The Partners Team are the people who lead, run, deliver, and manage Forest School Singapore.
Darren Quek
(Managing Partner)
Darren’s Profile
✨ Experience:
The pioneer of the Forest School movement in Singapore. He broke the ice, to introduce the possibilities of Forest School for many others to follow since 2016. He has 18 years experience in the Education industry, ranging from Sports coach, to Robotics instructor, to Special Needs practitioner.
As the Principal of Forest School Singapore (2016-2024), he managed and grew the organisation strategically, towards making real impact, while not becoming a Charity.
✅ Interest:
“I love basketball and football ALOT. It is a space where I get to exercise healthy and honorable aggression. I enjoy my weekly whiskey with my friends to unwind and connect. I’m fascinated by the magic and power of poetry.”
✅ Reason for being here:
“Forest School is already a big part of who I am, as a fellow being of the Earth. It is not a separate idea or belief system anymore for me. I’m here because I’m just being myself. I enjoy this journey.”
✅ Hope for myself here:
“I hope through this journey, I will find wisdom in reconciling the work I do, and the feeling I get when I observe the struggles of the not privileged communities out there. It will be a journey.”
MORE ABOUT DARREN…
- Darren is the Master Trainer of all the Forest School Trainings and Clinics.
- He also manages the strategies and the overall direction of FSS. He is the Vision.
Genevieve Ong Yunting
(Senior Partner – Training)
Genevieve’s Profile
✨Experience:
Since 2020 – She conducted weekly and ad hoc forest school sessions for children aged 4-14 in the outdoors, accumulating over 1000 hours of session (with participants) and training (with adults/coaches).
Hand on heart and gut, anything that she do, is an extension and expression of her collective experiences at Forest School Singapore.
✅ Interest:
“Outside of FSS, I relish being in environments where learners’ journeys are centred, where there is due acknowledgment for the people who create and maintain the systems for gutsy-yet-diverse learning.”
✅ Reason for being here:
“This video is an inelegant-but-authentic expression of the reason for me being here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBzbibUkcqk“
✅ Hope for myself here:
“My hope is that as I journey with Forest School Singapore in this next chapter, I’ll be able to close the gap for those who are overdue to begin a Forest School practice for long-term well-being reasons; to assist them in shedding the privilege that is holding them stuck in comfort, but dis-ease.”
MORE ABOUT GENEVIEVE… (LINK)
- Genevieve is the Master Trainer of all the Forest School Trainings and Clinics.
- She also manages the communication and community coordinations of FSS. She is the River.
Chong Shin Ee
(Senior Partner – Research)
Shin Ee’s Profile
✨Experience:
She started working at Forest School Singapore in 2023 as a marketing and research staff, while completing her undergraduate degree at NUS. As a research practitioner, she holds the dual role of being both an active participant and a sharp observer of the Forest School approach.
During the first year of her journey at FSS, Shin Ee has written a research paper: The Earth’s Spine, which is a research paper of around 8000 words about the educational framework of Forest School and how these frameworks function in the Singaporean context. Together with Darren, Shin Ee has presented this research paper at the Forest School Research Symposium hosted by the University of Liverpool in June 2024.
✅ Interest:
I love art. I do not feel whole if I cannot create. I love sketching, painting, drawing and crafting! I have a similar love for poetry and stories. I love being a naturalist. I love watching the birds, sketching trees, I laying down in the grass and getting rained on.
✅ Reason for being here:
Forest School is my own way of understanding the world and of addressing the disconnect that I recognise in myself and in others. Every time I re-enter a FSS space, I feel as if I have been lucky enough to stumble upon a clearing in the forest after a long and arduous trek. And for a while, even if it is just for a few seconds, I feel as if time has stopped and space has expanded. Forest School gives me the time and space to be myself. The time and space to mess up, to cry, but also to pick yourself up and to be proud of who you are.
✅ Hope for myself here:
My hope is that I will continue to learn, grow and challenge myself through Forest School and even beyond. I hope to chart a path for myself so I can be a ship unafraid of sailing in the dark open waters. I hope that we can use our voice to speak for the people who might be rendered voiceless. I hope that Forest School can reach people who might not even know that they need it, and I hope that it can allow them to see the possibilities of their own lives that were previously not able to see. Most of all, I hope that we can tell a story.
- Shin Ee is the Research Chief of Forest School Singapore.
- She also manages the visual and literacy messaging of FSS. She is the Messenger.
We sometimes engage other trusted associates for projects and engagements, from within our own FSS community of coaches, leaders and practitioners.