Over the past few years, we have worked on creating a more cohesive middle management structure across the whole school and are now immensely proud to introduce to you our restructured Middle Management Team. This team is made up of dedicated leaders who are the driving force behind our school’s vision and success, channelling their passion, expertise, and unwavering commitment into every aspect of our school’s growth and development. They are leading by example in fostering an environment where every student can thrive.
The Middle Management Team is divided into three groups: Deputy Heads, Deputies of Curriculum and Whole School Heads. Introducing all members of the team in detail below…
Whole School Heads
Rebecca Scrivener – Head of Teaching and Learning
Rebecca has been at GESS for 18 years. Her new role is a whole school role covering all academic departments. Multi-faceted and involving projects that focus on student-centred learning and working very closing with faculty. She brings her abundant experience at GESS into her new role, with a solid understanding of who we are as a community.
The role closely supports our SIP, and is one that should have a valuable impact in all areas of the community. One particularly exciting aspect of the role is the development around data. Exploring how we use the academic data to tell us stories about individual students and groups of students, to allow us to make decisions informed by this data and support our holistic development as a school.
In her role, Rebecca envisions supporting PD initiatives for faculty, coordinating the CIS and IB accreditation process and supporting our community to explore its data questions and data stories.
Karsten Fink – Coordinator, Paedagogical Quality Management
Karsten joined GESS in summer 2022 and became the new Coordinator for Peadagogical Quality Management in summer 2023. As an IT representative and member of the steering group, he was already involved in school development processes at his previous school in Frankfurt. In his new role, he will work more “behind the scenes” than before. For the wider school community, the leadership and coordination of the steering group is probably the most important of his tasks. Beyond that, it’s about further education management, accreditations and communication.
The central idea behind the role of the PQM coordinator is to create conditions for developing teaching at GESS and a common idea of good teaching. Modern and sustainable teaching development creates the framework in which students can grow.
Working in his new role, he will be drawing on his belief that colleagues and students alike are ready and willing to do the best – not only for themselves but more importantly for the GESS as a community. His part will be to talk, coordinate, communicate – bringing the right people together at the right time to move forward together.
Shakila Omar – Head of Student Wellbeing
Shakila joined GESS almost 2 years ago. In her previous role at GESS as Designated Safeguarding Lead, she oversaw the strategic development of safeguarding systems in the school and took on the role of case manager for all child protection cases in the school. Her current role as Head of Student Wellbeing and Designated Safeguarding Lead oversees the strategic development of a holistic student wellbeing vision, culture and practice for GESS, which encompasses the pillars of Counselling, Safeguarding and Social Emotional Learning.
I hope to create positive impact and change in our community in terms of enhancing community learning, developing a strong culture of care and wellbeing, building intentional and impactful social-emotional support systems, and empowering the community to engage in these systems.
She works closely with her colleagues in the respective teams (Counselling, Safeguarding and Social Emotional Learning), other staff members and also families. Supporting the wellbeing and safety needs of students, she endeavours to engage in a holistic and collaborative approach when addressing student needs, and to optimise positive outcomes. Enhancing and developing student wellbeing initiatives such as Child Protection Curriculum and Social Emotional Learning Programmes would also equip our students with relevant knowledge and strategies that support their wellbeing.
Shakila shared with us that she finds balance within herself and in challenging situations to ensure that she is level-headed and be able to offer guidance to others during critical moments. For this she draws also on a trusted network of like-minded individuals within and around her department that she works collaboratively with and leans on for strength.
Liz Corbel – Head of Student Support & Wellbeing
This is Liz’ fifth year at GESS, having joined in 2019 as an Early Intervention Specialist. She is now the Head of Student Support and Wellbeing for our Preschool. In this role, she leads the Preschool Student Support and Wellbeing Team, and develops and implements an Early Childhood Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework which guides the Preschool, in a structured and holistic approach to children’s development and wellbeing. Working directly with children and in collaboration with educators and families, Liz ensures that the children have the relationships, environment and support they need to flourish and have a positive experience in the Preschool.
My biggest strength that supports my role at GESS is my ability to be a big picture thinker. Whether I am supporting an individual child, developing structures and processes or engaging in strategic planning; I thrive on taking a macro-level view that considers all variables and members of our community. This skill enables me conduct comprehensive assessments, plan implementation and to foresee the broader impact of action plans and decisions. I can then ensure that my approach effectively addresses identified challenges, aligns with the various needs of children, families and staff and contributes to our vision at GESS.
Liz is looking forward to continuing to strengthen her approach to holistic development and wellbeing. This includes continuing to develop her knowledge and skills in this area and share these with the Preschool community through ongoing professional development for our staff and family workshops on children’s social-emotional development.
Lisa More – Head of Student Support Services, European Section
Lisa has been at GESS for 17 years. During this time, her role has changed starting with learning support for Primary and Middle school. After the primary school moved over to the campus at Jalan Jurong Kechil, she worked as the Head of Learning support Primary School until she took on the role of Head of Student Support Services in 2021. The biggest change in Lisa’s role is that it now encompasses Grade 1-12 and also includes EAL.
I support all aspects of students learning and promote inclusive and differentiated practice for all students regardless of their barrier to learning. We support their strengths and support to improve areas of challenge.
Lisa is looking forward to promoting inclusive practice in a diverse community with empathy, kindness and understanding.
Oliver Günter – Head of Student Support Services, German Section
Oliver started his journey at GESS in August 2013 and has been appointed as the Head of Student Support Service Center (German Section) since August 2016. With patience and consistency, he has developed, implemented and refined a comprehensive learning support program for our German Section that is aligned with our European Section. Qualified learning support teacher, teaching assistants, interns and academic coaches are working closely together with teachers to support our students with individual learning challenges.
I would like to continue to promote the idea of equality as I strongly believe every individual should be given a chance to be successful, to be free from prejudice and discrimination.
Craig Barry – Head of Sports
Craig has just started his third academic year at GESS, in a role that is constantly growing as our student body and our sports offers grow.
I hope that my efforts offer students the platform to participate in sports at all levels. I want to create an environment where students of all proficiencies have the opportunity to participate in physical activity.
Craig shared how he was not associated to a school in his previous job, but worked in Academy development, and thus has a good view of how the school can offer more structured pathways to allow students to participate in Sports at a higher level. His goal is to offer sports not only to the student body, but the faculty and GESS community. This year he and his team will be working to structure and advertise the multiple sporting opportunities available to the GESS community.
Terry Moran – Head of Creative Arts
Terry joined GESS in January 2006, just six months after the inception of the European Section. In his new role as Head of Creative Arts, he has now shifted from guiding the Music department to supervising all Arts disciplines at GESS. He states that his emphasis now lies in cultivating diverse perspectives and student aspirations across visual arts, music, and drama. Terry is eager to foster creativity, empathy, and critical thinking, thereby contributing to both our students’ growth and the enrichment of the entire GESS community. The role of Head of Creative Arts directly contributes to students’ growth and engagement at GESS by orchestrating comprehensive music, visual arts, and drama programmes that encourage widespread student participation and skill development. This will provide our students the opportunity to explore their creativity in a supportive environment that enables them to hone their artistic prowess.
As part of my role, I am committed to actively engaging the GESS community in a vibrant celebration of our students’ creativity spanning the entire spectrum of Creative Arts. This involves nurturing a shared appreciation and enthusiasm that resonates with every member of our school community. Ultimately, it’s about fostering an environment that ‘crafts dreams, inspires imagination’.
Terry describes the strength that is most important in his role as being a supportive leader. He is dedicated to fostering an environment where his team feels empowered and valued, which in turn allows them to collectively introduce innovative concepts, advance professionally, and ultimately enhance student learning and achievement within GESS’s Creative Arts Department.
David Veinot – Head of Libraries
David has been at GESS since 2019 and during this time, fundamentally, his role has not changed. He is responsible for the management & development of the GESS library programme in Preschool, German and European sections. As Head of Libraries, his top priority is to ensure a safe and welcoming learning environment in all three library spaces. In collaboration with academic departments, he makes sure our students receive their subject textbooks and assigned texts. Finally, he coordinates the development of engaging fiction & nonfiction book collections in all three libraries.
Besides my dedicated library team, my biggest strength is wanting to understand how things work at GESS. Not only policies and procedures, but spheres of influence and indirect channels that every human organization has. I try to build better relationships with students and teachers every day – but also do the same with our Facilities, Finance, HR and IT departments, who also make it happen.
For students, teachers, parents and staff in the GESS community, David envisions to provide equal access to a range of resources in many languages and formats; provide safe, comfortable spaces to read to children, draw, study or play chess with a friend; celebrate reading for pleasure; and integrate up-to-date resources with a research skill curriculum to support what goes on in the classroom.
Deputy Heads
Daniela Albani – Deputy of Preschool
Daniela has been at GESS since 2011. Her role has changed frequently over the last 11 years. She worked as Teaching Assistant, German Language Teacher and after that the Language Coordinator of the Preschool. As part of her new role, she supports Emma Horsey, the Director of the Preschool with recruitment, staffing, operations, scheduling and events. Together with Emma, she engages in strategic planning to continuously enhance teaching and learning. Daniela values effective partnerships with families. Having lived in an international setting as a “third culture kid” herself, she relates both to our students and their parents and can therefore support their needs with experience, empathy and respect.
I advocate a child-centred approach in education which places the emphasis on building strong relationships to learn about the needs and interests of the child. I believe in whole-child education which reflects the children’s interests, and respects their languages and cultural backgrounds. Learning should be an authentic, social experience filled with engagement, curiosity and enthusiasm.
Being a strong team player and liaising naturally with stakeholders in the school, Daniela is fully committed to being a valuable partner to the GESS community supporting the school’s values as well as the child safety and student wellbeing philosophy. She shared that modelling trust towards colleagues, parents and students and facilitating communication about everyday challenges are part of her responsibility as Deputy Director of the Preschool.
Oliver Günter – Deputy of Primary School (German Section)
Oliver started his journey at GESS in August 2013 and has been the Deputy Director of Primary School (German Section) since August 2014. With patience and consistency, he has implemented cooperative learning strategies that encourage student interest and responsibility toward learning and towards others. He is also responsible for the support of those students with learning difficulties.
I would like to continue providing support to our students, to help them reach their full potential.
Ian Hallo – Deputy of Primary School (European Section)
In his 13th year working at GESS, Ian has moved out of an upper primary homeroom position and into his new role as the Deputy Director of Primary, focusing on pastoral care. Ian’s new role is quite varied. No longer merely spending his day with his class of 24 students, he now gets to also work with and support over 400 students. He enjoys not only supporting the students but also teaching staff, and hopes to play an active part in strengthening the positive relationship between the school, our students and parents.
In my new role, my goal is to help the students and teaching staff feel safe and supported within the school environment. And to support them to become respectful, independent lifelong learners, as well as kind and caring members of society.
Sandra Fenzl – Deputy of Middle School (German Section)
Sandra worked at GESS between 2007-2013 and then returned to GESS in 2017. She took on the role of Deputy of Middle School for the German Section alongside Martin Schmitt in 2020. While mainly responsible for organisational and pedagogical aspects for grades 6 and 7 over the past two years, Sandra now focuses on student well-being and pastoral care for grades 6-9.
My experiences have taught me how important listening, empathy and compassion are. Information is now widely available everywhere, but, maybe more than ever, it is the interaction with fellow human beings that still matter a lot. I very much hope I can make a difference at GESS by listening, sharing experiences and being compassionate and empathetic whenever it is needed and warranted.
Despite being part of the leadership team in German Section Secondary, Sandra spends a lot of her time with and among students. Observing and listening very carefully, she brings feedback from our students to our directors and the leadership team. It is important to Sandra that our students´ voices are included in the school’s decisions. She gladly makes herself available for questions and discussions with our GESS community whenever the need arises. A strong believer in our school values, Sandra strives to ensure that they are not just words on school banners but come to life on our beautiful campus.
Siobhan O’Connor – Deputy of Middle School (European Section)
Siobhan has been at GESS since 2019 and took over her new role as Deputy Director of Middle School in April 2022. This role involves having overview of the middle school’s administration, management, and coordination across various departments, programmes, and initiatives. Working alongside Sarah Thomas, Director of Middle School, she plays a pivotal role in establishing strategic objectives and ensuring seamless operations of the middle school. This includes involvement in strategic planning, policy development, and key decision-making processes at middle school level. Her position further requires her to provide leadership in initiatives related to professional development, mentorship of teachers, and contributing to the development of the educational vision that guides the middle school’s mission and goals.
In essence, my role as Deputy Director of Middle School is centred on cultivating an environment where students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Siobhan describes some of her key responsibilities below:
· Cultivating a positive and inclusive school environment that ensures students feel safe, valued, and supported.
· Providing vital support to teachers, enabling them to excel in their educational roles.
· Swiftly and equitably addressing disciplinary and behavioural issues, thereby nurturing a conducive learning atmosphere.
· Actively participating in professional development opportunities to bring valuable insights and innovations back to our school community.
· Facilitating effective communication and fostering engagement between the school community and the school.
Felix Rieckmann – Deputy of High School (German Section)
Felix has been at GESS for almost 10 years and in his new role he is looking forward to providing support for colleagues primarily teaching German Section Grade 10 to 12, as well as co-designing a new curriculum for TUT lessons, working more closely with heads of subjects, and more. He describes his biggest strength as ‘cheerful patience’ which he shared makes him more effective in his work.
One of my favourite things so far is that I still get to be part in a Student Wellbeing group, but one that is more directly tied in with school leadership. I hope that we can work closely with the Student Council and manage students’ concerns in an even more timely and effective manner, going forward.
Felix believes that with our focus on developing into a more holistic school, our other big aim – to grow our community across sections and become even more closely knitted as one GESS each year – needs advocating as well. He shared that he is looking forward to working closely with his colleagues Claudia Dicken and Phil Knight in the European Section as well as Markus Meyer in the German Section to strengthen cross-sectional programmes, as well as come up with new ideas.
Phil Knight – Deputy of High School and Deputy of High School Curriculum (European Section)
This is Phil’s fourth year at GESS. His roles involve a lot of communication with parents as he is a big part of the team that helps students transition to the next stage of their education. Along with his line manager Claudia Dicken, he is also responsible for maintaining academic standards in our IBDP curriculum. This involves a lot of thought and understanding of all the different subject areas.
I hope the students value my open door policy and understand that I am one of their advocates at GESS, and that I am always advising them with their best interests in mind. I know many of our students from the English classroom, so I hope they value having a teacher they respect and trust to help them navigate a crucial time in their lives.
He uses his strength of listening and understanding different points of view to reach his goal of continuing the improvements we have made over the last few years to make GESS a school with modern and effective pedagogical approaches.
Deputies of Curriculum
Andrew Pearce – Deputy of Curriculum (Preschool)
In his fourth year at GESS, Andrew will continue to contribute to the Preschool leadership team in his re-designated role, while also being more involved in the implementation of our strategic implementation plan over the next few years. He is particularly looking for ways to strengthen teaching and learning, whether through resources, training, or whole-school initiatives like Visible Learning. Andrew works closely with the teaching teams to guide their planning and teaching, with the goal of ensuring that children across our Preschool have access to a diverse range of learning opportunities. This involves organising professional development opportunities, both internally and externally, so that our Preschool teachers can continue to upskill and be up to date with the latest research and understanding of early childhood education.
I work alongside our leadership team, to regularly evaluate and reflect on the quality of teaching and learning across the Preschool. We work together to ensure that each Preschool student has a joyful, fulfilling experience, and my role involves ensuring that our curriculum, learning spaces, and approaches to teaching and learning support this goal. I also work one-on-one to support individual students, and occasionally larger groups – something I miss from my time as a classroom teacher!
Andrew will use his biggest strength – a positive, relentlessly optimistic attitude – to advocate for our youngest learners, and to continue supporting our Preschool community, showcasing the wonderful teaching and learning that happens there. He is also planning to run a PYP curriculum workshop for parents later this year, so keep your eyes peeled for more information about that!
Max Matthias- Deputy of Curriculum (Primary School, German Section)
Max joined GESS in 2016 and took on the role of Deputy of Curriculum in 2022. This role allows him to work together with all grade level teams and year groups. He likes to see how the students gradually develop their competences as well as how teachers use their skills and various methods to maximise student learning.
In my role, I´m working on implementing the ideas of Global Citizenship. Taking a more thinking globally approach in science and social studies will allow our students to broaden their views on the world and stay open-minded. By taking advantage of our BeyondClassrooms opportunities, students will have chance to experience and engage in real life situations, and explore the opportunities as well as challenges of today´s and tomorrow´s world.
Max uses his strengths of setting priorities and keeping a general overview to contribute to the constructive and efficient team work at GESS. One of his key priorities is to have good relationships with the people he works with, fostering a trusting, understanding and joyful work environment.
Theo Mandziy – Deputy of Curriculum (Primary School, European Section)
Theo joined GESS this academic year as the Deputy of Curriculum, looking after the PYP Curriculum in the European Section. His role will directly benefit and support the students at GESS as he applies his curriculum knowledge and experience to tailor and refine the content, sequence and delivery of curriculum for our Primary School students in European Section. There will also be a focus on Transdisciplinary Learning, whereby student engagements with their learning will be sequenced, to allow for more authentic connections across traditional Single Subject boundaries.
My Curriculum Framework experience and experimentation in my field have allowed me to adapt and adopt curriculum framework designs specific to individual school settings. This equips me with the necessary skills and insights to apply my knowledge and practices to our specific curriculum and learning practice needs here at GESS.
Theo will work with leadership, homeroom teachers and specialist teachers to refine our curriculum frameworks and transdisciplinary approaches to teaching curriculum, by enhancing collaborative teacher practices and understanding in the planning and delivery of our PYP programme.
Dr. Markus Meyer – Deputy of Curriculum (Middle School and High School, German Section)
Markus has been at GESS for 5 years. In his new role he will spend more hours at his office desk and less hours with students in class. Nonetheless, communication will still play a big part in his work, be it in his interaction with students, colleagues or parents. His strengths of listening carefully, being open minded and curious and acting prudently will help him in his new tasks.
Helping to continuously improve learning and teaching at GESS as Deputy of Curriculum, Middle School and High School, students will benefit not only in classrooms but also beyond classrooms. And vice versa, listening to students in conversations during the day and taking students’ voices into consideration supports students to reflect learning and teaching at GESS.
Rebecca Scrivener – Deputy of Curriculum (Middle School + Grade 9 & 10, European Section)
Rebecca has been at GESS for 18 years. Her role continues to encompass responsibilities of an IB MYP Coordinator, but envisions to steward IB MYP through the next evaluation process in the next two years.
My role includes responsibility for the written, taught and assessed curriculum, overseeing the big picture and supporting the amazing work of our GESS educators.
Rebecca is responsible for overseeing the big picture in terms of curriculum development, and the sustainability of how the curriculum is documented and improved. Drawing from over two decades’ experience with the IB MYP and having been a programme coordinator for many years will help her with these tasks. She also runs workshops for other MYP coordinators and teachers, and being a part of IB school accreditation and evaluation visiting teams provides her with good insights into fostering a successful and effective curriculum within the MYP framework.
We thank our whole academic Middle Management Team for their continued dedication and commitment to creating a rich and wonderful learning environment for our students!
