German school in 2014

[anjoueva2005]

I hav the same situ and questions as roast chicken. Would the German School and the Abitur be adequate to prepare the kids for UK UNI? The reason we, husband German and I, Sri Lankan mother tongue English, decide to move to UK after 7 years in Brussels and 6 years in Florence is cos we could mix the German education which is less costly with my need to be in a more integrated set up after many happy years having babies and learning/living foreign languages on the continent. Partly would like to work as a lawyer again in Richmond/Kew areas and am not sure how the German school hours caters to working mums. my kids are 4 and 8. Any advice welcome and thanks all ! Great site this !

My neighbours and very good friends who are German, have had a very bad experience with the school with their child who was bullied beyond belief, the schol did nothing, they even contacted the local council and eventully started proceeding which they droped and just left the country. They came from Germany 3 years ago and found that there is segregation at the school, from just arrived Germans to the German families long established in the area for 2,3,4 decades, hence the children whose parents have bought in the area and were born in the UK see them selves different from the Germans just renting through corporate lets and the children are transitional.

The pre school is not that good either.

Ask about bullying and if there are any recent complaints made against the school, court cases or issues with children leaving due to bullying that has not been addressed.

Of course they will not be forthcoming with that information, but some schools are.

Go with your gut feeling, if you still like the school go for it.

I am also lawyer and a working consultant, I have 3 kids and expecting a 4th. If you can find a job that allows you to work from home a couple of days a week, that would be easier as you know.

If you have boys, and you are thinking of private schools, then some good ones are, the mall school, kings house, falcons prep, colet court, radnor house, newlands, surbition boys school, the study school.

Girls, Ibstock place (old Vicarage I don't rate at all, but hey ho), falcons for girls, st catherines, newland house, twickenham prep, LEH.

Then there are state schools the best in the Richmond/Sheen/east twickenham areas are in my own opinion in order:
St Elizabeth Catholic School
Holy Trinity School
Sheen Mount School
Orleans School
Marshgate School
Vineyard School
St Osmunds

Good luck.

Tallandgracefulmum, thanks a lot for the insight. It's not too hard to imagine especially cos even in the local school in Italy, my kids were accepted as they entered when they were 3 years old with the rest of the gang, whereas the Italian boy from the USA was bullied for 2 years as he spoke 'different' and didn't really know Italian… We are planning to STAY PUT and my son hopefully will join when 5 years old as the boys attract seemingly more bullying than girls. Sigh. The hours look ok at the school. I seem to remember an older thread that said that there were shorter hours. But 7.40 am is a bit early to start school innit?

On getting work, I really hope that something will work out for me. Been stuck too long as legal editor mum working from home when I do get work but … not good enough1 Ah well ! Any other pointers welcome.

Dear tallandgracefulmum
I am sorry to hear your friends were unhappy – however, I would be careful to make a statement like this based on an individual case. We have two children at the school and both, my husband and I, are extremely happy with the school, both our kids love going there and are well looked after.

Dear anjoueva – please go to the school, visit on one of the open days like summer or Christmas party, or just speak to some parents and pupils – that way, you get the best feeling for the school
I’ll try to answer some of your questions – you can get all relevant information from the school website as well:
thegermanschool.fluencycms.co.uk/default-english

My kids are 4 & 8 – how does the German School cater for working mums
– the school offers optional afternoon session which runs until 15.45pm from Pre-school onwards – kindergarten goes until 12:45 and you will have to arrange for afternoon care yourself (there is a nearby bilingual nursery which caters for this, though demand is high and there is a waiting lists in place).

School start: lessons start at 8:30, parents can bring children form 8:00 onwards.

Would the German school and the Abitur be adequate to prepare kids for UK UNI
– the German school offers a double qualification, the Abitur and the IB (though students cannot take the IB in isolation – they have to either do the Abitur or do the IB in conjunction with the Abitur) – both are internationally recognised, hence also by UK universities.
If you plan to stay in the UK anyway and want your children to go to UK university, why would you choose a German education? Would it not make more sense to integrate them well in the English system?

I hope the above helps – Kind regards

Dear Spica, thanks a lot for the 'parents of happy children' perspective as this is very reassuring and for your info. We have an appointment with the deutsche schule in a couple of weeks time after the school breaks up to get an 'informative tour' of what it will be like for Anjou aged 8 now to be a student there next year.

I believe the Abitur alone will be a BIG challenge on its own and the IB well, only if absolutely nec which it will not probably. To be seen. However to respond to your question at the end on WHY the GERMAN SCHOOL if we plan to stay on in the UK, believe me it's not answered fully in my head either. We are an unusual family: I came over to Bruxelles for an LLM in EU LAW 13 yrs ago and my mother tongue is English raised in a post-colonial family culture in Sri Lanka.

My husband was raised in Stuttgart and is a proper German scholar and lawyer too. We lived 7 years in Bruxelles and I had one child in French and another in Italian as I say. Now, it's my husband's greatest fear that with my English postcolonial what's-it and the English-heavy culture around us, that his kids will bury any hope of his passing on a bit of Euro-colonial German heritage to them over the years.

I agree in theory though of course there are other ways to preserve culture maybe it's best to give him his Deutsche Schule as the compromise which will reconcile him to actually live in the UK as he would much prefer Bruxelles. IF on the other hand living in Richmond does not work out - esp financially speaking property prices are a bit crazy in this area compared to what the same euros would fetch in Bruxelles which we are very used to living in.

If it all goes pear-shaped and I don't get the "job-mum-girlfriend-explore Sutherland which few may wanna do, volunteer at unheard of charities when older-escape to cousins in Derbyshire and ageing aunt in Kew" life I may look for then we could pull the kids outta the German school and plonk em in the German school in Brussels though they will NOT be pleased at ALL. There you go. Am sharing all this 'sh-i-te' as someone out there may find it mildly amusing;)

PS. On tallandgracefulmum's views I think it's fair to share the negative experiences of other parents esp if the school had not addressed the issue and a case was lodged with the council which could be clarified. If schools adopted a transparent policy of disclosure then that would be no issue at all. AND to be fair tallandgraceful did say that we were to go with our gut instinct and if we liked the school should go for it. Am real glad that her comment drew a defence from a parent so that now I have both pro and con.

Edit: 7 years in Bruxelles and over 6 years in Florence. Euro-continental not Euro-colonial. Punctuation awful due to repeated punctuation by kids asking inane questions and squabbling around me.

of course - I did not mean to deride Tallandgracefulmum's comment - mine is equally just a personal experience. Definitely best to go and see for yourself -
One last comment, from what you write it looks like an international school (like the European school Culham) may be best if you do not yet know where you'll be in the future and your kids are already exposed to a very international setting.
Else, you maybe interested in the Judith Kerr bilingual school in Herne Hill (German/ English), though they are a primary school.

Dear Spica,

That is why I added the disclaimer, if you like the school, then go for it, but as OP mentioned it is nice to hear both sides.

There is segregation based on how good your German is, if you are local to the area in the German community or just passing through or infact Swiss or from another nationality but parents were eduacated at a German institution.

Regarding the kindgergarten, that is widely know it is not great many parents who use the German sch, soool for the older child(ren) use the local nurseries for their younger child, I know 4 families including the one friends who have now gone back to Munich, I live a hop skip and ajump form the German school so know many fmailies over the years who hae moved their children into the local private or state schools from the German school and all of the attest to bullying and yes OP boys getting bullied, not sure if the perpertrators were boys as well though.

But one should still armed with this information make an informed choice and if you like the school go for it.

As for the work, something will come up, the local law firms, I would probaly give a miss, due to the nature of fee earning work its sometimes not worth working in the high street if you trained eitehr at the Bar or in an interneitonal law firm, becuase you would be expected to be the rainmaker, advisor, business development manager, supervisor for the paralegals and or trianee and with small children.... again my opinion.

There are are many local companies that have in house legal departments and the pay range is not that disimilar to the city rates of pay.

Of course all depends on the area you trianined in or specialise in, though, to me a solicitor or barrister is still a lawyer, can pick up another area of practice quickly IMHO, so you don't need to be a traditional transactions lawyer, corporate lawyer or the like, if you can sell your transferables skills, you will soon get up to speed on the new industry and the area of law you ahve been brought in to add value to.

Richmond - Philip Morris, Ebay, National Archives (Kew) and Pepsi Cola or you work in Case progression at the Court in Richmond.

Uxbridge/Middlesex- GSK
Sunbury nearby - BP, Samsung
Feltham closer - British Gas, Samsung, Bupa, ADP/Nicon Science
Weybridge - further away but within 30 mins drive from Richmond or 40 mins on the train connecting at Feltham - Samsung again ( but I think legal is based in Chertsey), EA Games
Ascot, Chertsey, Basingstoke, Addlestone -nearby 30 mins on direct train or 45+ mins driving
Eli Lilly, Amgen, Osaki,Bio Tec, Regus, ADP
All of these firms have thriving in - house legal departments. :)

Another Billingual state school is the Wix school in the battersea area, but alas is is French or the billingual school in Thornton Heath, can't remember the name but it the only Greek/English school in London and it is in South London, even though the predom Greek community surround the North around Palmers Green. Sory for digressing.

Good luck with your decisions.

Sorry about the spelling, but you get the jist.

Wow… thanks all. And tallandgraceful thanks a lot for the law work heads up. Scares the stuffing outta me that I may not get something! If I don't, I am a legal publications copyeditor for the past ten years who can work from home ( you wouldn't think it I know given the punctuation, typos on this thread but am off duty ;) but…. it's my second choice in case nothing works out or no one thinks am still employable ( ah well… ;))

Thanks Spica for the suggestion of the bilingual and euro schools but actually we WANT to settle our 'intl-born' family with its linguistic and cultural plurality FIRMLY in one place and not uproot further cos I feel there is a limit to this intl or plural culture nonsense, honestly.

As I have a cousin in Richmond, am hoping to stay over there cos we have lived without a single family member in the entire country in Italy and Belgium and this is a nice change. Nope, hope to stay PUT and if it falls flat on its face then there's Bruxelles as I said before.

BUT any euro school is expensive, more so than the German school which is at the bottom of the fee pack. And the bilingual school - sounded when I check em out briefly -- to be far from impressive, not really the estd school the German school is supposed to be. Ah well, luck is involved and I think tallandg you spotted that if the JOB works out then the rest will seem doable. Sigh. Ladies my email is [email protected]. Have no issues giving that out. I'll be in Richmond area from 17th-21 July in case anyone is up for a coffee, lemme know. Thanks again. Makes a difference!

Instead of Richmond you could look up the German bi-lingual school Judith Kerr in Herne Hill.

I don't know her myself, we, both German parents, opted for a full English education and try to keep German and Germany alive at home.

I'm Richmond too. Away for most of July and August, but around from 15th. Could introduce you to some mums whose kids go to the GS if you like. I'll email you.