Berlin private schools - Primary level, English speaking

[coconutflapjack]

Does any one know anything or have any experience of primary level private schools in Berlin, more specifically:

Berlin British School
Berlin Brandenburg International School
Berlin International School

Thanks so much!
D

[chloeb2002]

Sorry we went to army schools there. No idea now how or where!
Awesome city to live in

Bumping for you x

[Archangelfarchnad]

I confess I always get them mixed up, the names seem so similar. Berlin International is the one in Steglitz, right? And BBIS is in Kleinmachnow? And Berlin British is the one on Heerstrasse next to the Charles Dickens? There are quite a few more private/subsidised primary schools by now, like Metropolitan and Phorms. Are you looking for an English-only curriculum then rather than English-German through immersion?

Both my DC are at a state secondary school so I don't have much direct info. You will get a lot of German parents with no connection to English countries sending their children to these schools in the hope that they'll pick up the language - but then they leave after primary level to go to a German-only Gamnasium, and it could be socially quite disruptive. And German families will coerce you into playdates because they see you as a free source of conversation practice.

What I've heard is that some of the private schools are being forced to have some German in their curriculum from next year onwards in order to be recognised as a 'proper' school in Berlin. I think they have to choose two subjects so are going for ones that have as little impact as possible (geography and sport).

You could try asking for more info in the Family Life section of the Berlin board of Toytown Germany - but be warned, the climate is quite vicious there.

[coconutflapjack]

Thanks for these replies and for bumping chloeb2002. We live in Hamburg at the moment and have some idea of the German system of schooling. I have read the whole thread on Toytown, thanks for mentioning that too. DH is going to see some schools this week so we will at least have some idea from that.

[Archangelfarchnad]

Ah OK coconut. I've not heard of anyone on MN who has a child at one of those schools, in fact there are only a handful of us Berliners here at all. I know someone who decided to put her child in the German wing of the BIS in order to learn better German, transferring from a bilingual system. They seem happy enough with the decision, but the German Kant-Schule is on a different site to the BIS.