GSIS House Rules

When parents register their children at GSIS they also accept the obligation that their children attend school regularly and participate in compulsory school events. Granting leave of absence constitutes an exception at GSIS and requires an application in writing by the parents/ legal guardians. The following procedure has to be followed:

• Permission for any absences immediately before or after school holidays and public holidays (also for individual lessons or only one school day) has to be sought from the Principal.
• For any other absences permission has to be sought as follows: 
  • Permission to miss individual lessons has to be sought from the respective subject teacher.
  • Permission to miss up to one school day has to be sought from the class teacher.
  • Permission to miss two to five school days has to be sought from the respective Head of Stream. 
  • Permission for a longer leave of absence (and for absences immediately before or after school holidays) has to be sought from the Principal.

Absences from school are inevitably disruptive both for the individual student and for the class as a whole. Therefore, when submitting their application, parents/legal guardians are requested to explain the reasons for seeking leave. Without an explanation, leave requests will be denied. 

As pointed out above, the decision about permission for leave of absence is governed by strict rules: Keeping medical appointments or the participation in important family events for example, are valid reasons in line with our school regulations; business commitments of parents or especially attractive travel opportunities, in our opinion, do not justify missing lessons.

For good order's sake, we would like to add that all absences will be recorded on the half-term or end-of-year school report. It is important that students catch up on any missed classwork and homework during their absence. Therefore they should consult their teachers promptly to discuss this matter. Students should also be aware that tests and assessed exercises planned for the period when they will be absent, will not be rescheduled, unless it is at the wish of the teacher concerned. In cases of repeated unauthorized absences the school reserves the right to dismiss pupils from GSIS.

The above mentioned guidelines do not apply to Kindergarten classes. However, the school should also be notified well in advance, in writing (letter to be addressed to the Kindergarten Department for up to one day of extra leave; for longer absences, the Principal should be informed). The school takes notice of such absences without granting official permission, as Kindergarten attendance is not compulsory. The German Primary Department is made up of classes DVOR – K04.