Admissions Information (Bus, Uniform, and more)

Finding a school, as well as moving country, is a stressful time for families. The GESS Admissions Department’s mission is to make enrolment into our school as efficient, clear and consistent as possible, prioritising the new family’s needs whilst maintaining an academic balance.

GESS strongly recommends parents or guardians to read through the Admissions Policy before submitting an application. The Admissions Policy sets out your responsibilities, requirements and regulations of the admissions process as well as the school's commitment to the admissions process.

If you have any questions regarding the Admissions Policy or Procedures, please contact the GESS Admissions Department.

Tuition fees

1. Tuition fees, Development Levy and material and excursion fees will be invoiced twice yearly. Any other charges (special support program, examinations fees, etc.) will be invoiced as and when they occur.
2. Invoices are due for payment within 30 days from the invoice date, except for the first invoice for new students which is due within 14 days of the date of invoice. School fees are required to be paid on, or before, the due date. Payment methods include: bank transfer, credit card, cheque or GIRO monthly payments. For further information, please view the payment methods page.
3. GIRO monthly payment option is available over five monthly deductions per semester. 

Application fee

1. An application fee payment is required upon submission of the application form. The application fee is non-refundable under any circumstance. An invoice for the application fee will not be issued in advance however, a receipt under the parent(s)’s name(s) will be provided.

Enrolment fee

1. The enrolment fee is required to be paid within 14 days of the first invoice sending date to confirm the space in the grade.

First invoice

1. The first invoice which includes enrolment fee, tuition fees, development levy and materials fees, is required to be paid within 14 days of the invoice date.

2. Where payment of the first invoice is not made within 14 days of the invoice, the place may be forfeited and offered to the next student on the waiting list.

Refund of first invoice fees for new students

When a family informs the School of the cancellation of enrolment, the following refund schedule will be implemented:

+90 days before the first date of school: 50% refund of enrolment, tuition and development levy fees paid

89 – 0 days before the first date of school: 0% refund of enrolment, tuition and development levy fees paid

1. Where a new student has not obtained the required immigration pass to start school and where the School is not responsible for the immigration pass delay, no refund of fees will be provided.

2. Deferment of the student’s start date due to a delay in moving to Singapore follows the refund schedule as defined in the above table.

3. Enrolment fee payment is valid for a maximum of 3 years from the enrolment fee payment received date.

4. Applications may be deferred up to a maximum of 3 years from the enrolment fee payment received date. After this date, a new enrolment fee payment will be required.

Returning students

Students who leave GESS and return within 3 years from the leaving date are not required to pay the enrolment fee payment again unless the fee was not previously paid. Students returning to GESS after 3 years from the last day at school, known as the leaving date are required to pay the entrance fee payment.

Development Levy

The Development Levy is payable in respect of every student. The Development Levy is payable in two equal instalments and invoiced together with tuition fees. For the third child onwards and from the second year onwards, there is a 50% discount on the published Development Levy rate for all students.

Enrolment during a school year

If and when a student enrols during the school year, a proportional tuition fee shall be payable, calculated as per the table below:

Share of the annual tuition fee payable:
August / September 100%

October 85%

November / December 75%

January 60%

February / March 50%

April 35%

May / June 25%

Payment and delay thereof

1. Tuition fees for enrolled students are payable for a whole semester in advance. Fees are not refundable in whole or in part. An enrolled student is defined as a student who has already attended school.

2. Payment of invoices for tuition fees and extras (such as learning resources, school excursions/class trips) shall be due within 30 days from the date of invoice, with the exception of new students, where the first invoice must be paid within 14 days from the date of the invoice.

3. The Principal reserves the right to refuse access to school facilities and lessons to students, whose invoices have not been fully settled. GESS further reserves the right to withhold any school reports or related documents in such cases.

4. Failure to pay the invoices on the due date may result in termination of the student contract.

5. GESS reserves the right to impose compound interest charges on overdue invoices at the rate of 8% per annum.

6. GIRO payments are deducted by the 15th of each month. If a GIRO payment cannot be processed or is rejected due to insufficient funds, a $50 admin surcharge will be charged. The failed instalment will need to be paid via cash or cheque within seven days from the notice. Failure to settle the amount within seven days may be treated as non-payment of fees, and the student contract will be terminated.

7. Responsibility for payment of invoices: settlement of fees is the joint and several responsibilities of the signatory of the student contract.

8. An agreement with a third party to pay the fees or any other sum due to the school does not release parents from any liability under these terms and conditions.

9. Any costs/expenses/charges incurred with the enforcement of this Payment Terms and Conditions, including legal costs, shall be borne by the parents on a full indemnity basis.

10. Notice of withdrawal from GESS must be submitted to the school via the official withdrawal form in Parent Portal (NOTWORKING), not later than 15th October for semester 1 or leaving part-way through semester 2 and 31st March for the following semester (semester 1 of the next academic year). Failure to give adequate notice will result in the fees for the following semester falling due.

11. All termination form submissions are considered final. There is no provision for pending or unconfirmed termination requests. Any mention of a pending or unconfirmed termination/withdrawal request in the termination form will be ignored. A student’s place in the grade will be released immediately upon reception of the termination form.

12. Any request received outside of the withdrawal period defined in point 10, will incur the following semester’s fees at the invoiced rate. Non-payment of the penalty fees will result in legal action being taken to recover all fees. No school reports or recommendations / references or certificates will be provided in case of non-payment.

13. For students leaving for part of a semester, for example a student exchange or extended family holiday, there is no need to submit the withdrawal form. The parents must complete the Application for Leave form in Parent Portal.(NOTWORKING)

Refund Policy

1. Termination according to Section 4.2 of the School By-law, shall take effect at the end of the school semester (January, July). All tuition and other fees shall be payable in full until the end of the school semester; there shall not be any proportionate refund.

2. For termination during the cooling off period as per No. 2.3 of the student contract, all fees paid in advance will be refunded in full, excluding the non-refundable application fee as per the school’s terms and conditions.

3. Refund of first invoice fees paid due to cancellation of enrolment after a student has been admitted will follow the refund schedule listed in the Refund of first invoice fees for new students section above.

The Private Education Act (PEA), a statutory board that regulates the private education sector in Singapore, requires that we collect a completed and signed Advisory Note for every student enrolling at German European School Singapore.

FORM 12 PRIVATE EDUCATION ACT

(No. 21 of 2009)

This note is for a prospective student

You are strongly encouraged to thoroughly research on the private education institution (PEI) conducting the course before signing up for any course. You should consider, for example, the reputation of the PEI, the teacher-student ratio of its classes, the qualifications of the teaching staff, and the course materials provided by the PEI. By signing and returning the Student Contract (the “Contract”), you agree to the terms and conditions which will bind you and the PEI, if you accept the PEI’s offer of a place in a course of study offered or provided by the PEI. You should ask the PEI to allow you to read a copy of the Contract (with all blanks filled in and options selected) in both English and the official language of the PEI’s policies, and check carefully that you agree to all the terms of the Contract, including the details relating to each of the following sections, before signing the Contract:

a. The duration of the course, including holidays and examination schedules, and contact hours by day and week;
b. The total fees payable, including course fees and other related costs;
c. Dates when respective payments are due;
d. The refund policy in the event of voluntary withdrawal (by you) or enforced dismissal from the course of programme (by PEI);
e. The Fee Protection Scheme you are subscribed to and its coverage;
f. The dispute resolution methods available;
g. Information about the PEI’s policies on academic and disciplinary matters;
h. The degree or diploma or qualification which will be awarded to you upon successful completion of the course.
 

If you have any doubt about the contents of the Contract, or if the terms are different from what the agent or PEI has informed you previously, or advertised, you should always seek advice and/or clarifications before signing the Contract.

We have a continuous enrolment policy, which means your child can join on any Friday during the school year. For Grade 11 and 12, your child must join within the first two weeks of the school year.

Your child can join the English International Baccalaureate (IB) Curriculum stream of the school where German is the official second language and is taught at different levels from beginner to mother tongue.

We do have waiting lists in some grades. If a grade is full, please submit an application to reserve your child's space in the waiting list and we will inform you as soon as a space becomes available. When a space becomes available, you will need to complete payment within 3 days of the space being offered.

In the International Baccalaureate (IB) stream, German is the second language students study from Grade 1 to 10. The only exception is in Primary School, Grade 1 to 5, whereby students in the Danish or Dutch Mother Tongue programme study their mother tongue instead of German.

Please click on the learning page according to your child’s curriculum choice and age for an overview of the language programmes at GESS.

As long as all the required documents and forms are submitted, it should take 7 days to complete the admissions process. In some cases, additional letters or testing may be required.

Where one parent is Singaporean or your child is a Singaporean dual-nationality passport holder and applying for Grade 1 and above, approval to study at GESS must be given by the Ministry of Education. You will need to submit additional documentation and your GESS Admissions Officer will help you with this.

Yes, our school can issue a Student's Pass.

We do not have boarding facilities at the campus.

At present we do not offer scholarships. School fees for students in the German Curriculum stream are subsidised by the German government. A third sibling discount of 50% of the Development Levy is available.