European sections from grade 1 to 5. In 2010, the GESS pre-school department received accreditation to teach the Primary Years Programme IB curriculum and GESS became a fully certified, IB World School. In 2013, the accreditation by the Council of International Schools followed.[5]

Academic programme

Since the decision to offer multi-lingual education, GESS has operated in two distinct yet cohesive sections. The GESS European section offers the IB Programme in English and the German section uses the German language to teach all German school leaving certificates. To support the cohesion of its school community GESS teaches both German and English language lessons at differing levels in both sections. The school places a great deal of emphasis on individualised support. That is why classes are kept small, thereby providing the opportunity for each student to realise its potential. As part of GESS’s approach to provide holistic education, students have numerous opportunities to engage in a large variety of creative and sporting activities, as well as embracing social responsibility through our community projects. In the toddler, kindergarten and pre-primary groups the youngest members of the school community learn and develop together through activities which stimulate social, intellectual and fine and gross motor skills. The groups are taught by native speaking teachers to allow the children to strengthen either their German or English language skills.

For a secondary language the school teaches Mandarin, French, Spanish, English, and German.[6]

Campus

The German European School Singapore (GESS) has two campuses located near to the Bukit Timah and Bukit Batok Nature Reserves respectively.

References

  1. ↑ IBO about the German European School Singapore
  2. ↑ ZfA about the German European School Singapore
  3. ↑ Rijnsland Education Worldwide at the German European School Singapore
  4. ↑ ScandAsia Singapore Magazine April 2013 article about mother-tongue programmes at the German European School Singapore
  5. ↑ CIS membership directory
  6. ↑ "Curriculum overview." German European School Singapore. Retrieved on January 20, 2014.

Coordinates: 1°20′44″N 103°47′29″E / 1.3456°N 103.7914°E / 1.3456; 103.7914

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