International School in Hamburg

International School Hamburg:
Located in Gross Flottbek, in the Altona district of northwest Hamburg in northern Germany, the International School Hamburg is a co-educational day school for Primary 1 (age 3) to Grade 12. The school was founded in 1957 as the first international school in Germany and offers an early childhood program, junior and senior school with programs taught primarily in English, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, a special needs department and English as a Second Language.

Junior School including Early Childhood Program:
The younger students in the Junior School, those in classes Primary 1 to Grade 2, together form our Early Childhood Centre.

The ECC occupies our new building opened in 1999 in which in addition to the 11 classrooms there are the Junior Library and specialist teaching rooms for English as a Second Language, German, Special Educational Needs and Music. They also have the use of the school´s excellent computer and sport facilities.

The students follow an established programme of study in Mathematics, Reading, Language Arts, Library, Social Studies, Science, Art, Music, Physical Education (PE) and Information Technology. The language of instruction is English. German is offered from Grade 1 onwards for students who have good basic English skills. German, Music, Information Technology, Library and PE are all taught by specialists.

Senior School:
In Grades 6-8, students take a common core of English, German, Mathematics, Social Studies or History and Geography, Science, Visual Education, Music, Drama, Physical Education and Information Technology. French or Spanish as the third language begins in grade 7. While grade 6 is taught to some extent in a self-contained situation, Grades 7 and 8 are taught by specialist subject teachers.

The Grade 9-10 programme is a pre IB course of study which involves the students in a range of subjects that, the faculty believes, will better prepare students for the IB Program in Grades 11 and 12. This pre IB Programme involves the study of English, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, Geography, German, French or Spanish, Technology, Drama, Music and Physical Education either on a compulsory or elective basis.

Throughout Grades 6-10, special classes are provided for students for whom English is a second language. The purpose of these classes is to enable the student to profit fully, and as quickly as possible, from instruction in other subjects and in more advanced classes in English.

Students in Grades 11-12 may enrol in the two year International Baccalaureate (IB) programme upon departmental recommendation.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma:
To qualify for the IB Diploma, the full IB course of study must be followed. This entails passing examinations in six subject areas, three at higher level and three at standard level,completing an Extended Essay which is an independent research study, a course in the Theory of Knowledge and participation in CAS (Creativity, Action and Social Service) activities.

Current IB subject courses are: English A/B (Higher/Standard); German A/B (H/S); Japanese A (H/S); French B (S); Spanish (H/S) Languages A1 and A2; Mathematics (H/S); Biology (H/S); Chemistry (H/S); Physics (H/S); Geography (H/S); History (H/S); Visual Arts (H/S), and Theatre (H/S). Scoring in examinations is on a scale of 1 to 7 , with 7 as the highest award possible for each subject, and 24 points are needed to qualify for the full IB Diploma. Students may also receive individual IB Certificates for which they may be granted Advanced Placement status at US colleges and universities.

English as a Second Language:
There is an extensive English as a Second Language programme (ESL), developed by the specialist teachers in the department to meet the needs of a large proportion of our students for whom English is not the first language. Teaching is conducted in small groups and at three levels. The teachers' aim is to help the children attain a level of speaking, reading and writing in English which will enable them to participate fully and with the minimum delay in mainstream classes.

Special Needs Department:
Our Special Needs Department caters for students who would benefit from additional help with the programme or who have specific learning difficulties. The Special Needs staff teaches small groups of students and also acts in an advisory role to both other staff and parents. In this respect they are assisted by the School Counsellor.