The International School of Hamburg (ISH) was founded in 1957 as Germany’s very first international school. It remains the only educational institution in Hamburg accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. ISH is an independent, coeducational, state-recognized, supplementary day school that serves students aged three (preschool/kindergarten) through grade 12. The school year comprises two semesters extending from late August to late June.
Organization: ISH is operated independently by Internationale Schule Hamburg e.V., a registered not-for-profit association. Its 11-member board of directors, which is elected for two-year terms by the association’s members, represents ISH under the law.
Curriculum: ISH offers the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) (ages 3-10), the IB Middle Years Program (MYP) (ages 11-15), and the IB Diploma Program (DP) and IB Career-related Program (CP) (ages 16-18). This provides a seamless flow from preschool/kindergarten to qualification for entry into U.S. and other colleges and universities. ISH’s testing program includes the College Board tests. English is both the school and the administrative language. German, French, and Spanish are taught as foreign languages. An extensive English-as-an-Additional–Language (EAL) program is offered in both the junior school (primary 3-grade 5) and high school (grades 6-10). Special support is provided for children with moderate learning difficulties.
Faculty: In the 2022-2023 school year, ISH has 156 total staff including 108 teachers, 25 of whom are U.S. citizens, 37 host-country nationals, and 47 third-country nationals from 22 different countries. All teachers are required to have a teaching certificate.
Enrollment: At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, enrollment was 704. Of the total, 64 were U.S. citizens; 356 were host-country nationals; and 248 were third-country nationals.
Facility: In January 2010, ISH moved to new state-of-the-art school premises with extensive grounds in a pleasant, tree-lined suburb of Hamburg. Its facilities include a double-sized gymnasium with a climbing wall, an all-weather soccer pitch, modern science laboratories, a large and sunny library with 40,000+ materials and an outdoor reading area, a 370-seat auditorium with stage technology, and two large outdoor playgrounds. August 2015 saw the inauguration of a new three-story west wing with 12 new classrooms and two new science labs, a sports hall, a fitness studio, and an A/V equipped multipurpose room for conferences and dance lessons. The outdoor sports facilities now include a volleyball court, a sprint track, a soccer field, and long jump facilities.
Finances: In the 2022-2023 school year the annual tuition fees are as follows: Primary 1: 11.270, Primary 2: 12.140, Primary 3: 13.810, Grades 1-2: 17.660, Grades 3-5: 18.690, Grades 6-8: 20.040, Grades 9-10: 21.130, Grades 11-12: 21.970. There is a €500 per child application fee. There is also a nonrefundable, campus development fee of €7,500 for students in grades 1-12, payable over two years. (All fees payable in euros).
Special Needs: Download the Special Needs Profile (2023 Special Needs Profile- Germany, Hamburg) for this school to learn more about their capability to support students with exceptionalities.
This Fact Sheet is intended to provide general information. Prospective users of the schools may wish to inquire further of A/OPR/OS or contact the school directly for more specific and up-to-the-minute information. Information and statistics are current as of September 2022 and are provided by the school.