Education and schools in FRM

Looking for a school in Frankfurt and the RheinMain-region

One challenge of families moving to Germany is finding a school that suits best the children’s needs. Therefore, they have the choice between the German public school system and private alternatives.

Public schools vs. International schools

Initially need to be said that the German education system is very different to schooling programs in many other countries but very successful in producing high-performing students. Therefore, the majority of German students attends public schools and of course, the entire German school system, including the universities, is available to the children of expatriates.

The catch is that classes in public schools are conducted in German, which is usually all right for school beginners but becomes more and more of a problem as the children get older. Nevertheless, there are also many private English-speaking schools. Although education is a function of the federal states, and there are differences from state to state, some generalizations are possible.

Children aged three to six, may attend kindergarten. After that, school is compulsory for nine or ten years. From grades 1 through 4 children attend elementary school (Grundschule), where the subjects taught are the same for all. Then, after the 4th grade, they are separated according to their academic ability and the wishes of their families, and attend one of three different kinds of schools: Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium. Grundschule teachers recommend their students to a particular school based on such things as academic achievement, self-confidence and ability to work independently. However, in most states, parents have the final say as to which school their child attends following the fourth grade.

In public schools, German is the language of instruction, in most of the private schools education happens in English. Next to the experience of private schools with various linguistic backgrounds, the educational system is continuous and portable to other international schools worldwide, which helps if the family moves to another location or returns home. In addition to that, most of the private schools offer attractive campuses, a broad range of extracurricular activities and long opening hours – in some cases until 6pm. The fees for private schools can be quite high, whereas the public education system is government-subsidized therefore tuition free.

International schools in Frankfurt and the RheinMain-region

In recent years, a large number of International schools opened in the region Frankfurt RheinMain. Contrary to the public schools, most of the following internationally oriented schools unite offers for different age levels on their campuses. Most of them start with Kindergarten (mostly from age of three); some do additionally include a nursery (for children under three years). The advantage of this system is that the kids do not have to change the environment they are accustomed to, but have all schools up to until they are graduating in one location. In the following, we will provide an overview on the different types of international schools in the greater Frankfurt area.

The first category represents all regional schools offering the International Baccalaureate – if you want to know more about the IB concept – a brief explanation of the IB system can be found here.

IB schools FrankfurtRheinMain
Name	Location
Metropolitan International School	Viernheim
Accadis International School	Bad Homburg
State International School	Seeheim-Jugenheim
Strothoff International School	Dreieich
Metropolitan School Frankfurt	Frankfurt am Main
International School Frankfurt (ISF)	Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt International School (FIS)	Frankfurt am Main
Lycée Francais Victor Hugo	Frankfurt am Main
Herderschule	Gießen
Goethe Gymnasium	Frankfurt am Main

Followed by the two official European schools of the FrankfurtRheinMain region:

European Schools FrankfurtRheinMain
Name	Location
Europäische Schule RheinMain	Bad Vilbel
Europäische Schule	Frankfurt am Main

In addition to that, some other private bilingual schools are also located in the greater Frankfurt area:

Private Bilingual Schools FrankfurtRheinMain
Name	Location
OBERMAYR Europa-Schule	Wiesbaden   Taunusstein Schwalbach
Europäische Schule	Frankfurt am Main
Phorms	Steinbach/Taunus   Frankfurt am Main
King’s College Frankfurt	Frankfurt am Main

Completing the overview with the bilingual primary schools of the FrankfurtRheinMain region. Most of them offering higher education as well:

Bilingual Primary Schools
Name	Location
Metropolitan International School	Viernheim
Accadis International School	Bad Homburg
State International School	Seeheim-Jugenheim
Strothoff International School	Dreieich
Metropolitan School Frankfurt	Frankfurt am Main
International School Frankfurt (ISF)	Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt International School (FIS)	Frankfurt am Main
Lycée Francais Victor Hugo	Frankfurt am Main
Europäische Schule RheinMain	Bad Vilbel
Europäische Schule	Frankfurt am Main
OBERMAYR Europa-Schule	Wiesbaden   Taunusstein Schwalbach Rüsselsheim
Europäische Schule	Frankfurt am Main
Phorms	Steinbach/Taunus   Frankfurt am Main
International Bilingual Montessori School	Frankfurt am Main
Japanische Internationale Schule	Frankfurt am Main
Griechische Schule	Frankfurt am Main
Private bilinguale Ganztagsschule	Wiesbaden
Erasmus School Offenbach	Offenbach