Where to live when children are at the FIS

[bopper 40]

We will be moving to the Erlangen area soon (Siemens) and we have two children that will be attending the Franconian Internation School. Does anyone have advice on good areas to live based on that criteria?

[EONAktiv 0]

You have a large area of choice open to you. You can live in Erlangen itself or one of the suburban towns on the railway line running towards Bamberg e.g. Baiersdorf or Bubenreuth. The suburban towns give you the advantage of a more rural atmosphere bigger gardens and the kids can play on streets usually, plus you are only five minutes by suburban train from Erlangen. My son also attends FIS and they have a bus system that picks up the kids every morning from most of the surrounding villages and towns so you are at no disadvantage living outside Erlangen. I presume you are going to work for Siemens - everyone does in Erlangen. Generally speaking, we have being living here over 10 years and find that there are two types of peple who come and work for siemens on short-term delegation. The first live in a slightly cocooned world where they socialise with ex-pats and never try to integrate, these people usually live in Erlangen and go to FIS. Dont get me wrong FIS is a great school, but it is so tempting to focus totally on the FIS social life. The second variety lives in the outlying towns where they experience the real Bavaria and get a flavour of the country. If you plan to live here longer than two or three years and your kids or 3ish then I might even suggest a year or two in a German kindergarten for the kids. I can guarantee that they would speak German fluently within 12 months and it is a great advantage to them as it develops the mind and makes learning languages later on much easier. Anyway, whatever you decide to do Erlangen or elsewhere the area is a really lovely part of Germany and you will have a wonderful time here.

[torr 0]

My daughter is currently in class 2 in a local German school, however I find quite narrow minded as its in a small village. We have also just found out that she will probably have to repeat year 2 as her German is not quite upto scratch, however her English isnt perfect either, however I feel its a lot better than her German. Both I and my husband are british and I find the homework really hard to keep up with as she gets so much.

We live in Bamber so would need to commute but its only 30mins by car.

A few questions

Is the school full time

Do you feel that the education is upto standard

Do the kids get lots of homework

Is there a good social network for the kids

Do a lot of kids not stay for so long.

Any help appreciated

[sbaissen 8]

We've been at the FIS for five months and we love it. I agree that if you want to it is possible to live in the "cocoon" that exists at the FIS. We live in Nurnberg and utilize the bus system that is mentioned above. The children have a light to medium homework load. There are many after school activities and I find that there is plenty of socialization. With any international school it is normal that there are children leaving often, but there seems to be a core group of children who remain especially the local German children. I have German friends who plan to send there children there from kindergarten through the high school. The school day is from 8:35-3:40. You can visit their website for a good overview. There is a temptation to socialize only within the ex-pat community, but I believe that we have a good balance between the school and trying to experience the "real" Germany.

[torr 0]

Thanks sbaissen,

Ive called the school and will have a look around.

Just so many pros and cons cant make my mind up.

Vicky

[Ginny 0]

We are planning to move to Erlangen for work (Siemens) and have three children all bilingual (Australian English hahah and German)...just wondering has anyone experience with the local primary schools there? Our daughter 8 has been going to a normal German school here in Hannover and my son 6 is just about to start...we are not sure whether to change to the international school or keep with a good german school (if there are any around Erlangen)... and how expensive is the FIS?

 

Also can anyone reccomend a nice area where we can rent a house for three children and a dog? around Erlangen??

 

thanks for any help

 

cheers

Virginia

[bopper 40]

I guess some of it depends on your/your husband's situation with Siemens...we are delegates from the USA so Siemens pays for the FIS for our girls. Fees can be found at: http://www.the-fis.de/fee_2010.pdf

 

School at the FIS is now out for the summer (they are on the international school schedule). They start back up on August 23, 2010. I am not sure if you could take a tour now.

 

I think one of the things you need to think about is do you want your child to go to school with German speaking kids or English speaking kids?

Do you want your child to go to a school with the village mentality or an international mentality?

I suppose some of it matters how long you plan to stay in Germany. I would imagine if you plan to be here a long time than a German school might be better. If you have plans to return to Australia (?) then an International School might be the thing.

[ebermannstadt 1]

 

We are planning to move to Erlangen for work (Siemens) and have three children all bilingual (Australian English hahah and German)...just wondering has anyone experience with the local primary schools there? Our daughter 8 has been going to a normal German school here in Hannover and my son 6 is just about to start...we are not sure whether to change to the international school or keep with a good german school (if there are any around Erlangen)... and how expensive is the FIS?

 

Also can anyone reccomend a nice area where we can rent a house for three children and a dog? around Erlangen??

 

thanks for any help

 

cheers

Virginia

 

You could look at the Montessori School in Forchheim. Two of my children go there and we are very pleased with it. Your children can even continue there after the age of 10 right up to 16. Forchheim is very close to Erlangen but house prices are much lower. In fact there are buses, taxis and trains for school children anyway so any medium sized village can also be attractive. Safer and cheaper. We live in Ebermannstadt, which is a great community with many facilities.

Ed

www.ebermannstadt,de

[Ginny 0]

thanks ebermannstadt, your information has been really helpful...as i am in a bit of a fix as to know what to do, where to live, schools etc and trying not to inflict too much change on the kids..i.e. back to and English speaking school or staying with a mainly German speaking School...people keep telling me children are very adaptable but if they are not happy as you know it can be stressful for everyone...thanks again Virginia