SINGAPORE, March 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — GESS, a not-for-profit international school in Singapore, commemorated its 50th year anniversary by planting 50 trees in its neighbourhood at Hillview.
The tree planting event took place on 27 March 2022. It was carried out in support of the National Parks Board’s OneMillionTrees Movement, through the Plant-A-Tree Programme by its registered charity and IPC, Garden City Fund.
During the event, which was graced by Mr. Liang Eng Hwa – Member of Parliament for Bukit Panjang Constituency and Chairman of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council – current students from the school, long-time staff, Board of Governors and alumni came together to plant 50 individual tree saplings.
The school has also started an internal campaign to raise awareness of the OneMillionTrees Movement – a movement which aims to plant one million more trees across Singapore together with the community by 2030. The hope is to encourage the parents and staff of the school to contribute to the movement in their own capacity.
A Commitment to the Local Community
When the school moved to its new purpose-built campus at 2 Dairy Farm Lane in 2018, it made a pledge to contribute to the local community and the neighbouring area. In the past 3 years, the school has made its state-of-the-art facilities available for community activities, organised exchange programmes with the local schools in the area and supported neighbourhood programmes such as the Share-an-Umbrella project. This tree-planting initiative falls in line with this continued commitment to giving back to the community and the school’s ethos of caring for the environment.
“At our school, a lot of our education philosophy focuses on teaching our students to use their education to contribute to society and we also want to honour that with how we celebrate our 50th birthday,” said Stefan Pauli, Principal, GESS. “We want our students to see that we are very fortunate to have a campus in the vicinity of the Dairy Farm Nature Park and we have a duty to the neighbourhood we are a part of.”
50 Years of Calling Singapore Home
As one of the long-established international schools in Singapore, GESS has called the city-state home from its very beginning. It was incepted in 1972 by a group of European expat parents who were working and living in Singapore. The school has since experienced tremendous growth going from a student count of 6 to 1,800 and 65 nationalities in 50 years. While enabling students to embrace their home culture, the school also places emphasis on helping these students from all around the world connect with the Singaporean society.
“Singapore is a country filled with unique opportunities and at GESS, we actively encourage our students to embrace these opportunities and forge closer connections with the country. This tree planting activity, as part of our school’s 50th anniversary celebrations, is one such opportunity, that provides our students and the community, with a lasting-reminder of GESS’ connection with Singapore,” said the President of the Board of Governors, Rachel Ward.
About GESS
German European School Singapore (GESS) is an international school that believes in giving every child the freedom to grow by offering opportunities for various talents and interests. The school caters to students from 2 years to 18 years and offers the full International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum in English and the German curriculum along with the option to study over 10 mother tongue languages. It also offers the unique Junior Engineer Academy and the BeyondClassrooms Programme, in partnership with industrial and corporate partners, to offer students more STEAM related learning opportunities.
Media Contact
Kirsten Moench
kirsten.moench@gess.sg
+65-4610852
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