Parent's Review of International School Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

International School Hamburg

In what town or city is this school located?

Hamburg

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

International with heavy British influence

What grade levels are represented at this school?

k-12

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

mostly driven by parents, there is bus to provide service to and from city center

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

Current facilities are not great, but the school is moving to a new purpose built facility, which appears to be great. Extra-curricular are very limited, not inter murals and very limited choices

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

Not really anything, apart from telling us that it will be ok. I don't think such program exists.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

Everything is organized by parents themselves, schools does not seem to take part in anything. Teachers are rarely seen at any school events. PTA is active and organizes orientation day for new parents, have country reps, a few activities. Most activities revolve around fund raising.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

We ended up withdrawing our child from the school and moving from hamburg. My advice if you have children, don't move to hamburg, this school is the only option and it is not a very good one. There is an attempt to change things, but I think the school needs a complete revamping, most teachers been there for very long time, while some are good, others are not at all, there is no accountability for teachers, very strong union which kills any attempt to change things for the better. School with the exception of few teacher and administrators is not willing to communicate with parents. They now have new director, so things may change, but not soon enough for us. I would give it a few years before considering the school.

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