New School Built for Gifted Children in Astana

New School Built for Gifted Children in Astana

Thanks to the Saby Charitable Foundation, the Zerde School for Gifted Children has received a new modern building for the first time in 18 years of work. The Foundation has built and donated to the city a school building with an area of more than 10,000 square meters in accordance with international environmental standards, of which about 3,000 square meters are occupied by sports and playgrounds.

The construction of the school began in December 2023. The estimated construction cost was 3.5 billion tenge.

Akim of Astana Zhenis Kassymbek, founders of the Saby Charitable Foundation - ecologist Aselle Tasmagambetova and Kazakh entrepreneur Kenes Rakishev, as well as representatives of the Astana Education Department attended the official opening of the new building of the Zerde School.

The Zerde School has become part of the Saby Foundation's systematic charity program. Thus, the Foundation has been comprehensively, structurally, based on a deep analysis of continuous work helping to develop all spheres of life in Kazakhstan for more than 20 years. With the support of the Saby Foundation, the following large facilities were previously designed and built: the Children's Home in Kyzylorda, the Meyirim Youth Social Adaptation Center for Graduates of Orphanages in Aktobe, the school-gymnasium No. 174 for 1,200 students in the Nauryzbay region of Almaty.

Over 22 years of continuous operation, the Saby Foundation has supported domestic social projects totaling approximately 50 billion tenge.

"We are involved in building orphanages, schools, reconstructing hospitals, and improving the lives of disabled people. We support attractive projects of young entrepreneurs. Our special focus is on education, health care, and developing the potential of talented young people. These are so-called impact investments, that is, investments with a useful effect that will change the future of our children for the better. The Zerde School has made a significant contribution to the development of the educational system of Kazakhstan. In order to expand the potential of the school and the future scaling of successful educational practices, the Saby Foundation decided to donate a building that meets international educational standards to the educational institution. We really hope that comfortable learning conditions and modern technologies will help the school reach a new level of development", expressed hope ecologist, president of the Saby Charitable Foundation Aselle Tasmagambetova.

In-depth teaching of physics, mathematics and natural sciences in Kazakh and English is the main focus of the Zerde School.

Today, the school-lyceum occupies a leading position in Kazakhstani education: 110 graduates received the Altyn Belgi sign, 85 graduates entered prestigious universities around the world, 446 graduates study at universities in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 135 people received a grant from Nazarbayev University.

Students show high results in various international Olympiads and scientific project competitions, become prize winners of international and republican Olympiads. According to the results of 2022, the lyceum entered the "50 best Olympic schools" in the ranking of 100 schools of the republic and in the 10 best metropolitan schools in the nomination "Best Olympic School".

According to the project of the Saby Foundation, all conditions for a comfortable and creative educational process have been created in the new building of the Zerde School: comfortable modern classrooms equipped with all necessary equipment and ergonomic furniture.

The educational institution has bright and spacious recreation areas for children on each floor with panoramic windows and a view of the lake, soft furniture and green "islands"; equipped play areas: each floor has a tennis table, a library with a reading room; laboratories; a media club; a separate room for the school parliament; a STEM room; a co-working area for teachers; a spacious assembly hall with a dressing room, costume room and storage area; a large gym with an area for gymnastics and an observation balcony; separate changing rooms for girls and boys; showers on all floors and in the gym; elevators. The school territory is surrounded by several sports fields. The school has a very large modern dining room where all classes can have breakfast and lunch at the same time.  

In the new building, special attention is paid to the environmental component: alternative energy sources are used in the building, heat and energy-saving systems are installed, and separate garbage collection is carried out. In the spring, it is planned to build a greenhouse and a plant house for experimental work in biology and the creation of a natural ecozone for nearby flora and fauna.

In addition to the new building and a large number of playgrounds, the Saby Foundation also presented Zerda with a modern robotics class and equipped a sewing workshop.