Exciting times are ahead for the International French School (IFS) – it’s growing its campus to accommodate more students. The school’s official expansion is now underway, following a ceremony held on 15 March, 2023 to break ground at the site. When completed, the new campus area will house a five-storey classroom block, a new eight-storey administration and ancillary building. It also includes three blocks of a three-storey building for the new IFS kindergarten – Singapore’s first zero energy kindergarten!
The superstructure is expected to be done by December of this year. The entire new campus project scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2025. The total floor area of the completed new additions will be approximately 22,800 square metres or two football fields.
Thoughtful design
The ceremony to mark the official expansion of the school’s facilities was co-hosted by IFS Principal David Binan and President of the IFS Board Jean-Marc Deromedi. Also in attendance were French Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Minh-di Tang, the Executive Director of IFS Yves Marcel, and Guest of Honour, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. Jean-Marc said at the ceremony that the new buildings “have been carefully designed to promote natural ventilation and daylight opportunities, creating quality indoor and outdoor environments that support student well-being and learning.”
An example of this is the classrooms of the elementary blocks. The windows here have been designed to be north-south oriented. This minimises solar heat gain while maximising natural daylight. Adding an active learning environment for IFS students will be a new educational garden on one of the block’s rooftops.
Here, students will have hands-on experience in educational farming, landscape greenery and solar panel features.
More facilities & more space at IFS
The new administration block will be supporting a sports hall, a multi-purpose hall, a 350-seat auditorium, ancillary staff offices and a staff recreation room with a roof terrace. The new kindergarten building will be an extension of the facilities for elementary school. The classrooms here will form a self-sustainable cluster for a particular age group of students, with a total of six clusters across the three blocks. This “villa concept” will feature a large common area in the centre, surrounded by four large classrooms, one language room and one teacher room. The current kindergarten space will transform into more classroom space for secondary students.
All the new buildings will be interconnected and link back to existing facilities on the second storey.
Considerate construction
The expansion site for the new campus is adjacent to the current IFS school premises. The current three-storey building is located in a landed housing estate. Thus, the kindergarten blocks have been designed to be the same height as the existing buildings. Other aspects that the design team considered carefully in planning the expansion include the orientation of the new buildings, local wind effects, the sun’s solar path over the course of a day, and noise levels.
About IFS
IFS was established in 1967. From an initial enrolment of about 15 students, it currently has 3,000 students enrolled. When the new campus expansion is completed, it’s expected to allow for a total of 4,000 students.
International French School is at 3000 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.
6805 0000 | ifs.edu.sg
This article first appeared in the May 2023 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe, so you never miss a copy!
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