Due to Thursday’s list with the stops of the mobile food store, I realized that there is another International School in Duisburg. I had thought this one is in Düsseldorf being a branch of Cologne what would be funny because of the traditional conflict between the two cities. No, they are different schools.
In Duisburg exists the The English Internationl School St. George’s which is an sister to the school in Cologne and Aachen. The school seems to be an additional school. Therefore it doesn’t receive state funding. I’m no longer in the mood to describe the pedagogical concept. Have a look at their page. They seem to use the IBO curriculum.
Today I had a first look at the information folder of the International School in Bochum. I thought it is a branch of the International School in Heiligenhaus. This is sort of right. The website of the Bochum one is a copy of the Heiligenhaus one. The CEO is the same at both schools: Dr. Ursula Mock. I think there will be some sort of cooperation but I also realize that the Bochum School is an own company. Surely, this has several advantages like reduction the risk if the project in Bochum or in Heiligenhaus gets in trouble it wouldn’t effect the other one.
A look into the folder showed some differences to the Carolinen-Schule which I had expected. The International School Bochum chose the way of an additional school (Ergänzungschule). In the end, the school will offer a way to fullfill the German compulsory school attendance. Note, that Germany knows compulsory school attendance, not compulsory education. Therefore the school has to be officially recognized as a school where this duty can be fullfilled. Another option would be to set up a private substitute school (Ersatzschule). This would go along with the duty to take over more form public schooling but also receiving financial assistant from the state.
The International School doesn’t. As a result the fees have to be higher to pay all bills for teachers, building and staff. The academic year is split into three terms with four months each. Fees have to be paid for each term, starting from € 2.900 in first grade to € 3.700 in tenth grade. Nursery is cheaper. There is an additional administration fee of € 150 per term, an appilcation fee of € 500 and a non refundable one time registration fee of € 3.000.
Remarkable is the following: Chinese starts from first grade, Latin is offered additionally and further languages can be chosen from fifth grade. Thirty percent of the lessons shall be held in German, the rest in English. The curriculum shall contain the curriculum of North Rhine-Westphalia for German, the British National Curriculum and part of the programme of the IBO. The school aims to certify at the IBO to grant the IB-Diploma (International Baccalaureate). There is a school uniform. Breakfast and lunch are offered at school.
Further information and probably an own information folder can be found at:
www.internationalschoolbochum.com
www.schoolbochum.com
At the moment, I see some activities in Ruhr about new schools. The hype is around the the Term “International School”. There seems to be some demand for a bigger variety of schools in the Ruhr area for quite a while. The hype started with Dr. Jürgen Großmann, CEO of RWE, offering money for founding a private International School. The intentions seems to be to get a school with the elements: English language, German as second language taught as a subject, Cambridge Curriculum, Internationale Baccalaureate (Germans call it ‘Internationales Abitur’). It shall be an offer for academic staff or managers who speak English. An international class that moves around the world with their children. In my opinion, this project is more part of regional business development. Ruhr as an international metropolis will need an International School like this. The next one is situated in Düsseldorf.
“International School” is also used for other school, partly with similar concepts. The International School in Velbert-Heiligenhaus is going to open a branch in Bochum. As far as I unterstood the concept is different from International Schools like the one in Düsseldorf – the one mentioned above. It seems to focus on an international clientele and a German as well. Different form this concept is the one of a private bilingual school, the Carolinen-Schule in Bochum. This school is going to use the curriculum of the state of Northrhine-Westfalia. This is the officual one used by public school. Lessons shall be offered in German and English via two teachers at the same time. Following the public curriculum the school will get public sponsoring by the state and the (German) pupils will be garanteed to fulfill compulsory schooling here.
There a plans to add preschools/Kindergarten and grades 5th to 12th.
“International School” can also refer to schools that offer an International Baccalaureate without being a private school, an International School like mentioned above or beeing connected with an elementary school. Currently, there are secondary public schools in Germany that offer bilingual education. Some of these offer the option of an International Baccalaureate
I knew about a school in Bochum, Hildegardisschule, with offers bilingual education in French and the additional Baccalaureate. About bilingual public Schools offering the IB, I just read about at ruhrbarone.de
Looking at the websites mentioned by ruhrbarone.de there is the Leibniz-Gymnasium in Dortmund since 2007 and the soon will be the Goetheschule in Essen. Due to its website the IB will be offered at Leibniz Gymnasium form 2009/10. Both schools offer bilingual German-English education and optionally the IB. Due to the website of the Leibniz-Gymnasium there are 40 schools like this in Northrhine-Westfalia. At both schools some lessons will be offered German, some will be offered in English. Different concepts work with two teachers and lessons are bilingual. Further “International Schools” offere lessons only in English and German taught as second language.
There is a demand for a broader offer of schools in Ruhr. It’s developing. The diffences mentioned here, are not the only ones. E.g., private schools often offer smaller classes.
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