Privatschulen beim Isartor

My family will be moving from Berlin to Munich and our biggest dilemma is appropriate schooling for our 9 year old son.
I've read quite a bit quite a bit about MIS & BIS and they both seem to be really great. But considering the high school fees and the high student turnover (looking for new best friends every year:( , we are currently researching other options.

We are basically looking for a school with a very good educational reputation, that hopefully offers a strong english curriculum as well. The only one we have found so far that meets the criteria is the Privatschulen beim Isartor. Has anyone heard of this? Any first hand experiences or advice will be GREATLY appreciated!

Also, does anyone know of any other schools that would work for an English speaking boy going to 4th grade? His German is also pretty good, but not perfect yet.

Thanks from worried mom!

Why not send him to German school? He is young enough to pick up the language quickly.

i don't want him to lose his strengths in English.

But surely if your native language is english (as it says in your profile), he wouldn't lose his english anyway, assuming you were to carry on using it at home? And then he would have the benefit of learning german as well - the more languages a child can learn in a native speaker environment, the better in my opinion...

of course you are both right. we have experienced this first hand here in berlin. when we first arrived here, he didn't speak any german, so we sent him to an international pre-school, but we realized that his german was not improving as fast as it should. after first grade, we switched him to a bilingual school, and that was fantastic, he speaks fluent german now, much better than me! but of course the articles and grammar are still an issue. the other downside of international schools is that children never fully appreciate where they are living and miss out on the local culture. that's why we are looking for bilingual schools and not international schools.

we do speak english at home, but it's not the same as formal education. our wish is that the kids receive a completely bilingual education, so that they are equally strong in both languages. that's why we are looking at Isartor.

The Isarschulen are not bilingual schools. The children start English lessons in the first grade (as opposed to the third grade in a Bavarian state school), but the level is very basic. By the time they are in fourth grade, the children will most likely be ahead of their public school counterparts, but certainly not on par with a native speaker like your son. Not to criticize the school, but I think it's probably not quite what you're looking for. Unfortunately, I don't think what you want exists in Munich, other than perhaps at the European School, which is practically impossible to get into unless you work for the Patent Office. Don't mean to sound all gloomy, that's just the way it is here; Berlin is so much bigger and has correspondingly more to offer. That said, I've heard good things about the Isarschulen, so definitely take a look at them. The option of sending your child to a state school is not a bad one, though. Our two children are at German schools, though we are both English-speaking Canadians. My son just started the 5th grade at our local Gymnasium last September, and though he of course finds English easy, it's not a cake walk; the grammar terms are all new for him and overall it's really helping him with his spelling. If you have any more questions, just pm me.

The school does however offer the opportunity to do History or Geography in English.Isarschule This school may be of interest for my daughter if she doesn't get over the problems she's having with the school in Freising, so I would also be interested in any comments people have got about the school.

i know isarschule is not bilingual, but it offers a little more than the public system. i guess i'll have to accompany either with a bit of private tutoring.
so info on good english tutors will also be appreciated:)

thank you every one! you give me hope that it can be done!

oh and by the way, berlin just seems better. sure there are a lot of so-called bilingual/international schools. but they are either very expensive or just starting up and therefore have major problems!

it's gotta be better in munich!