Informations needed over primary school / Help urgently needed

[moosi]

I urgently need your help and information! We have to decide if we are going to move to Singapore. We have a twin at the age of 6 years and they just startet going to primary school in Germany a few weeks ago. At the moment I am trying to get as much informations as possible about living in Singapore. Please feel free to give me lots of them!!!!!!
One big question is about schools. I can get informations via the homepages - but informations from parents is much better I guess.
The kids do not speak English at all - they speak German and Dutch (we lived in Belgium and came back to Germany just two months ago). Where do you send your kids to - maybe there are some German people in the Forum to tell me what they have chosen for their kids.....
Will kids be integrated soon? Will they cope with the language and the manner of life soon? Which schools provide sort of "cosyness" for the kids that they do not feel lost? Which school really cares for the little ones? And what happens if there will appear problems like dislexia or something like that (at the moment everything is fine, but you never know. And I would like to know which support will be given by school if there will be problems). Well - thousands of questions. Maybe there are people who could help me and give me informations. Thanks a lot for this!!!!!

[happi]

You might wish to check the German European school and the Swiss School, both of which run classes in German. The kids do settled quite quickly once they are in school. The teachers are used to having new students all the time and know how to help them integrate. Good luck!

[some advice]

Obvious choice would be the German European school but if you want them to learn English then Canadian school. ISS and Overseas Family School all run good ESL programmes for non English speakers.

[moosi]

Could you please explain what an ESL program is? Thanks!

[expat parent]

ESL = English as a Second Language

[moosi]

Thanks 

[Elske]

Hi Moosi,

I work at the German European School Singapore (GESS) and might be able to give you some helpful information.

First of all, GESS has two sections: a German Section where the language of instruction is German and a European Section where all subjects are taught in English by English native speakers (IB curriculum). At the German Section, English is taught at different levels, ranging from beginners to (near) native.

Based on European standards, with 1400 students (aprox. 600 at the Primary School campus) GESS is not a small school. The school has however a strong community feeling and is being described as a home away from home by a lot of our families.

The teachers at GESS understand that every child has different needs and they focus on the potential of every individual student. They will do everything they can to make new students feel at home. Besides that every new student at GESS gets a buddie to show him / her around.

Hope this helps! If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me or one of my colleagues. You can find our contact details at gess.sg.

Regards, Elske