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German primary schools

37 replies

rumbletum · 23/05/2008 14:22

We are moving back to Germany from singapore and need to find a primary school for ds. Dh is German, and we'll be in the Mainz/Wiesbaden area. Please can anyone tell me about /recommend primary schools - are there catchment areas, league tables, church schools, private schools etc etc. We have no idea where to start. Thanks !

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finknottle · 23/05/2008 15:28

Children usually go to the nearest local primary. Unusual to go to another school, though not unheard of if e.g a parent works in that town. Primaries are 8-12/1pm, usually after school care too, till 4 if a (recent development) Ganztagsschule. Not on a Friday though, Germany closes down at lunchtime.

League tables, nope.

Church/private, on the whole not. There are some for secondary, rarely for primary but schools here are nothing like the UK system.

What's good is that the children walk/bus/tram, mostly without adults, in small groups.

If you have seen the German Schools thread, it can be scary but bear in mind it was started as a place to vent and not spoil the other thread where we can share many other great things about living in Germany.

Year 1 and 2 in primary are ime, pretty good anyway. How old is your ds? Children here start school aged 6 or 7 depending on their dob. Sometimes earlier but here at least the school will test them if they're not yet 6.

Ask away! You may find more international offers in the Main/Wiesbaden area. Bilingual stuff too.
Hth.

rumbletum · 24/05/2008 01:37

thanks finknottle. so is it a question of visiting the schools which look interesting and hope we end up with something decent? as we're in singapore it seems a bit of a lottery choosing something without knowing about reputation etc. Ds is 6.

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taipo · 25/05/2008 13:17

hi rumbletum, I think finknottle has pretty much summed it up. We did something similar to you, moving from Hong Kong to London and now Germany and I found it really hard to know where to start looking for schools.

I like the fact that there are definite catchment areas here for primary school. I think it's a lot fairer than what we experienced in London where you (in theory) can choose where to send your dc.

I think there are some state primaries run along Montessouri lines where you may be able to send your children even it's not the closest school. I don't know of any private primaries around here except the Waldorf/Steiner school and the international school.

Good luck with your move.

Nighbynight · 25/05/2008 14:16


Does your son speak fluent German?
Our experience in Munich was that they let us join a primary school, told us that there was no language help, then about 6 weeks later, we were barred from all primary schools in Munich, and told that the children would have to go to special classes for immigrants. These classes were too far away, I would have had to give up my job to take the children there and collect them.
We had to do a very expensive move outside Munich (having just moved to a new flat there!). The crucial difference was that outside Munich, there are no special classes, so your child does not get chucked out of the primary school.
so, I would find out what is the local policy on integrating foreigners. What the schulamt tells you, is not always the same as what happens in reality, I have to say from our experience.

As your dh presumably went through the system himself, you must be a bit clued up that it is part time, not full time. In our area, more than 60% of parents pay someone else to tutor their children in the afternoons. And most of the rest are tutored by their parents or grandparents. If you dont do this, your child will probably be put down to repeat the year. The level of parental input from the pushy parents is scarey!

If you send your child to a montessori or other private school, they are out of mainstream ed, so they may have to do the Probezeit when they are 10, or go to the hauptschule. You need to find out whether in your area, the parents have the right to send their child to the realschule even if the child doesnt get the grades.
In our area, there aren't enough reasonably private schools to meet the demand from parents who want to escape the state system, so it is really hard to get your child into one. Private schools may be subsidised by the state, so they may be really affordable (250 euros a month).
The foreigners I know who have lived here for some time and are clued up, mostly try to get their children into private schools.

The standard across the different primary schools is a lot more even than in the UK, so I wouldnt use a state primary school as a reason to choose where to live. I might consider trying to get close to a bi-lingual or private secondary school.
rumbletum · 27/05/2008 07:11

Ds can speak german fluently so hopefully language won't be a problem.

There are a couple of private schools in the area that we are considering. But if you go the private school route, why do you have to do a Probezeit when you are 10 if you want to go back to the state system?

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finknottle · 27/05/2008 07:26

The Laender have their own rules & from what NN says Bavaria seems v draconian re schooling.
Here in Rheinland-Pfalz things are different. You could maybe check the RP websites to see what the regulations are.

try here

It'll be a big advantage for your s that he can speak German already.

taipo · 27/05/2008 09:20

How old is your ds, rumbletum?

finknottle · 27/05/2008 14:50

He's 6, taipo.
Bavaria seems like a nightmare for schooling.
Wish we had more options, only one private international in the area but would cost us 33,000 euros a year in fees alone for our 3. Plus a "one-off" registration fee of 2000 per family.

taipo · 27/05/2008 15:10

oops, just noticed that had already been asked

I think he should settle in reasonably well at that age especially if he already speaks German. It is a very different system though so if your ds has been at an international school in Singapore be prepared for him to take a while to adjust to it. Dd started school here when she was 7 and had 2 years of school behind her in the UK and it was very hard for her at first. What are schools like in Singapore?

rumbletum · 28/05/2008 06:44

He's in the german school here in singapore, which is fine. What about private schools, do you think the standard is much better than the state schools? I've heard scary things on the other german schools thread !!

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rumbletum · 28/05/2008 07:02

forgot, thanks for the link finknottle.

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taipo · 28/05/2008 07:48

My impression (I don't have any personal experience) is that the standard of private schools is very mixed. There is a private gymnasium round the corner from us which has a very good reputation but a friend of mine who taught in a private school for a year was horrified at the discipline problems - the school seemed to be a dumping ground for difficult children. Her husband has taught at two international schools here - one was excellent and the other quite poor.

geekgirl · 28/05/2008 08:45

that fits in with my personal experience, too. A lot of German private secondary schools (other than the ones serving the international community) are 'Quetschen' - as in, they squeeze even the most non-academic or badly behaved child of well-off parents through the Abitur or Mittlere Reife. I would be quite wary of private schools in Germany as it is quite an unusual thing to send your child to one, so a lot of the parents who do have fallen out with the school system for whatever reason....

(just to add, this isn't based on my direct personal experience, but my mum was the director of education [Schulrätin] for primary & secondary schools in a German city and oversaw both state and private schools, we used to talk a lot about her work)

finknottle · 28/05/2008 11:15

Just remembered that Wiesbaden is in Hessen, not RP
Hessen

Ime it's rare to have a really rotten primary. When we do (as we often do) gripe about schools on here it's the whole system we're getting at

Think geekgirl's right about the privates.

rumbletum · 29/05/2008 06:40

so it looks as if state schools are the way to go then. When we look around places, is there anything in particular you think we should look for/ask about etc? Have you had good experiences with the schools in germany?

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rumbletum · 29/05/2008 06:40

so it looks as if state schools are the way to go then. When we look around places, is there anything in particular you think we should look for/ask about etc? Have you had good experiences with the schools in germany?

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SSSandy2 · 29/05/2008 14:59

good luck rumbletum. I hope the move goes well. I wouldn't liketo comment on schools in Mainz/Wiesbaden because I don't know the area at all and IME schools in the different Laender vary quite considerably.

Personally I would look for a bilingual or international school if there are any and look at them first. I'm afraid though the internationals (which I also looked at for dd) vary quite considerably and with the fluctuation of staff/pupils they are not all good, although facilties may be better than average.

There are possibly some good quality private schools in that area, there are more and more springing up all the time because of general parental dissatisfaction with the other options.

There are church schools and they will be listed on the local govt education sites. If you google Mainz Grundschule, you should get that site as one of the first links

taipo · 29/05/2008 23:08

Ssandy is right that schools do vary widely according to which Land you are in. I think Wiesbaden is Hessen and Mainz is RLP (or is it the other way around?).

If I'm totally honest I'm not all that impressed with the school system here and there have been major criticisms from various areas, a lot of it based on the Pisa study done several years ago in which Germany did very badly. And earlier this year it was criticised by the UN for failing children from poor and immigrant backgrounds. I know that you could say the same of a lot of countries but I think there are a number of reasons it is quite extreme here.

Firstly, the school day is so much shorter so children have to do a lot of homework in the afternoons and it is expected that parents will help so if you don't speak much German or you have to go out to work your child is already at a disadvantage.

Another major fault with the system imo is the early selection process for secondary schools which really makes it very difficult for late developers to fulfil their potential and many are labelled as failures at the age of 10.

Having said all that, most bright middle class children will do OK. My dh is German and sailed through the system. He went to a decent Gymnasium and used to be very much in favour of the 3-tier system.

Dd really struggled at the beginning to fit in with the system and I was pretty gobsmacked at how ill equipped they seemed to be at dealing with a child who was simply struggling to adapt to new surroundings and rebelled against it. Part of the reason for that, I think, is the emphasis that is put on your child being 'schulfähig' when they start school so teachers do not see it as part of their job to help those who do not quite fit into the system for whatever reason.

I'm a bit now at this long essay which is full of negatives but this is only my opinion and based on my own experience. Others may say very different things. On the plus side for us, dd has now settled and is doing very well. She doesn't even mind the constant tests she has to do and usually does her homework with a minimum of fuss.

I hope I've answered your question as honestly as I can and I apologise if I have been overly negative. Good luck with your decision and stick around here for support and advice!

rumbletum · 30/05/2008 06:47

thanks everybody for the advice ! we're lucky that we have a bit of time to look around, so hopefully we'll be able to find something.

BTW is anyone living in the wiesbaden/mainz area?

OP posts:
rumbletum · 30/05/2008 07:14

I've just read the other german corner thread ... Pls tell me what you really think ! I have lived in germany before, this is why i'm asking ...

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SSSandy2 · 30/05/2008 09:10

well to be really, really honest with you rumbletum, I would just not do it. I would not put my dc in the German school system at all if I could avoid it.

I qualify that by saying you know the country and you know the system since your ds is currently attending a German Auslandsschule anyway so the differences in approach would not come as a total shock to you as they did to me.

The German schools in Germany will be organised in pretty much the same way as your current school. If you are very happy with that school and ds is very happy with it, it is possible you will be fine with a local German school.

I can only give you my opinion based on what I myself have experienced and I don't know how much it would hold true for you. I have found it incredibly hard because I have felt that you are constantly coming up against a wall. I expect teh school to care about my dc as a person and how she feels. They don't think it is their business - they have their rules, their structure and they follow their curriculum. We are at cross purposes most of the time. I want them to deal with things that make her school life miserable andthey don't she why they should have to.

I personally very much dislike the approach to teaching primary. Perhaps you'll find it ok. My dd crumpled in the German system. She found it unfriendly, harsh, boring, stressful. I totally lost my dd through it, she was so miserable she changed and became unrecognisable to me. This was a local German Catholic primary, supposedly the best school near where we live which makes me shudder to think what the rest are like

That's the very honest truth I'm giving you there. There is no way if I were living overseas and happy with the schooling that I would move my dc to Germany and into the German state system. Absolutely no way. I know it is a lot of messing about for ds and they are expensive and far from ideal but could you not initially place him in an international school whilst you settle in for a term or a year and look around from there?

Perhaps one big deciding factor for me would be how German my dc already is. How well equipped might he be to deal with this rather rigid and formal schooling? Perhaps he'll take it in his stride. There are bound to be hiccups though and who will deal with them? It is hard on you, if you are the one who is going to have all the dealings with the shcool. If dh is going to reliably take care of that, it might go well for all of you.

I find the teachers on the whole ok as PEOPLE but they are not trained to teach in a way that is similar to how UK trained teachers are, they are also very much of the mindset "we tell you how it is and you do it" IYAM. Can you cope well with that in a situation where ds is struggling/unhappy? I couldn't personally.

Ask anything more specific you'd like to know and maybe you'll also get some very positive replies that balance what I have said.

SSSandy2 · 30/05/2008 09:41

I thought I'd better add that some of the families we know from kindergarten still have their dc at our old school, the one we so thankfully turned our back on. Both dp in those families are German and they have told me they are content with the school, not truly happy about everything (but then when are you 100% satisfied with schools?). I think it is because both dp have been through the German system themselves. They have spoken with me complaining about the very same things that drove us away but in their eyes these things were not so bad that they could not live with the school IYSWIM

I wonder if it might get problematic for you if you and dh don't see eye-to-eye on this type of thing

Well there you are plenty of negatives to chew over! i should really try and get some foreigner who is very happy with the schools here to post and balance all this for you

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finknottle · 30/05/2008 10:45

Sandy wrote:

"unfriendly, harsh, boring, stressful"

I agree that's how hers was (nightmare) but not all are. On the whole v old-fashioned teaching concepts, v resistant to change. It's one size fits all. The teachers who bemoan this have no scope to change it. The post-PISA panic is widespread.

I find ours friendly, emphasises (fairly new concept here) tolerance, is trying to focus on social skills and will be starting a "Faustlos" Gewalt prevention scheme soon... all goodly stuff. Over-emphasis on worksheets, not much practical work but a good teacher will balance it out a bit more. The pastoral side is not as strong as I would like but ours is not like Sandy's old one thankfully.

What is not good is that the classes move at the pace of the fastest pupils and if your child needs more time, has ANY kind of learning difficulty, or just struggles, then the pressure is enormous. Y1 & Y2 are easy, reassuring, more focussed on the individual child's attainment & potential. There are no Noten, just smileys/stickers.

The Empfehlung for secondary is what dominates Yrs 3 & 4. It's barking mad to segregate children aged 9/10 into "Abitur & University" and "blue-collar vocational" imo. Imagine telling a 9 yr old in England, "You won't manage A-levels" This is after only 3 yrs of primary school too

Y3 they get Noten, they have a cycle of tests, maybe 1 week test-free then 2 a week, as so:
maths test
dictation
Aufsatz/essay
science test
music test
ethics/religion test

maybe a week off, maybe 2 if lucky, then the cycle begins again.

Some thrive on it, some don't. There's a lot of papers, little practical work, no "he can't do maths formulaically, but can visually so let's see how we can help him"..

Taipo's comment about bright middle-class children doing well is spot on. Ours are bright & middle class but s1 has a mild learning difficulty which means he need more time and no pressure. He's now in a secondary which gives him and that his marks are 1s and 2s, his confidence is back, he's thriving. Y3 & Y4 were hell for him and us.

S2 struggles with German, is shy, if he doesn't understand something he retreats into his shell, hates school and when I spoke to his teacher about it she said, "I know but I don't have time to deal with individual children."

If I were you I'd try the local primary and if your s is happy and copes (as many many do ) then he'll have the advantage of local friends, sport,music etc. We live in a small village and I love the way the children can go out and about. From about aged 7/8 the boys cycle to the pool to meet friends, are out and about, always find someone they know from school/sport to swim, go the youth club with etc. The schools tend not to have any extra-curricular activities so the Vereine are key to socialising.

Thinking back, s1's class had 21 children. I'd say (in a place this size you get to know) that about 19 got through primary fine and most are happy in their new secondaries.

rumbletum · 01/06/2008 08:26

thanks for being so honest ! to be honest i was expecting to hear this sort of thing as it is what some of the parents complain about here.

the thing is, i'm not sure there is an alternative to the state system. there is an international school in wiesbaden but we have 3 dc and it will cost a fortune in the long run, so it's just not a realistic option. there are a number of church schools in the area which we thought might be the best alternative, but if these are no good, then are there any other possiblities? We have to go back to germany.

sandy, if you took your dc out of the local catholic primary, what did you do instead ?

OP posts:
Nighbynight · 01/06/2008 09:06

I echo everything finknottle and sandy say. Even some of my German, gymnasium educated colleagues had hell with their children in school.

You should get through it OK as long as you know what you are walking into and have a few advantages

  • your child speaks fluent German
  • you have few children, and can give each of them a lot of time
  • you either don't work (and are free to teach your child in the afternoons), or you pay for nachhilfe.
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