International/British schools near Landstuhl

My husband has been offered a job at the American Hospital. We are in Seattle, he is American I am British. We have three children in 2nd grade, Kindegarten and age 2. We would like a school that they could all attend ie offers Kinder/preschool once the baby is old enough. We don't think we will be looking at the American schools or German schools. What are the other options? We would also be interested in Catholic schools.

I presume you have searched for Landstuhl in the web. It looks to be a rather small place closish to the French border.

I would be surprised if there was an international school nearby. I believe its the former US zone so a British school is unlikely.

Try getting your husband's future employer to assist.

It's in the former French zone, USAFE has always had a large number of bases in the area however, and USAREUR is about to move several sub-units there in the next 5 years due to cheaper base operating cost. There's a DODDS elementary/middle school in Landstuhl, and another DODDS school in larger Kaiserslautern in the region.

I think the closest private english-language international school is in Neustadt about 25 miles east. Also offers Kindergarten.

As for Catholic schools, the Diocese of Speyer in this list only lists a Realschule in Landstuhl and a combined Realschule/Gymnasium in Kaiserslautern (these would be for age ~10 and above, and in German).

Bad luck ... all the Catholic schools in the region are German

Perhaps the German-American Community Office in K´town could assist you ...

What is the commute time from Landstuhl to Heidelburg or Stuttgart? Would be interested in German Catholic schools. Thanks for your help.

Unless your Husband is active duty Military or have a GS (Govt) job with TESA Status, then you will not be able to send your kids to DODDS Schools.

Aprox Drive Times:
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Landstuhl to Heidelburg: 90min
Landstuhl to Stuttgart: 2.5 hrs

We like the sound of Heidelberg, anyone with experience of Heidelberg International School? Maybe I'm in the wrong forum. We may qualify for DODDS but it is not our first choice right now.

Err... that's outside rushhour of course.

I cannot testify to the academic achievements of any of these places, my kids went to the Dod School. But here is the information if you are interested. There is no way at all that your kids could go to the International School in Stuttgart or Heidelberg purely because the commuting time would make it nigh on impossible to have a life. There is an international boarding school in the Black forest but your childs ages make me think you would not really be interested in that!!

There is Faith Baptist School which is about a 15 minute drive from Landstuhl., Faith Baptist School is a private school and it has grades k through 5th. They use the A Beka curriculum. They also have art, music, and German class. It is located half way in between Ramstein AB and Vogelweh. Tuition is $3900 a year. Their phone number is: 0631-318-7519 http://www.faithbaptistchurch.de/school.htm

There is also a Montessori school between Ramstein and Landstuhl. C&K Children's House is a Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten that is located right outside of the West gate of RAB on your way to Landstuhl. Ph#06371-15127

You actually do still have the option of sending your child to the DoD school but ONLY if they have space available. Tuition is approx $20,000 a year. http://www.lans-ems.eu.dodea.edu/ Enrollement information is here including tuition fees http://www.eu.dodea.edu/enrollment/

There is also a British military school called St. David's in Ramstein (Up to age 11) Again they occasionally will take tuition paying children on a space available basis.

AGAPE Christian Academy is another private school in the area. They accept children grades K4-12th. They also use the A Beka Curriculum. Supplement to the curriculum, they offer a computer lab, music program, and Host nation language. They also have a Master level certified Special Education Teacher. This school is located in Ramstein Village and is right outside of the west gate of Ramstein AB. This is the e-mail address: AGAPEacademy@cs.com and their phone number is:06371-463440 Mon-Fri 8am-3pm http://www.agapeinternationalacademy.com/

To add to that, the International School in Neustadt (about 30-40 minutes from Landstuhl i'd guess if you drive fast): http://www.is-neustadt.de/
Part of the Swiss SBW group. Tuition is around $17,000 a year.

Thank you for all your feedback. If my replies are a bit vague it's because I am tapping them out on my iPhone inbetween family craziness. Thank you Kato for your link. This school looks really interesting as 80 per cent of students are native German speakers. Anything up to an hour commute is doable as far as dh is concerned as its nothing next to his current travel. As I write this he is on a plane home after flying out this morning.

Even with maps and online searches it is obviously trickey on getting a handle on distances and commute times. As a European who has lived in the USA for 12 years I am used to a one and a half hour drive just to get to the next town. A big draw for us is the hope that although dh may commute our family can be based in a location where we don't need to use a car constantly but can walk, cycle to school etc.

Amazingly although I have no German and have never been to German my last job pre kids was as a coordinator for a high school exchange program. I would match families, orientate students, prepare visa documents, etc. I think this is testament to the German populations very high standard of English. Now it will be my turn to be on a steep learning curve. We are very excited.

This is worrying: you have never been here, dont speak the lingo & are trying to set up your future life from 8000 miles away... (the country is called Germany )

IMHO you are ever-estimating the ability to be able to use English language in every-day life.

Also be aware that regular traffic queues will dampen your enthusiasm for daily 1-hour drives. I'm happy to have given that up & work from home...

Well, one could get from Neustadt to Landstuhl in under 45 minutes by train too, direct connection by S-Bahn.
(including connections with a layover in Kaiserslautern there's a train every 30 minutes even, makes it rather flexible)

It's really not that bad. I have a longer commute...

As for the English, the Kaiserslautern/Landstuhl region would of course be better to live in. Some 20% of the entire population there are US Military, dependants, contractors etc.

Kaiserslautern Military Community

HEM the misspelling of Germany was a typo. Did I mention I am using my phone surrounded by 3 kids? I already moved 8,000 miles away from my family/culture 12 years ago as I am from London. The job is a great opportunity for my dh and we would both like our children to be bilingual as well as live in Germany and travel thru Europe. We don't wish to live in K-Town we want to be in a living situation where our whole family is exposed to German culture and language. I want to learn German, if we live in a town with an international school I am hoping I will have access to teachers who understand transitions and culture shock.

I connected with my former boss yesterday and was delighted to find out that one of the German coordinators is flying in today for a week. I had a great working relationship with her and so we are looking forward to meeting her. She is from Freiburg. My boss also said there us another new coordinator closer to where we will be who is a great friend, so he will get me in touch.

Of course it will be a huge move but it is most likely happening as dh already has a contract in hand. The benefits outweigh the negatives for us. My passport just expired so I won't be going with dh next week that's why I am asking for info.

If I make typos please have patience. Thank you for all your responses.