Please tell us about yourself
My name is Maxim Timchenko and the name Maxim translates to “a short statement of a general truth, principle, or rule for behaviour”. This comes very close to summing up my character. I usually keep things short and to the point while always valuing the truth and morals.
Granted though that this is a rare opportunity for you to learn more about the work of the Parents’ Committee (PC) and myself, I have departed from the tradition of keeping things short to let you into our world.
I have Eastern-European roots (Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia) and my family spent over 20 years living in Istanbul, Turkey where both of my children were born.
Academically, I have studied in the UK (A-Levels, BSc in Business Management from Kings College London and MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance from Bayes Business School). I am a Fellow of Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, London.
Professionally, I am a director of several family-owned companies connected to various sectors of the shipping industry, with the main one located in Singapore (which I am heading). I have been working in Singapore for over 8 years now and moved my family here full-time in July 2020. This is our second year at GESS and my son is in E-06A while my daughter is in E-02C.
In my free time I enjoy reading, listening to podcasts, cycling, playing tennis and board games with my family. But our favourite family pastime is consuming my wife’s dessert creations – she is a Le Cordon Bleu honours pastry chef graduate.
Share some of your favourite things about life at GESS (your experience as a parent or your children’s experiences)
I was fortunate to be able to have a glimpse of real life at GESS when I was school-hunting way back in December 2019. Seeing the happy and laughing faces of GESS children while playing at school and around the neighbourhood made me think that this school is doing something right.
But what really amazed me and my wife is when our children first started at GESS, they were upset that school holidays had started and they couldn’t go to school. That was a first for us. Nothing makes a parent happier than seeing their children enjoy school so much. This means that the school is functioning well on multiple levels.
We can’t wait for the Covid situation to subside to be able to experience the full range of what GESS life has to offer.
What made you decide to run for the role of the Parent Rep chairperson? What makes this role interesting for you?
To be honest, I did not plan on becoming a Parents’ Committee Chairperson (or even a Parent Rep for that matter). Originally, my son’s class did not manage to find volunteers for the Parent Rep or Deputy positions. Having a strong sense of responsibility, a few weeks later, I felt that it wasn’t right that our class was among the few classes not represented at the Council of Parents Representatives and came forward, but with one condition – that I will be taking on the official part of the job while all the class parents split the responsibility for the social part of the Parent Rep job and did it all together.
Something similar happened with the Chairperson position. Understanding the commitment and responsibility associated with the position, nobody volunteered during the first round of the Parents’ Committee election. So, like in a superhero movie, I felt the urge to come forward and “save” the parent community without giving it a second thought. The decision was made in 20 seconds.
And I am glad that I did. While not without its challenges, the role of the Chairperson is extremely engaging and rewarding. I get to know a lot of people from the GESS community, including the teachers, staff, the Board and of course the parents. I have met more people in several weeks of doing this job than throughout the whole pandemic and then some more. But most dear to me is the ability to make positive changes to the school – changes which are going to be felt and appreciated by our children.
Since then, I have rallied the parents of our class and inspired them to volunteer for Deputy Parent Rep position (thank you Arisa!) as well as unofficial support roles. Considering that we went from no volunteers at all to a team of 5 parents actively involved in the class, I feel very happy about the accomplishment. Now I am known as the “Friendly Neighbourhood Parent Rep” in our class and hope to inspire the parent community to greatness on a school-wide scale. Our children need “everyday” heroes to join our ranks and make the GESS experience the best that it can be.
Please introduce the Parents Committee Members and the Events and Buddies Committee and their various responsibilities?
Parents’ Committee is an official body elected by the Council of Parent Representatives (PR). Its main roles are to represent the views and interests of school parents to the Senior Management Team and the Board of Governors, participate in consultative process with the school on issues of importance to parents and students, be the connecting link between the parents, PRs and the school as well as to bring the school community closer together through various events, activities and campaigns.
Put simply it is a caring “grandmother” of all parents and their children, who brings everyone together into one happy family.
This year we have a brand-new Parents’ Committee. There are 7 members in total – 5 heads for each school section, a Treasurer and a Chairperson (myself). Since you know a bit about me already, I will briefly introduce my colleagues to you.
Deputy Chairperson and Head of Pre-School Section Parent Representatives
Our Deputy Chairperson aka Head of Pre-school Section Parent Representatives is Ms Outi Gruener. Originally from Finland, she spent a number of years living across the world before settling in Singapore 6+ years ago. She has two children – one in pre-school and another one still waiting her turn at joining GESS. Her professional background is in corporate sustainability and social investment. Outi is passionate about environmental and social impact, and loves sports when her parenting duties allow them.
Like all Heads of Section Parent Representatives (PRs) her role involves liaising with PRs and Deputy PRs to receive parents’ feedback and act on it, meeting the Department Head and Section Head regularly to discuss issues relevant to the section as well as participating in Parents’ Committee and sub-committee meetings covering schoolwide issues.
As Deputy Chairperson, Outi deputises for the Chairperson when he is not available.
Treasurer
Our Treasurer is Ms Shilpa Venkatesh. Her family moved to Singapore in February 2021 and she has two daughters in the European Primary Section. Shilpa’s professional background is in HR and presently she dedicates her time to family and volunteering. She enjoys filter coffee, spicy food, good conversations, documentaries and movies based on true events as well as fun rides and yoga.
Her main responsibilities in the Parents’ Committee include supervising all financial matters of the Council’s operations including production of budgets, financial reports and overseeing the cashflows as well as lending her opinion on all PC matters.
Secretary and Head of German Secondary Section Parent Representatives
Our Secretary aka Head of German Secondary Section Parent Representatives is Ms Natascha Erhart. Her family is from Heilbronn (near Stuttgart, Germany) and they have just moved to Singapore this July. Her three children attend both the German Section primary and secondary schools, as well as pre-school. Natascha’s professional background is in marketing but personally her heart belongs to her family. She loves nature, travelling, swimming, reading and exploring Singapore.
As a Secretary, in addition to the role of the Head of Section (Parent Representatives), she ensures that the procedures of the Parent Committee’s bylaws are followed properly, ensures proper minutes and attendance of meetings are taken, records are kept, coordinates preparation of communications and liaising with the school’s Marketing and Communications Manager.
Head of German Primary Section Parent Representatives
Our Head of German Primary Section Parent Representatives is Mr Holger Bock. Originally from beautiful Franconia (Germany), his family has been living in Singapore for over 6 years. His son is in primary school. Together they enjoy playing LEGO and Minecraft as well as cycling and hiking. Professionally Holger works in an IT consulting company.
Head of European Primary Section Parent Representatives
Our Head of European Primary Section Parent Representatives is Ms. Claire Haberer. She is from the UK but loves travelling and has worked in Asia as a finance professional. Her family moved to Singapore this summer and her son is in primary school, while her daughter is still too young for school. In recent years, Claire has volunteered as a counsellor for a children’s charity and decided to pursue this calling by retraining to be an Arts Psychotherapist. She loves being outdoors in nature, running and being creative with paints and colours.
Head of European Secondary Section Parent Representatives
Our Head of European Secondary Section Parent Representatives is Ms. Noelle Dougherty. Her family is American and prior to moving to Singapore in August 2019, they lived in Zürich, Switzerland for over four years. Noelle and her husband have one daughter at Chatsworth and three sons at GESS, in both the primary and secondary schools. Noelle’s professional background is in social studies and special education in the secondary setting. She loves working with teenagers, anything to do with mountains and feeling the sun on her face.
Buddies Committee
Also, an integral part of the Council of Parents Representatives is the Buddies Committee headed by Ms. Anja Jensen and Kerstin Seemann. Both of them have been part of the committee for over 4-5 years already. Anja is from Denmark and has been living in Singapore for 5 1/2 years. Her son is in European Section Secondary. I have yet to meet Kerstin in person and will share more details once I get to know her better.
The role of the Buddies Committee is to organise welcome events for new students and families, assist with their transition to GESS and Singapore and being the buddies of the parent community.
Events Committee
The Events Committee is headed by Ms. Andrea Seitz. She and her team of volunteers have been bringing the whole school community together through the annual Christmas Bazaar and Summer Fair – the two largest school events of the year. Andrea is from Germany and has been living in Singapore with her husband and daughter since 2012 . Her daughter is in Grade 12, German Section and her husband has provided invaluable service to GESS by volunteering to serve on the Board for many years – first in the capacity of Board Member and then in the role of Vice President before resigning from this post earlier this year.
Chairperson
The Chairperson’s role involves representing the views of the GESS parent body to the Principal, the Senior Management Team and the Board of Governors, coordinating the work of Parents’ Committee, convening and chairing Committee meetings, GMCs, ensuring good communication of the Parents’ Committee’s work and maintaining good relations with the Senior Management Team, the Board of Governors, the Student Council and the Staff Representative Council.
What are you starting to work on to build up an even stronger community feel at GESS?
During the last 2 years, Covid-19 has not just made it very difficult to foster a community feel but it has even weakened family ties with our loved-ones, with whom we have only been able to connect virtually.
So, the Parents’ Committee cannot underestimate the importance of rekindling the GESS community feel (especially in the times when traveling to our families is still not as easy as we would like). While the school community cannot replace our families, having a strong community, where we support and care for each other, would make it that much easier to weather this storm together.
In order to do that, the Parents’ Committee will be working hard on several fronts: strengthening class communities through our network of Class Parents’ Representatives, Deputies and Buddies, strengthening School Section communities through appropriate events (as soon as regulations will allow medium scale events) as well as whole school events which we hope will be possible closer to the end of this academic year.
Also, in the spirit of bringing the hearts and minds of the GESS community together, the Parents’ Committee has declared this school year’s theme as “One School Spirit” (the idea is supported by the Board and the School Management as well). We want to unite the European and German sections both physically and emotionally into a truly one school with shared values, beliefs and traditions. Of course, it will take time, but as the maxim goes: “there is no better time to start than now”.
What kind of support would you like to get from parents to do your work even better?
The short answer to those questions is “every little helps”. Not everyone realises that the work of the Parents’ Committee (and to be fair the Board of Governors too) is absolutely voluntary and unpaid. We are just a group of enthusiastic parents who donate (a lot of) personal time and strength for the betterment of the school for all our children. So, the only currency that we are paid in are the smiles of our children and appreciation of our parents’ community.
There are numerous ways in which you can help and get involved.
First of all, volunteer to be a Class Parent Representative, a Deputy or a Buddy (if your class doesn’t have one yet). But if you lack the possibility to do so, then support the people that actually do volunteer. Do share your contact details with them and be responsive to their requests. They are the hearts and souls of the parents’ community and deserve every help that they can possibly get and more.
If you have special skills or experiences which may be useful or educational for children (or parents), volunteer to share those with your class or even the school. Reach out to your class Parent Representatives or the Parents’ Committee (Parents.Committee@gess.sg) to do so.
Be kind and understanding to each other and notice not only things that can be improved but also point out the things that are great so these practices can be shared and applied throughout the whole community.
You can use this link to volunteer or submit your comments/ideas/queries to the Parents’ Committee.
What makes GESS stand out from every other school in Singapore is that te whole school is built around a singular most important objective – the success of our children. And this is the single thread that connects us all.
So, if we all do our part (however small or large it may be) we are destined to succeed in our goal.
What are your favourite things about parent involvement at GESS?
I really admire the unique structure of GESS. It is one of the very few not-for-profit schools in Singapore. Thus, it is run on a zero profit principle (of course providing for strategic reserves) and everything earned is poured back into the school. The students are the reason for the school’s existence and everything that is done in the school is always considered in this light.
What is equally as impressive and which you will not find in almost any other school is that the parent community is the main pillar which is holding the school together. All aspects of the school are run by the parents starting from the parent volunteers of the Board of Governors, the many staff and teachers who are also parents of GESS students, the volunteers of the Parents’ Committee and the Association of Parents Representatives, the Buddies and last, but by no means least, the members of the School Association which is the ultimate governing institution of the school with the ultimate power over all other school bodies.
So, whether you dream big or small, there is a multitude of ways to get engaged – whether on class level or school section level or whole school level. And that is what makes GESS so beautiful – all of us having the power to make it the best school for our children. All we need is the “everyday” heroes with the will to do it.
