GESS International School

Commenting on European side of school. Generally dedicated teachers who are responsive and provided aid for kids to settle in. Like the happy and open vibes – at least from what my kids tell me (and should be the most important for them?). Schoolwork still sufficient to keep my kids busy. Amazing part is the amount of projects and interests they get to explore – some kids just enjoy and learn better from these than purely books. Only drawback is the location, can’t escape some traffic jam on our drive to school.

Es un colegio muy diverso

En general una gran experiencia! Salvo algún profesor pero siempre encuentras alguno con el que difieres.

Education could be better

Improve in communication. The staff is friendly. Our kids teachers are wonderful. The administrative processes could improve, in terms of academics, languages and social skills development we are very pleased. Another thing for improvement would be to get the kids to eat properly having good manners and reduce food waste.

Overall my experience at the school was great, and I often look back on my time with great fondness and gratitude. I encountered many excellent teachers, staff members, and other students who I have had great experiences with. Not much can be said regarding facilities as I attended GESS at its old campus however ample provision is made for learning resources (ie library and online resources) as well as for extra-curricular activities and other services. However, in terms of administration I feel like there was a lack of communication between the school as a provider and its customers, ie students and their parents. Students were not always treated fairly and although attempt was made to build and develop a stronger relationship of understanding between the two I feel that that could have been significantly improved.
The fact that there is a German and European division is to be celebrated for its diversity (particularly with the range of cultures in the European section) but integration between the two was lacking and could be strengthened. In doing so I believe GESS would benefit from a stronger, collective and cohesive body where students feel united and will want to collaborate and interact with each other more.
All in all I did have an enjoyable experience at GESS and it has given me the foundation to progress further in my life, academically and professionally but there are little improvements to be made in order for GESS to come up to par with other international schools in Singapore if they desire to be at the same standard of reputation as some other more established schools.

My kids, now in grades 9 and 5, have been in the school for 6 years so far.

This school maybe hasn\’t paid much attention to tangible elements, like facilities. The main campus is in a very green location with very bad access, and the facilities are pretty old. The junior campus is better in terms of location and space, but it was build for a few years and quality of construction is not so good. This must change with the new campus that is going to be open in August.

There are really two schools, German and International (also called EuroSec). I am talking only about the International School. The academic part is really strong, and teachers are really first class and take the IB system really seriously. Primary teachers really take care of the children and are always willing to help. The Head of Primary is outstanding.

It is a German school and therefore, your children need to take German lessons every day as a part of the curriculum. They have also a mother tongue program for a broad range of languages to help students to keep their mother tongue.

They are also focused in a holistic education, paying attention to arts, music, sports and other activities. Maybe the after school sports program needs to be improved (aside of football). Misbehavior and lack of discipline as well as bullying is taken very seriously and not tolerated. They encourage collaborative learning, not competition between students.

Maybe use of technology should improve, for sure you can consider it a “techy” school. They struggle sometimes with communications.

In summary, if your child´s happiness is your priority number one, I think you should consider this school as an option. They are non “trendy” or “fancy”, but their values are very strong. The fees are not cheap, but probably far from the highest ones in Singapore.

Our daughter attended the European German School between 2010 and 2013 in the Middle Years Program of the european section. Overall, the experience was very positive, both for us as parents as well as for our daughter as a student. The school transmits strong values like solidarity, companionship, work ethics and more. Academically the school is sound, scoring high average grades internationally.
With this the school helped our daughter to develop as a conscious and responsible person and at the same time prepared her properly for the IB program. In our opinion the school could improve its facilities, however, for us this was not the highest priority and was easily compensated by school values and academic records. We would recommend the European section of the German European School in Singapore.

I believe this is the only international school that offers dual curriculum – IB and German

As such, it is a good mix of cultures. A great opportunity for all – students, teaching staff and administrative staff, to learn about each other and get along well towards a common goal. It might and does get heated between the two groups – who is better? This is where the school find ways to improve themselves as a whole. I don’t believe there is a perfect system or a perfect school. I believe we adapt as change is the only constant. If one is unable to adapt, then one has to change to another environment that is more suitable.

Looking forward to the new campus later on in 2018 where both campus will convene under one roof for the first time at a more convenient location than the current main campus is.

In short: teachers are willing and trying their best, but if you have to deal with a hopelessly overwhelmed (and not too sure if properly qualified across the board) senior management team you cannot expect too much.

Good school with dedicated teaching and admin staff. Location and facilities will significantly improve after the move to the new Dairy Farm Campus mid 2018.

My daughters attended the GESS primary campus in the german section for almost 4 years. They are very happy with the teachers, their friends they made and the campus facilities. Although the junior campus is already old, it offers a lot of greenery around. In Summer 2018 the new campus will be ready to host junior and main campus. The school is not too big with makes it more familiar. The GESS offers a German Section as well as an English Section (IB Programme) . Both offer every day german/english classes and the classes are mixed with german and students from other nationalities. The school is making efforts to connect both sections by organising mutual activities. There have good learning support teachers. The communication between parents and teachers is very good. A weekly update of what has been done during the week is sent to us. Extra curricular activities are offered in a big variety as well as the Learning Enrichment Programme aimed for those who have a different mother tongue. We have kids from all european nationalities such as Danish, Swedish, French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian, Russian, etc. They also offer preschool and Kindergarden in both languages.
I also felt that depending on what teacher they had pressure was varying. I have to admit that in the German Section the pressure is higher than in the Euro Section. They have more tests and homework compared to their Euro Sec mates. There is also the possibility to change from one section to another.

My older daughter attends grade 9 in the European section. She entered GESS is grade 1 at the junior campus. The actual location of the main campus is in a very green area and it is connected to the Swiss Club, but it can be troublesome to reach without car. The school uses the sports facilities of the Swiss Club (Olympic swimming pool and sport hall). It has a very good DT lab and science lab. Please take note that the school is moving location to their brand newly built campus in August 2018 (Dairy Farm). Teaching wise, I have to say that the majority of the teachers my daughter had over the years, have been competent and dedicated. The curriculum is a pure IB. In the arts, drama had always been a weak point, but starting from 2017 the school is investing also in this area in order to be able to offer it in the diploma selection. Unfortunately, so far, for the low numbers of students in the IB years (11/12), not all science or languages subjects can always be offered. A bilingual diploma (English/German) can be obtained with the school support and class teaching. Starting from this year should also be available for Danish. French and Chinese are offered at high or low level. Most probably starting from next year also Spanish will be offered for the diploma as numbers of students taking this language are growing. Sports so far are not highly emphasised, but the school in investing in building up competitive teams in various disciplines, especially considering the new facilities that will be available from next academic year. German curriculum and European IB curriculum are completely different, it is as having 2 schools under the same roof. There are some yearly cross sectional events to integrate the two communities. The European (English) section is very diverse, with many nationalities represented with a majority concentrated from the Northern European Countries. Competitiveness in any area is not encouraged. The school, following a green concept, aims to develop social and environmental awareness in a friendly and cooperative way. So far, the weak point of the school stands in the organization, administration and regulations.

My daughters both attended the European section taught in English with 5 periods of German per week. Great community atmosphere. Not competitive environment aimed to develop social and environmental awareness in a friendly and cooperative way. Facilities aren’t awesome, but enough for the age group. The actual campus has lots of green and play areas. Be aware that the school will move location to the newly built campus in August 2018 (Dairy Farm). The sports teams were not really supported at competitive level, but starting from 2017, a new swimming team, running team, athletic team in addition to the existing footballs teams have been implemented and entered various competitions with satisfactory results. The PYP (Primary Year Program) IB curriculum is followed. This is a good curriculum for self motivated, curious, organized and disciplined kids. The learning support department is helpful and supportive for light, medium learning difficulties.Large varieties of CCA (co curricular activities) offered, but mainly at basic recreational level, with the exception of swimming,running and football as above mentioned. The music department is well developed and offers private or group classes with various instruments. Many languages are taught on campus, both in the standard curriculum (such as Danish and Dutch) and in extra curricular weekly classes (Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, etc..). All together both my daughters enjoyed their primary years at Gess.

The teaching staff were all very nice and qualified, but there is poor integration between the German Section and the European section. The two sections rarely do things together and it almost feels like they belong to two separate schools. The European section is far more diverse than the German one.

The old campus in Bukit Tinggi was surrounded by nice wildlife but some of the classrooms were a bit old and needed renovation. Same thing goes for the canteen.

As a final note, the school also needs to improve its self-taught program in IB. It’s not up to the standard of other schools in Singapore.

Friendly school. Different standards for IB and for German Curriculum.
Facilities are not state of the art. A new school campus is planned for 2018.