The FederalRepublic of Germany bought Douglas House and grounds in 1969 and built a school around it. The house became the reception and school offices. The school opened in September 1971. Additional school buildings, designed by the German firm Kersten Mertinoff & Struhk, were erected in the grounds between 1972 and 1983. The executive architects were W H Marmorek and Clifford Culpin & Partners. The school opened to primarily serve children of diplomatic staff from the embassies of German-speaking countries, while some expatriate children were enrolled.
Operations
The School Association's Board, an unpaid group that operates the school, determines the school's financial, economic and legal business, as well as budgeting and personnel matters.
Campus
The school consists of four main buildings – a building for the upper and middle school, a newly established building for the elementary school, a building for pre-school and kindergarten and a sports building including a gym, a swimming pool and changing rooms.
Curriculum
The school largely follows the curriculum of Baden-Württemberg. English is taught from the first year. The aim is for students to be fully bilingual when they graduate from the school so as to be equally equipped to attend German-speaking and English-speaking universities.
Kindergarten and pre-school
The bilingual kindergarten and pre-school focus on preparing the children for elementary school, teaching children how to deal with certain situations and helping them develop self-confidence and independence. Since July 2013 the school has been exempt from the British EYFS learning and development requirements and is now guided by Baden-Wuerttemberg's curriculum.
Elementary school
The curriculum in the elementary school consists of German, English, mathematics, social studies & sciences, music, arts, religion and physical education.
In middle and upper school students study 10 to 13 subjects – German, English, French or Latin, mathematics, physics, chemistry, music, arts, religion or ethics, history, geography and politics. Students can choose Spanish as an additional language. The number and variety of subjects varies according to the student's grade. The school offers a broad and differentiated education with bilingual units for different talents and prepares students for university life.
Qualifications
The school has offered the International Baccalaureate since 2010; it is taught in English. Students in Years 11 and 12 can, if they wish, study for both the International Baccalaureate and the Abitur.
Faculty and staff
In 2000, about 36 of the teachers were locally hired, while the German government posted the other 14 there for two- to six-year terms.
School life
The school provides networking opportunities for adults from the German community. Much of the community's social activities and sporting clubs for Germans are organised around the school, which "provides a forum for the expression of Germanness".
Sport, music and art
Teams from the school have taken part in international sporting events in soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton and tennis. Students take part in school concerts and in the Jugend musiziert competition, an international music competition in Germany between children and young people held at regional, federal and national level. The school also takes part in art competitions such as the annual exhibition of the Royal College of Art.
School exchanges
The school operates a programme of school exchange visits, where the students visit a different school for a day and participate in the classes, and family exchange visits where they meet their exchange partner on a Friday afternoon and spend time with them and their family until the Saturday. There are also programmes for students in Years 10, 11 and 12, where they visit the Russell School to teach the German language and culture to Year 5 students.
School charity
The school has its own charity group, DSLaktiv – Schüler für Schüler, founded in 2010. Every year students in the group choose a different charity to support and organise activities and projects to fundraise for it.
School events
As well as teaching the German curriculum the school promotes German culture. Every school year there are readings by authors and poets and performances by musicians. The school has Osterbrunnen and Oktoberfest celebrations, as well as Weihnachtsmarkt, a Christmas fair. There are also regular Frühschoppen events.
