Lisa school in Linz

[ShanghaiDiva]

Does anyone know anything about this school, particularly the IB programme, reputation, number of students?
We may relocate back to Austria and this is really the only option for my children, as dd who is 10 does not speak any German.
Would appreciate any feedback - thanks. :)

Have you thought about your daughter therefore learning German? It seems quite logical and offers more schools.

My son learned French aged 10. He is completely fluent and it took a couple of years, because of his age.

I would be quite confident that local German schooling in Linz would be possibly a wiser option. It opens doors which remain closed for monolingual English speakers.

I was concerned that at age 10 it would be too late as she would need to go into grade 5 and would no longer be in the primary school. It is therefore encouraging to hear about you son :)
Ds would need to go to the Lisa school for the IB programme.

The IB programme is great and has a good reputation. It is harder than the UK system, but worth it for able children. Children in such schools pick up the native language very quickly. There will be access courses which I'd advise you to get your DCs in asap (over the summer before they start is the common route, but the school should be able to advise you.)

(We considered our children going to similar in Vienna, but they are in an excellent school here already and have medical needs best met in an English speaking country.)

Thanks Peace.
Good advice re the access course.

Be aware that term times are very different in Austria too, as are some national holidays, of course! :-)

There are a lot of good free apps for language learning and even sites like italki where you can swap conversation practice with native learners, once you have the basics. Lots of fun new ways to acquire languages very quickly for children and adults alike.

Does it have to be IB programme?

There are excellent UK state boarding schools that your son could transfer at age 16 where he can get the IB, starting at 8k per year, you only pay for room and board, not the education. No idea what LISA fees are like but I'd want to know their IB results, no just pass rate, but how many NOT entered, the average score, the top and bottom scores, the percentage above 35 and 40.

Yes I hadn't even thought about term dates, but even if you go with LISA, you'd be wise to check they are the same as other local schools, as holiday activities will be far harder to fit in if LISA runs different term dates.

I have contacted the school and asked about IB results - waiting for them to get back to me.
It doesn't have to be IB as he is currently studying for igcses, so UK also a possibility.

The other thing is, check when the Linz school children take the IB. DH assures me that in the Vienna International School, the IB is instead of A levels, the last thing before university, and there isn't really an equivalent of GCSEs. This gives plenty of time to learn German (even for teenagers).

He will finish the igcses before we leave China. Ds does speak German, it's dd who would need to learn.

For UK university entry, you'll find the IB scores needed for most if not all universities these days, so there is now an accepted equivalence between A levels and IB, though from hearing the opnions from parents on IB, they think the equivalencies are unfairly harsh on IB.

Go to the right hand side of the page link (it's my son's number one choice, sorry it's only way I can find to access Surrey's entry requirement equivalencies). Then you can see what this university sees as the equivalent of A levels / IB / German Abitur.

www.surrey.ac.uk/undergraduate/theatre-and-performance

Thanks lifeisunjust - that's really helpful :)
We have been out of the UK for over 20 years so it's a struggle to keep up with all the changes and requirements. Ds is taking igcse which is all exam based and therefore similar to o levels I took back in the early 1980s. Have no clue about controlled assessments, AS levels, A2 etc and now have the added joy of researching the IB.