Last weekend, GISS celebrated its 30th anniversary with a Pearl Gala Dinner held at the Dee Why RSL.  

MCs of the night, GISS Principal Dr Lorenz Metzger and Alumna Inga Mueller, welcomed over 190 guests including students, parents, alumni, GISS Board members and long serving honorary members who together celebrated the school's achievements while enjoying a delicious three course dinner and live entertainment provided by the Mitchell Anderson Band. 

The evening was officially opened by our talented Year 9 Student Iwen who played the piano to a slideshow showing how GISS has grown from 28 students in Prospect to now over 370 students ranging from Preschool to Year 12 all of whom are part of a truly international community. 

Another highlight was an energetic dance performance by GISS students Franziska, Floriane, Hermine, Amelie and Mia-Francesca, supervised by Year 12 students Nadia and Eumin and directed by GISS teacher Karina Klueckmann who has been with the school for over 25 years. 

GISS Alumni, sisters Alana and Monica Wulff, followed with a wonderful speech in which they explained how the two sisters were some of the first Australian students to attend the school in Prospect and to complete the IB at GISS. The second part of the evening commenced with a moving performance by GISS students Nora and Farah from Year 11 who were supported by GISS music teachers Anne-Catherine Froidevaux on the piano and Janine Boubbov on the cello. 

Principal Dr Lorenz Metzger thanked our long-serving GISS staff members many of whom have been with the school for over 10 years. Two of our longest serving staff members, Rikky Clark and Gudrun Daniels, shared a few anecdotes from the early days bringing back many great memories.

Guests of honour, Northern Beaches Council Mayor Michael Regan and German Consul General Peter Silberberg, impressed the audience with their bilingual speeches which recognised the importance of the school in an ever growing closely knit community.  Another highlight was a short film which included video greetings from former GISS Principals Klaus Steinmetz (2000 - 2007), Hannelore Trageser (2007 – 2012) and Erhard Seifert (2012 - 2018), produced by GISS students Eumin and Daniel. 

Former GISS Chairman and platinum sponsor of the evening with his IT support firm Friendlyware, Ralf Alpert, congratulated GISS and was followed by GISS Chairman of the Board, Bernd Winter, who gave an inspirational speech.  The room was decorated with beautiful artworks from our Primary School and AG Art students. 

The artworks were sold in a Silent Auction raising around $1,500 which will be used for a surprise event for all GISS students. The evening concluded for most guests on the dance floor and with many happy snaps from the GISS photo booth. 

GISS would like to thank all performers, artists and speakers and the whole community for making this evening so memorable. A special thank you must also go to our Gold sponsors of the Gala Dinner Audi Australia, the German National Tourist Office and our platinum sponsor Friendlyware without whom events like this wouldn’t be possible.