German Swiss International School

For the school in Ghana, see German Swiss International School (Ghana).

German Swiss International School Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule
Location
Secondary: 11 Guildford Road, The Peak Kindergarten/Lower Primary: 162 Pok Fu Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam Upper Primary: 30 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai Business College: 1/F Kaiser Commercial Centre, 18 Centre Street, Sai Ying Pun
Information
Type	Private, international, kindergarten, primary, secondary, vocational, co-educational.
Established	1969
Principal	Annette Brandt-Dammann
Enrollment	approx. 1250
Years	Kindergarten, Klasse 1–12, Years 1–13, Wirtschaftskolleg
Website	http://mygsis.gsis.edu.hk/

German Swiss International School
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	德國瑞士國際學校
Simplified Chinese	德国瑞士国际学校
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Déguó Ruìshì Guójì Xuéxiào Yue: Cantonese Jyutping dak1 gwok3 seoi6 si6 gwok3 zai3 hok6 haau6 Yale Romanization Dākgwok Seuihsih Gwokjai Hohkhaauh
German name
German	Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule

The German Swiss International School (GSIS) is an international school in Hong Kong established in 1969 by German and Swiss families looking for a bilingual German-English education in an international setting. Beginning with 73 students in its inaugural year, GSIS now has approximately 1,250 students from over 30 countries.

History

The school was established in 1969 by German and Swiss parents.

Curriculum

GSIS enrolls students from kindergarten to secondary in two parallel streams known as the English Stream and the German Stream. It also has a Business College (German Wirtschaftskolleg), which offers Wholesale & Foreign Trade and Transport & Logistics Management training programmes.

English stream

Primary department

The official Primary curriculum of the English Stream offers English/Language, Mathematics( covering geography), General Studies (covering history), Library, Learning Technology, which is known as ICT to students, Music, Physical Education, Science and Religious Studies, although GSIS has no established religion requirement. The German language is taught from Year 2 and remains compulsory until after Year 11. Chinese (Mandarin) is introduced in Year 4 and Science is introduced in Year 5.

Secondary department

The English Stream currently follows the British education system, completing GCSE and I/GCSE examinations at the end of Year 11. Exams will be taken at the end of Year 11. The examining boards are Cambridge and Edexcel, depending on what subject is being taken.

At GCSE/IGCSE level, compulsory subjects include English Language, English Literature, German and Mathematics. Students also choose electives from the following subject pools:

• Languages (French and Mandarin)
• Humanities (Economics, History and Geography)
• Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science)
• Arts (Art, Music, Drama)

The English Stream adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma programme for Year 12 and 13 in 2013, replacing the GCE A-level programme. Many students also take the SAT I/II or the Sprachdiplom for applications to universities in the United States or Germany respectively.

The same subjects above were available at AS-Level and A-Level, with the exception of English Language and Music, which are only offered at AS-Level. There were no compulsory AS- or A-Level subjects, only that a minimum of three A-Levels were taken.

German stream

In line with most German states, the German Secondary Department offers an eight-year Gymnasium course. The curriculum is based on the core curriculum of German schools in Southeast and East Asia, which in turn is based on the curricula of the state of Thuringia.

The school offers English, French, Latin and Mandarin programmes. GSIS is one of the first German Schools Abroad to offer the bilingual German International Abitur Examination (DIAP). As much as 50 percent of the Abitur exams can be taken in English. In order to prepare students for these exams, Geography is taught bilingually from K07 to K09 and in English from K10; history is taught bilingually in all years from K08.

Facilities

Campuses

In 1969, GSIS first opened to 73 students in a house at 1 Barker Road, The Peak. In view of growing student numbers, the school relocated some or all of its classes multiple times until 1975 when the school was able to open its first school building on Guildford Road. Today the Peak campus comprises three buildings, including the Upper Building, Middle Building and Lower Building. The cafeteria is operated by Compass, the catering company contracted by GSIS.

In 2007, the Hong Kong Government awarded GSIS a second campus at 162 Pok Fu Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam, which in 2010 became the new permanent home for the Kindergarten and a temporary home for the Lower Primary: Y01-Y02 in the English stream, and Deutsche Vorschule (German Preschool) to K01 in the German stream. In 2012, the school moved its Upper Primary (Y03-Y06 / K02-K04) classes to a decanting site in Wan Chai on 30 Oi Kwan Road while construction works are being carried out at the Peak Campus. The site was originally in Ma On Shan, until opposition came from parents.

The Business College is located in Sai Ying Pun.

Wan Chai Campus

Wan Chai Campus is a temporary campus for children in the upper primary (Y03–Y06 and K02–K04) while the main campus up the peak is under renovation. This campus was originally owned by the Wan Chai Kai Fong Welfare Association until its sale in 2011. GSIS will return to this campus by mid-2016. This campus is three floors in height with a rooftop playground. The campus has a library, a science laboratory, two music rooms, an art room, a computer room, a ballet room (dance room), a basketball court, an indoor sports hall, and classrooms.

Buildings in the Peak Campus

The school consists of 3 buildings: the Upper Building, the Middle Building and the Lower Building. The Lower Building is new and the Upper Building is currently under renovation.

Upper Building

The Upper Building houses most of the German Secondary Department (GSD) and the senior years of the English Secondary Department (ESD). The building is three levels high and consists of a basketball court, known as the Courtyard, in the center of the building. The Old Gym is now used as an examination hall. Students and staff are also free to go to the Wellcome supermarket, located right across the road at 2-4 Watford Road, during breaks, free lessons and lunchtime.

Watford Road Wellcome Supermarket

Middle Building

The Middle Building houses ESD and GSD subject cluster classrooms, the library, Three Mackerels Cafeteria as well as the black box drama theatre. This building also includes the Ingrid Buchholtz Hall, known commonly as the IB Hall, which is the main multi-purpose hall/theatre in the school. The building used to house the school's outdoor swimming pool, which sat at the very top of the building. It went under renovation as part of Phase III of the Campus Development Plan from June 2012 to August 2014. In November 2014, when the building's renovations were complete, an opening ceremony was held in the newly refurbished IB Hall.

The Middle Building as seen from the Upper Building (old)

Lower Building

The Lower Building is situated at the lower end of Guildford Road. It used to house the Primary sections of both streams. As for the meantime, the Primary students have been relocated to the Wan Chai Campus while renovations are still ongoing. This was done in order to minimize the dangers and distractions of a construction site. Most of the building, from the basement to the fourth floor, is currently closed due to ongoing renovation, a part of Phase IV of the Campus Development Plan. Level 4 of the building, which used to be a playground, was converted to temporary classrooms when the Middle Building was closed down. The Lower Building also houses a sports hall and a new year-round heated swimming pool that replaced the one in the Middle Building.

The Middle and Lower Building (old)

Campus Development Plan

In 2008, the Boards of GSIS developed a Campus Development Plan aimed at making better use of the space available for the current number of students and facilitate future curricular requirements. The Upper Building is intended to house the Primary Departments, while the Lower and Middle Buildings will house the Secondary Departments. The plan consists of five phases, as follows:

• Phase I (completed in 2008): Art Studios on a newly built sixth floor of the Middle Building
• Phase II (completed in 2010): refurbishment of the Pok Fu Lam campus; relocation and enlargement of the senior library at the Peak campus (an intermediate step towards library plans in Phase III); an additional science room; and refurbishment of the cafeteria.
• Phase III (completed in 2014): renovation and refurbishment of the Middle Building; the addition of a new gymnasium, cafeteria, black-box theatre, music classrooms, IT facilities, classrooms and senior library, as well as the relocation and conversion of the swimming pool for year-round use
• Phase IV (completed in 2015): Lower Building
• Phase V (scheduled for completion by 2016): Upper Building

In order to minimize disturbance to classes over Phases III to V, GSIS secured a private campus in Wan Chai which will temporarily house both streams of the Upper Primary (K02-K04 in the German stream and Y03-Y06 in the English stream) from 2012 for a period of up to four years. Furthermore, construction work usually begins after 1:15 pm, before most of the younger students in secondary finish class. Once all renovation works at The Peak are complete (expected in 2016), the entire Primary section of both streams will return to occupy the Upper Building.

School Buses

Similar to other international schools in Hong Kong, GSIS has outsourced its transportation services to reputable bus companies who specialize in providing student bus services. The companies that provide bus services to GSIS are Kwoon Chung Motors Co. Ltd, Kingsview Bus Service Company, and Mr Lau Hon Por. The seating capacity offered on the various routes is sufficient for students holding multi-trip passes.

School Shop

The GSIS school shop provides stationery and (optional) physical education uniform for purchase. The shop is run by members of the Mother's Committee, any member of the committee can volunteer to help out at the store.

Dress code and school rules

Like most schools in Germany, GSIS students are not required to wear uniforms. However, for students in Year 9 or below (equivalent to K08), they must wear the school PE kit during PE lessons. For students in Year 10 and above (equivalent to K09), the rule is that students can wear anything that is suitable for PE lessons; however, it is still suggested and enforced that students wear the School PE kit.

Student body

As of 2016, about 1,300 students from 30 countries attended the school. Of students who were not German, Austrian, nor Swiss, most of them were from Hong Kong families. Others were children of mixed marriages, mainly with German, Swiss, or Austrian fathers and spouses who held passports of other countries.

Criticism

In December 2013, the South China Morning Post reported that GSIS was overcharging kindergarten application fees by at least 100 times (without a permit from the government to charge the price). While the limit imposed by the government was HK$30, GSIS was charging HK$3,700.

Notable alumni

• Stephen Fung, Actor, Singer, Model, Writer and Film Director
• Kat Alano, Filipino Actress
• Alfred Hui, Singer
• Chai Yan Leung, daughter of Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung

External links

• School website
• Index of articles at the South China Morning Post