Schools

St George's School has an open day this Sunday, 7th February - it's the perfect time to look at Cologne's oldest International School.  Set up in 1985, St. Georges has been dedicated to offering English curriculum schooling to the International community right from it's inception. I met then principal Marietta Horton in 2005 when the school was split across three sites in Cologne.  At the time, she told me of the school's struggle to survive and how their search for a main school site had so far proved quite illusive.

Education is compulsory in Germany beginning at age six and continuing, in most cases, for ten years.  That is fairly common throughout Europe.  What is unique in Germany and is a throwback to the pre-war system, is that at age ten children are separated into one of three different tracks; Hauptschule, Realschule, or Gymnasium.