English-speaking schools in Düsseldorf

We are moving to either Cologne or Düsseldorf soon and can't decide what to do on the school front. We have 2 boys nearly 3 and 4, who, along with me, speak no german. Does anyone have any experiences of the International schools in Bonn and Düsseldorf - what is their turnover rate of kids, the Europaschule in Bornheim or St Georges school on Koln? Any info would be much appreciated. Has anyone just sent their kids to a german school, what were their experiences?

Thanks

I've no experience, but in case you haven't seen it already, here is the website for the International School of Düsseldorf.

See also the related discussion topics:

• International schools in Bonn
• International schools in Dortmund

You're probably already better informed than I am on the international schools. St Georges is small & expensive but has a good reputation. The choice of International vs German depends on how long you intend to stay. Most of these institutions require you to 'opt out' from the German school system, eventually offering some kind of Baccalaureat instead of the German 'Abitur' (A-level equivalent).

German primary schools normally start at age 6, and 'non-native' children are now supposed to pass some kind of German proficiency test before they are admitted. Your boys would probably pick up enough in kindergarten/preschool in 2/3 years to 'qualify' in time.
(Our kids, 13 and 8, have grown up here anyway, so this was never an issue for us. We only have a problem with English lessons in school, which we've tried to avoid if possible).

School standards are very variable here - with primary school you have more-or-less no choice but to send them to the nearest one. For secondary (Gymnasium, Realschule) it pays to be picky - we looked at 4 or 5 before deciding (again, English was an issue: our elder daughter has to suffer 5 years' Latin instead, poor thing!).

Thanks very much for this...will take all info on board.

If you have such a negative attitude, no wonder your daughter feels that studying Latin equals suffering.

Think about putting your 3 & 4 year olds into a german kindergarten. They are at an age where they can learn a second language quickly, an opportunity they will never have again. This may also give you time to look more closely at where they can go to school later.

Whoops - perhaps I trod on a latinophile nerve there? No offence intended, and in any case my opinion on the pros & cons of learning dead languages is definitely off-thread. The point is that English is compulsory at school here, starting from first principles - ABC, Peter & Jane, "my cat is blue - what is yours called?", and so on. In NRW they'll even be introducing it in the third grade of primary school (which will be our next battle starting in August ).

Although perhaps not too relevant to the initial query - there is a school in the west of Cologne (Kreuzgasse) which offers a bilingual German-French curriculum. This might have been an interesting option had we lived a bit closer. Sadly no equivalent German-English school (yet), though I have heard of a few Gymnasien offering certain subjects in English (History, Geography, Literature, etc.)

Has it been recommended to you by anyone? There are a few schools in NRW that are recognised by the French Ministry of Education but Lycée Kreuzgasse is not among them; I'm wondering why that is, especially since they (at least according to their website) apparently prepare students for the French baccalauréat.

Can't help you there, at the moment, Kay, but will enquire when we're back from holiday in 3 weeks' time. My boss's wife teaches there (if memory serves) and should be informed about the legal status of their Bac.

Thanks but there's no need to make any enquiries on my behalf; I'm not really interested in the school, I was just curious about its exact status.
BTW, enjoy your holidays!