Looking for School in Berlin

1. Preparatory classes, to bring foreign kids up to the level needed to enter German public school, are offered at some public schools and are free of charge. Enquire at the school of your choice or the local Schulamt! Please note that your kid will probably lose an academic year because of this.
2. German public schools are kept at very similar standards. There are no "good" and "bad" schools. Just take the one near where you live!
3. Home schooling is not allowed in Germany, so this is not an option! (In addition, going to school and meeting other kids is the best way to "get used to the new environment.")
4. Most teachers will speak some level of English. But as they learn at an astonishing speed, your kids will also be able to translate for you after a few months!

Note: Bilingual public schools here are geared towards German kids learning more foreign language, not foreign kids integrating better.
Typically, they start with just a few (unimportant) subjects taught in the foreign language and work themselves up to 50% foreign/50% German in later years.
This might not be helpful in your situation.

Beppi gave a very good answer. I would add that it makes sense to start learning the language now if possible so they aren't completely lost.  In addition to preparatory classes at school one could consider a private tutor to come for a couple of hours a week. University students are often available for much cheaper than getting someone through a language school.

beppi wrote:

2. German public schools are kept at very similar standards. There are no "good" and "bad" schools. Just take the one near where you live!

I rather disagree on this point. Germany does not offer very equal prospects to all children in that regard. Even though the same curriculum is taught everywhere with the same pedagogy/approach, there are definitely some discrepancies between how grades & different schools are considered.

I live in Neukölln. Schools have historically had a lower level & bad rep. Therefore, a good grade at a school here will not be considered as well as in other places such as Charlottenburg or Zehlendorf.

This actually continues all the way to A-levels. The Abitur is not a state level exam, but it is held by the different Länder. Therefore, a good grade at A-levels in Berlin will not be considered as well as a good grade in Bayern.

All of this is important because picking the "wrong" primary school means your kids might have less chances to get into the "right" high school, which in turns might mean he might not get into the desired University afterwards.

I'm glad I won't be putting my kids through this.

This is why there is a heightened competition to get into the international schools btw. It's a way for a lot of parents (also German parents) to get out of this unfair system. International schools are usually well regarded.

Thank you very much, Beppi! That was helpful.

TominStuttgart wrote:

Beppi gave a very good answer. I would add that it makes sense to start learning the language now if possible so they aren't completely lost.  In addition to preparatory classes at school one could consider a private tutor to come for a couple of hours a week. University students are often available for much cheaper than getting someone through a language school.

Thank you! Yes, we are thinking about hiring a private tutor or maybe even taking a course from Goethe Institut for our eldest son in coming  weeks before we move to Germany. Having a tutor in Germany would be a good idea too. Thanks!

JacquesFR wrote:

beppi wrote:

2. German public schools are kept at very similar standards. There are no "good" and "bad" schools. Just take the one near where you live!

I rather disagree on this point. Germany does not offer very equal prospects to all children in that regard. Even though the same curriculum is taught everywhere with the same pedagogy/approach, there are definitely some discrepancies between how grades & different schools are considered.

I live in Neukölln. Schools have historically had a lower level & bad rep. Therefore, a good grade at a school here will not be considered as well as in other places such as Charlottenburg or Zehlendorf.

This actually continues all the way to A-levels. The Abitur is not a state level exam, but it is held by the different Länder. Therefore, a good grade at A-levels in Berlin will not be considered as well as a good grade in Bayern.

All of this is important because picking the "wrong" primary school means your kids might have less chances to get into the "right" high school, which in turns might mean he might not get into the desired University afterwards.

I'm glad I won't be putting my kids through this.

This is why there is a heightened competition to get into the international schools btw. It's a way for a lot of parents (also German parents) to get out of this unfair system. International schools are usually well regarded.

Thank you. International schools were something we considered first. As we began exploring them, we realized that there are two issues there:

1. They have long waiting lists. Our son goes to the 4th grade (or 3rd grade if we decide to lose a year). So getting out of the waiting list will be even more difficult because the available spots will be given to those who continue from the previous grade.

2. From what we've found so far, if you go to any grade higher than 1st, all these schools require to be fluent in one language (English or German) and have very good skills in the second one. We can deal with passing an English exam, but our kids have a zero level of German at this point.

beppi wrote:

1. Preparatory classes, to bring foreign kids up to the level needed to enter German public school, are offered at some public schools and are free of charge. Enquire at the school of your choice or the local Schulamt! Please note that your kid will probably lose an academic year because of this.
2. German public schools are kept at very similar standards. There are no "good" and "bad" schools. Just take the one near where you live!
3. Home schooling is not allowed in Germany, so this is not an option! (In addition, going to school and meeting other kids is the best way to "get used to the new environment.")
4. Most teachers will speak some level of English. But as they learn at an astonishing speed, your kids will also be able to translate for you after a few months!

Note: Bilingual public schools here are geared towards German kids learning more foreign language, not foreign kids integrating better.
Typically, they start with just a few (unimportant) subjects taught in the foreign language and work themselves up to 50% foreign/50% German in later years.
This might not be helpful in your situation.

Thank you very much, Beppi! That was helpful.

masycheff wrote:

TominStuttgart wrote:

Beppi gave a very good answer. I would add that it makes sense to start learning the language now if possible so they aren't completely lost.  In addition to preparatory classes at school one could consider a private tutor to come for a couple of hours a week. University students are often available for much cheaper than getting someone through a language school.

Thank you! Yes, we are thinking about hiring a private tutor or maybe even taking a course from Goethe Institut for our eldest son in coming  weeks before we move to Germany. Having a tutor in Germany would be a good idea too. Thanks!

When in summer are you moving?

During the Berlin summer holidays (this year: 7th July to 19th August) there are actually several language day camps for children.

When we still lived in Scotland, my younger daughter was once a 'guest child' = Gastkind at a Berlin Kindergarten for three weeks, which was excellent and other years she attended language day camps or swim camps (with all German kids).

I actually just signed her up for a language day camp with fun Berlin activities for this summer because she is still struggling with her mother tongue! My older daughter is very talented in languages and can switch between several with ease, but the younger one is really only comfortable in English, after living in the UK for most of her life, so I hope that some specialized German as a foreign language classes will help more than regular German in school.

JacquesFR wrote:

This actually continues all the way to A-levels. The Abitur is not a state level exam, but it is held by the different Länder. Therefore, a good grade at A-levels in Berlin will not be considered as well as a good grade in Bayern.

You meant the "Abitur" IS a state-level exam, as all educational matters are decided by the individual states ("Länder"). And yes, there are differences: Generally, the further south you go, the better (Bavaria is top). But for all school and university access the grades are considered and treated as qual. (What individual employers think is of course their own decision, but this certainly does not matter for the primary schools we are discussing here.)
Therefore, the following statement is also untrue:

JacquesFR wrote:

All of this is important because picking the "wrong" primary school means your kids might have less chances to get into the "right" high school, which in turns might mean he might not get into the desired University afterwards.

Instead, the German school system is very open to move up or down based on the student's actual abilities.

JacquesFR wrote:

International schools are usually well regarded.

Berlin probably has more options, but here in Stuttgart we have exactly two international schools:
One mostly serves kids of the military bases and is so USA-centric that I think the classification "international" is debatable. The other is trying to fulfil all expectations of all nationalities and systems (incl. German ones, due to regulations and because some kids might stay on), which involves too many compromises to allow for a consistent pedagogic concept.
The quality range of international schools is definitely much wider than that of public schools - and none of them is free (or cheap).

beppi wrote:

here in Stuttgart we have exactly two international schools:

Sorry, we do have a third one: A Turkish school run by the Gülen movement. But this is not an option for most foreign kids for other reasons.

I'm surprised that the issue of cost in context of international schools didn't get emphasized on this thread. Most are in the 12,000 to 15,000 Euro/year range. I think it is mostly those who come for a really high level job for a limited time will have this paid as a perk of recruiting them. Considering public schools are free, most people would hesitate paying for this, if they even could,  especially if they have multiple kids.

Some might do it for a year - or two at most as a transition period. But kids being raised in Germany for some years should eventually pick up the language well enough to manage in a normal school. A kid who just has a year or two left in school, or is only planning to stay this long in Germany, might not want to lose a year academically and avoid this by going to an international school rather than a public one.

As far as cheap tutors, a tip is that all German Universities will have one or more locations with a pin-board where advertisements for people offering or looking for rooms, such jobs, or selling things like furniture, appliances or bicycles is standard.