Platanus School Berlin

The most important admission criterion at our school is that all students can speak either German OR English at a native level. This applies to all Year levels. It is also important that the parents speak German or English at least well enough for us to communicate without any problems. In Years 3 and 4, at least some prior knowledge of the other language is desirable and increases the chance of admission. In Years 5 and 6, it is necessary for English-speaking students to be able to speak German at least at B1 level in order to be able to successfully complete the "Mittlerer Schulabschluss" (intermediate school leaving certificate) in Year 10. From Year 7 onwards our students must be able to have German language skills at least at B2 level. For an admission into our Years 11 to 13 Geman must be on C1-level. Interested parents/students will find our online application form as well as all relevant details on our website under "Registration". After receiving the complete application we check if we invite students and parents to a get-to-know appointment or trial days.

For our ” Firsties” in the coming school year and their parents, we organise a get-to-know-you appointment. With patience and attention, we make the children feel comfortable and playfully carry out various individual and group activities. We are particularly interested in the physical and cognitive development, the social interaction in a group and the language level of the children. In the meantime, our school leadership and admissions team will hold meetings with the parents to discuss mutual expectations and wishes as well as to clarify any questions regarding admission and our concept. For applications for a school place in the classes already in progress, it is necessary for the students to complete trial days or, in most cases, a whole trial week with us. During this time, they visit our school like our own students and will also take short one-time tests on their current learning level in Mathematics, German and English. At the end of the week, we collect feedback from all teachers and educators on the students’ academic performance as well as her/his work and social behaviour. For the trial period, we charge a fee of 30 EUR per day. During this time, the students are insured at our school and can of course take part in lunch. For trial periods, absence from the school the student is currently attending will also be excused. For admission to Year 7 (start of secondary level), we also offer trial days/a trial week or a get-to-know-you appointment. During this trial visit, we spend time together with the applicants to gain a personal impression and also test their learning level in Mathematics, German and English. We also invite parents to a get-to-know-you appointment for a joint conversation. After the get-to-know appointment or at the end of the trial week, the Head of School of the respective Year decides on admission.

We also have a waiting list for all classes. If we are currently unable to offer your child a school place, their application will be placed on our waiting list. This means your child will still be considered for admission if a spot becomes available – for example, due to a family moving away or a student changing schools. A place on the waiting list is not a rejection, but also not a guarantee of admission. Whether and when we are able to offer a place depends on several factors – especially the balance within the class (e.g. girls/boys, language profile: German, English or bilingual) and the available capacity in the respective year group. If a place becomes available, we will proactively contact the parents by email or phone. We would like to point out that we cannot provide any binding information about whether or when a place might open up.

The enrolment period for the new school year always begins on the 1st of August of the preceding year. We also offer spaces during the current school year, so there is no deadline for registrations.

We also offer school places during the current school year.

Lessons begin at 8:10 for students in Years 1 to 6 and at 8:30 for students in Years 7 to 10. The start for Years 11 to 13 varies depending on the choice of courses.

Depending on the grade and the day of the week, the compulsory school day for our classes end between 13:30 and 15:30.

Early care supervision takes place before lessons begin, from 6 to 8am, for all primary school students whose parents already have to go to work. The children rest or play together and start the new day in a slow and relaxed manner. The afternoon supervision is provided until either 4 pm or 6 pm, according to the individual supervision vouchers. This consists of free play time in the schoolyard or in our spacious early/late care room on the ground floor. And our extracurricular activities like afternoon clubs will take place after lessons.

Our classes are capped at a maximum of 25 students. In terms of class arrangements, we pay attention to achive a balances composition of German-speaking, English-speaking and bilingual students.

In our primary school (Years 1 to 6) the number of students is 25 students. In our secondary school (grades 7 to 10) the average number of students is 22 students approximately.

Almost all main subjects are taught with a teaching assistant.

Total numbers of students is 542 in primary and secondary school.

Around 40 family languages are spoken within our school community, including Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, Finnish, French, Greek, Gujrathi, Hindi, Indonesian, Icelandic, Kazakh, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Dutch, Persian, Turkish, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Serbian, Spanish, Thai, Czech, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian and Vietnamese, whereby English forms the most frequently represented family language.

Our students can choose from a very wide range of clubs - more than 30 clubs every school year - in the field of sports, music, dance, art, languages, media/computers, maths, science, engineering, handiwork and crafts. For a closer look please check the club plan of the current school year on the website. Our educators and teachers design their clubs according to their strengths, abilities and experiences. Due to constant new ideas and developments, we are constantly adding to the clubs we offer. From grade 6 upwards, the students support us in the selection and organisation of their own clubs. The majority of our clubs take place in either the German or English language. Some clubs are led by two club leaders in both languages. We also work in cooperation with external experts and partners to offer even more variety and to expand our club offers even further. We organise many of our sports clubs in this way with different associations (for example, "Wasserratten e.V." – Swimming, "Kletterhalle Berta Block" – Climbing). The music school "Schneegans" offers one-to-one music lessons in piano, violin and guitar in our school building at an additional cost.

Physical Education is taught in every year level according to Berlin framework curriculum. Swimming lessons are compulsory for all children in the third grade. We offer a lot of activities in the afternoon clubs, e.g. Handball, Basketball, Swimming, Football and Yoga. We organise competitions, sports events on our project days and a charity run every school year.

We are of the opinion, that the development of children and young people’s identity is significantly supported by personal and shared experiences, challenging tasks and practical work both inside and outside of school. We have developed the “Work & Travel” programme for our students in Years 5-10 which offers active career orientated experience as well giving them a foundation for life after school. This program will help adolescents to cope progressively with their own personal challenges, will strengthen their courage and self-belief and pave the way for a fulfilling career path built around their own ideas and future plans. We also offer the Duke of Edinburgh Awards for students in Years 9 to 11. Robotics, rugby or rock band – in more than 30 afternoon clubs, every student can find their favorite activities that are fun and promote a number of skills.

We have a multi-sport hard top court, an extra sports pitch and ping-pong tables on our school yard. Physical Education classes take place in our gym and in the outdoor Kissingen-Stadion, weather permitting. The latter is only a kilometer away and can also be reached by bus. Swimming lessons take place in the indoor swimming pool “Thomas-Mann-Schwimmhalle” in Prenzlauer Berg.

All of our teachers are native speaker or speak German/English/Spanish at mother-tongue level.

Immersion means that the new language is learned naturally and is therefore not forced. English and German lessons always take place in team teaching with two teachers and subject lessons are also often taught in team teaching. In the course of the entire school day – also during the co-curricular enrichment program and afternoon activities – the transfer students have many opportunities to hear and speak German or English. If there is a special need for support, they can either take part in our individual support in “German as a Second Language” (DaZ) or “English as an Additional Language” (EAL).

We have a specialized and qualified SENCO-Team with teachers for dyslexia, dyscalculia and learning coordinators in primary and secondary school.

Our team creates individual support plans for every student with special learning needs and there are remedial lessons in the main subjects of German, English and mathematics outside of lessons for students who need further support in these subjects.

We do not offer a special program for gifted students.