In 2011, the number of students had increased so much that new premises had to be sourced to house the school after the lease at Jalan Jurong Kechil expired. Many potential scenarios were explored, but ultimately, in the school year 2011-2012, the search began for a suitable site on which to build a new school building, designed to meet GESS’ needs.
In 2012, the school was accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS).
Starting in 2013, detailed architectural planning for our new campus took place, intended to be developed over 5 years, with input from teachers as well as parents. The land at Dairy Farm Lane was only officially allocated to us on 19 Jan 2016:
Land area: 30,582.5 sqm
Built-up area: 47,000 sqm
Floors: two-storey sports and recreation area and six-storey teaching area
During the academic year 2014-2015, Mr. Sven Trinkler was our School Principal.
By the time construction of the new campus began, Mr. Hermann Battenberg was our Principal. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new school campus at Dairy Farm was held on 9 May 2016, with a grand celebration onsite. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, Dr. Michael Pulch, Ambassador of the European Union to Singapore, Dr. Michael Witter, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Singapore and Dr. Bettina Fischer, Regional Officer of the Central Agency for Schools Abroad.
In 2017, the year before our new campus opened, Mr. Christoph Zänglein joined GESS as School Principal.
After 7 years of planning and 2 years of construction, GESS opened our doors for a new academic year to excited students, teachers and staff on 16 August 2018. Since then, our students from preschool through high school have been united in a state-of-the-art school building built specifically to meet the needs of GESS.
The new campus was the largest single project the school had taken on in its recent history. Thanks to the outstanding work and dedication of all involved, the project was completed within budget and on time. Two members of the school association board, Dr. Thomas Hufnagel and Jürgen Seitz were awarded the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for their services in connection with the new school building.
Check out the phases of the campus project here.
The school was able to finance the project without financial support from the German government. We were able to secure financing banks UOB and Deutsche Bank, made possible thanks to the following guarantors: Siemens Pte Ltd, Evonik Finance B.V., Pepperl+Fuchs Asia Pte GmbH, Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, TÜV SÜD Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Bayer (South East Asia) Pte Ltd and Lanxess Pte Ltd.
On 13 September 2018, we had an official opening ceremony, graced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan; Minister of State Andreas Michaelis; EU Ambassador to Singapore, Barbara Plinkert; the German Ambassador to Singapore, Dr. Ulrich Sante; and the President and CEO of Daimler SEA, Mr. Wolfgang Huppenbauer.
In 2019, GESS reached a record number of 1800 students for the first time. This year also saw the arrival of our new Principal, Mr. Christof Martin.
Global pandemic
Since March 2020, GESS, like every other school worldwide, has been impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many weeks, only online classes could be offered during a lockdown at GESS. No event was permitted during this time. Many families were not transferred to Singapore due to the pandemic or had difficulty entering the country. Other families decided to leave Singapore and return home.
In August 2021, Mr. Stefan Pauli came onboard as our Principal to lead us through the challenges of the pandemic. As regulations started relaxing from March 2022, we were able to ease on-campus measures and gradually allowed parents to visit. We were also finally able to resume events and activities that help bond the school community again.
With great support from corporate partners, the new BeyondClassrooms programme at GESS was launched. Through BeyondClassrooms, GESS networks with businesses and organisations to provide students with real-world experiences outside of the classroom, such as internships, lectures, plant visits, job application training and more.
After 50 years, GESS is still a non-profit school run by an elected school board of parent volunteers and a Principal seconded from Germany. The well-being and development of our student body is paramount at GESS, as we persevere in giving our students freedom to grow and reach their full potential. GESS is and will continue to be a home away from home for families coming to Singapore.
