The German Swiss International School (GSIS; German: Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule; Chinese: 德國瑞士國際學校 / 德瑞國際學校) 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^[1] from over 30 countries.

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Quick Facts German Swiss International School Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule德國瑞士國際學校, Location ...

German Swiss International School Deutsch-Schweizerische Internationale Schule 德國瑞士國際學校
Location
Primary/Secondary: 11 Guildford Road, The Peak Kindergarten/Lower Primary: 162 Pok Fu Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam Business College: 162 Pok Fu Lam Road, Pok Fu Lam
Information
Type	Private, International, Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary, Vocational, Co-Educational.
Established	1969
Principal	Grit Cichon (Acting Principal)
Enrollment	approx. 1300[1]
Years	Kindergarten, Klasse 1–12, Years 1–13, Wirtschaftskolleg
Website	mygsis.gsis.edu.hk
Peak Campus

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The school was established in 1969 by German and Swiss parents^[2] led by Ingrid Buchholtz, with its first campus located at 1 Barker Road. This had followed two unsuccessful attempts at creating a German–Swiss school in 1967 and 1968.^{[citation needed]} The German expatriate community in Hong Kong desired a German medium school but felt that alone it would not be able to support such an endeavour.^[3] A group in the Swiss community wishing to establish a German-medium school determined in 1964 that it alone could not sustain such a school. Impetus to create a German-language school snowballed in 1966 when a German community suggested collaborating with the Swiss. The 1967 Hong Kong riots interrupted the plans, which continued in 1968. To establish the school, $117,000 Hong Kong dollars were contributed by 25 companies from West Germany, while $78,000 Hong Kong dollars were contributed by 18 companies from Switzerland.^[4] The concept of a bilingual German–English curriculum was present from the start.^[3]

The kindergarten was located at Union Church on Kennedy Road, due to the long waiting list.^{[citation needed]} The original school was on Barker Road; it was not owned by GSIS, and so the school rented the property.^[5] Its initial enrolment was 73, with German and Swiss students collectively being the majority.^[3]

In 1972 the Hong Kong Government provided the school with land on Guildford Road,^[5] free of charge, with construction of the current upper building beginning in 1973. Also in 1972, the West German government sent Hans Kraus to be appointed as the principal, as increasing enrolment forced the school to move some primary classes to May Road, followed by all non-kindergarten classes moving into the former hospital on Borrett Road in 1973.^{[citation needed]} The Guildford campus had a cost of $7 million.^[6]

J. Tiemann became the GSIS headmaster in 1973. The West German government recognised the school in the early 1970s.^[3]

In 1975, the school's new Peak Campus at Guildford Road opened,^[6] with a total enrolment of 525.^[7] In 1975, because there was a perception that students were not mastering either English nor German, the school decided to set up separate Anglophone and German educational streams.^[3]

The United Kingdom educational-system English medium secondary school programme was scheduled to open in September 1975 with forms 1 through 4, with form 5 beginning the following year and with sixth form following afterward with all forms present in 1978.^[8]

The middle and lower buildings open in 1985 and 1993 respectively, with student numbers surpassing 1,000 in 1989.^[7]

Beginning in 1989, the government of Austria started sending one teacher on a regular basis.^[3]

In 2006, the kindergarten was moved to a temporary location in Tin Hau, whilst the Business College moved to Sai Ying Pun. By 2007, a permanent second campus location was found in Pok Fu Lam for the Business College, kindergarten and lower primary; in the same year, the school changed its curriculum from the A-level and Abitur system to the IB and DIAP respectively. A temporary location in Wan Chai was found for Y3–6 for five years starting in 2009, coinciding with the five-year Campus Development Plan, after which they were relocated back into the Peak Campus.^[7]

The school is governed by a board of trustees. As of 1994, Swiss people make up a portion of the board.^[9]

Former headmasters:

• Joachim Tiemann – In 1983, as he was leaving his post, he received the West German Order of Merit^[10]

English is the school's sole language of governance, and English is the medium of communication between the Anglophone and German classes.^[11]

As of 1994 the governments of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland provide subsidies. The government of Germany also provides the headmaster, and ten other members of the teaching staff, and the Austrian government sends one teacher. The Education Department also gave help to GSIS in 1994.^[3]

GSIS enrolls students from Kindergarten to Secondary in two parallel streams known as the English International Stream and the German International Stream. Starting from the 2019–2020 school year, it has also offered German–Chinese bilingual kindergarten classes. It also has a Business College (German Wirtschaftskolleg), which offers Wholesale & Foreign Trade and Transport & Logistics Management training programmes.^[12]

In 1997 the Anglophone classes had about 59% of the students, while the German classes had the other students. The main thrust of the GSIS curricula was that students have a bi-cultural Anglophone–German experience.^[13]

As of 2018, there are approximately 1300 students from 30 countries attending 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.

In 1997 there were about 1,200 students from at least 30 countries.^[13]

• Kat Alano, model, actress, presenter
• Stephen Fung, actor, singer, filmmaker
• Alfred Hui, singer
• Adeline Rudolph, actress

In December 2013, the South China Morning Post reported that GSIS, among at least four other international schools in Hong Kong, was significantly overcharging kindergarten application fees without the government's authorisation. While the limit imposed by the government was HK$30, the school was charging HK$3,700.^[25]

The Post reported that the school had been accused by a parent of mishandling incidents of sexual harassment in which her 15-year-old daughter had been the victim. The harasser, a 16-year-old boy, was arrested in October 2018 for indecent assault and released on bail. The mother stated that the school had discouraged her daughter from reporting the incidents to police (the school denied that this had occurred), and that the school had initially refused to discuss the matter with the boy until after his exams to avoid affecting his scores. She said that the school's response, which eventually comprised suspending the boy until the end of the school year (despite the term being close to ending) and organising a sexual consent programme for year 12 students, was "not acknowledging the seriousness of the incidents".^[26]

In June 2020 Mr Justice Jonathan Harris ruled it discriminatory to require all elected board directors to speak fluent German. The discriminatory regulations contravened the Race Discrimination Ordinance, the judge said, because GSIS was within the definition of a club, which was governed by the legislation. He observed that the German government, via its consulate, had attempted to intervene in the present case by having a parent who joined the proceedings in opposition relay the government’s views to the court, but stressed its views bore no weight on the court’s ruling.^[27][28]