Anyone who comes to our Farmhouse Resort and Spa will immediately notice the many children in their colourful school uniforms who are out and about around the resort. They go to our school, which we would like to portray briefly here.
The Farmhouse Resort and Spa is part of the unique Smiling Gecko campus, of which our school is undoubtedly the centerpiece. Opened in 2017 as the “SGC HISF Education Campus” for 140 children, we are already teaching around 480 children by August 2023. Our goal is to take in 50 more children every year until we have reached the maximum size of 1,000 children. The children come from the surrounding villages. All are poor and most come from families where the parents are illiterate. The selection process for our children is carried out with great care. Before admission, parents are interviewed and prospective students are assessed through a series of cognitive abilities tests. Day-long visits to families are also part of the process. We have decided to only accept one child per family. In this way, as many families as possible can benefit from the school education.
Our school system includes grades 1 to 12 as well as an additional pre-school and kindergarten. With a relatively long pre-school and elementary school phase and a three-year secondary and high school. If a child is with us from pre-school, it will receive a total of 15 years of education. The perfect tool for a self-determined life in Cambodia, where today and especially in the future, education will be the only way out of poverty.
For more information about Smiling Gecko click here.