Most Americans choose ISL but both schools are 1 year behind the average Europaen School. If you come from a Private School you will be extremley disappointed by the International Schools in Luxembourg, .

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Sorry not sure what happened.

There is also the Europaen School which has a better reputation the the International Schools. I am not sure if you can get in.

i have friends who have their kidsin both the ISL and St. George and they are all have some difficulties with the quality of the curriculum. But you should go and see them both and see which school you like best.

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We are also moving from UK and have researched schools carefully and visited them all.... It depends on the needs of your kids. We have guaranteed access to European School and were offered a place in English section, but I felt the class sizes were too high (30) and it was too big a school. The teaching is varied, because the teachers come from around the world. It offers little support to kids with any learning difficult. ISL had good reviews but it was to expensive for us, compared to European School and St Georges. I was very impressed with St Georges and one of my kids will start there in September. I think it's up to parents to be on top of kids work so I think you'd be fine with any school if you keep on top of things. Obviously European School insist on 2 main language, so they do work the kids harder with language education etc St Geroge's seems to have a caring atmosphere and felt like a lovely school environment. What about local schools? I am sending my 3 other kids to the local school and they are in classes of 14, you wouldn't get that at any private school, though maybe at St Georges! Despite low OECD ranking, language and maths standards are high. You could start local and then transfer if your kids were struggling and that way you could integrate with locals too. Good luck! Maybe visit the schools and see what you think. At the end of the day, a school is only part of the education, and so much more about what we as parents put into it, so you'll be fine anywhere I'm sure. If you're paying yourself like we are, European School is cheapest, then St G's then ISL which is most expensive!

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The European School is for the children of employees of the European institutions but a small number of Category II and Category III pupils are accepted every year. Category II pupils are the children of employees of NATO or certain companies in Luxembourg that have negotiated a contract with the school, the fees are higher than category III. Category III children can be from anywhere but there are a limited number of spaces. Applications have to be submitted around Easter and decisions are made in June for places the following September. There are language sections for most of the EU countries. Children are taught in their mother tongue and must choose either French, German or English as their second language.

St. Georges follows the UK curriculum with children in the secondary school doing GCSEs and A levels. The ISL curriculum leads to the International Bac.

The quality of local schools varies. Based on experiences of many of our friends here, the rural schools can be less welcoming.The syllabus is very heavily weighted on languages. Children start learning through German- reading and maths-French is added when they are eight. They get a lot of homework. Children who are not linguistically inclined will struggle but, until they try the school, it is hard to know who is strong or weak in languages. Local schools tend to be weaker then the other schools in both maths and science. Check out the results of the PISA studies for a comparison with other countries.

My children are in the European school as category III students. My nephew and niece were in the local school in Bertrange, quite an international suburb, but eventually were switched to the ISL where they are doing well.
Some good friends of ours-from UK- had their son in the local system but by the end of primary his results were not great so he was heading for the second tier of the local secondary school system. He was particularly weak in maths. They switched him to St. Georges where he is thriving, his maths level has soared and he plans to do engineering when he leaves school.
We have other British and American friends whose children are doing very well in the local schools. From an integration point of view it is a better option.

Decisions about education in Luxembourg are not easy!

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Academics at ils are very poor. School is rather a holiday camp but not a proper school.

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That is completely untrue. Obviously you know nothing about the school as it's your first post to the forum and you registered today just to say something negative. You don't even know the name of the school! It's ISL-The International School of Luxembourg.

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Is English spoken at the local schools? What is the average price of the private schools that speak English? I am an American and my son will be in 8th grade next year and only speaks English. He does have ADHD so a school that is friendly towards that will also be a requirement. Just wandering what our options are...

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Hi,
We moved to Lux over 8 years ago, when my son was in the middle of 7th grade. At the time we had 2 options. The International School or St. Georges. The International School of Luxembourg was an American school system. This was important to us for a number of reasons- our children (I also had a daughter in the middle of 10th grade), would either be reentering school back in the states or would be entering a US university after graduation. At the time we came, St Georges did not go all the way through High School. Decision made. St Georges is based on the British System. Different format, and it also starts late September/October and finishes late- July. This would have an impact on things like vacations, seeing other family and working for them over the summer when all the vacations etc were different. ISL is less likely to be accomodating for any type of special need or requirement. They tend to fight IED's and do not make that particularly easy to monitor as some of my friends had issues. St. Georges is much more welcoming on that end. I am not aware of any public High Schools that teach in English. The costs of private school have gone up in the last couple of years, but the euro/dollar conversion is the lowest in ages. So if you are an expat, and have to pay yourself, it's about the same. If your company is paying, it's better. In the end, we were very happy at ISL. My kids had great experiences, amazing opportunities, and lots of travel. They tried sports they had never played (unheard of in HS in the US!) and the away games were in places like Copenhagen, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Dusseldorf to name a small number. They joined Global organizations, visited the EU here in Lux, and were interviewed by the local papers. The acted in school plays, sang in the chorus and all this while playing sports AND completing the rigorous International Baccalaureate Degree. (Which earned both scholarship money, college credits and college acceptances). Please feel free to contact me with any questions!!

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My friends son with Aspergers goes to St Georges. It usually costs anywhere from €1200-1600 per MONTH. But it is supposed to be amazing!! and has speech therapists, calm spaces, dietary needs met, etc. On FB there is a Luxembourg Parents page, offers great info too.

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I agree with the private schools for what you are looking for. You will hear about the other 2 English programs in the local schools but the challenges you will face could be quite monumental and not worth the struggle. Arriving at the beginning of high school in the English speaking, public system here is not exactly a great match for many in the American system unless you have a very self-motivated and courageous student.

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Hi!
I am a very new dummy on Expat Exchange. I even don't understand well what exactly I should have in mind when classifying somebody as an 'expat'. (my bad)
So, after have a look on all these scholls testimonials, i would like to ask you, mates: "You are all talking about private schools, right? Is there any options to public schools on Lux (the ones we will pay by mean of our anual income/revenu taxes)"?
Thanks in advance, for any help. =)

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