German School
Prepares
To Open
By Irina Titova
The St. Petersburg Times
The German federal government will be opening a school in St. Petersburg on Sept. 1 where almost all subjects will be taught in the German language. The school, which is ready to receive German, Russian and foreign pupils, will offer the traditional German school program and German school certificate. “Our goal is to become one of the top schools in St. Petersburg,” said Marcus Stadthaus, head of the Culture and Press Department at the German Consulate in St. Petersburg. At the preliminary stage the school will offer its program to pupils from the first to the seventh grade. Later the school will add another grade each year, up to the 12th. The school will also have a kindergarten which children can attend from the age of three. “Previously, the lack of a school working within the German educational program has prevented many German enterprises and organizations from sending employees with children of a school-going age to St. Petersburg,” Stadthaus said. “As a result, the German specialists who used to come here either had no children at all, or kids who were still very young or already adults. The opening of this school will create wider opportunities for German experts to come and work here,” he said. At the same time, the German school certificate will give the school’s graduates a chance to enroll at German universities straight after school graduation, Stadthaus said. “On top of that, our experience shows that German schools — and we have 133 worldwide — have become one of the main anchors for bilateral relations. In such schools, both German and international pupils establish life-long relationships with another country,” Stadthaus said. “Many international graduates from such schools go on to have professional links with Germany,” he said. The school, which is due to open at 19 Ulitsa Odoyevskogo on Vasilievsky Island, will be located in its own four-story building with a courtyard covering 2,000 square meters. The initial intake for the school and kindergarten currently amounts to 35 children. Nevertheless, the school has the capacity to take 164 children, Stadthaus said. “That means that the school is ready to receive new students at any time, even in the winter,” he said, adding that they are expecting to have an average of 10 children in each of the school’s classes. To enroll at the school, children won’t have to pass complicated exams or tests. Kindergarten and first grade Russian pupils can enter it without any knowledge of German. Those who enter the school in later grades will need to be capable of a brief chat on simple subjects with a teacher in German. Most subjects at the school, including math, history, geography, physics and chemistry will be taught in German. Both Russian and foreign students will also have lessons where the Russian language is taught, as well as English. Other languages will be optional. Arts, sports and music will also be taught in Russian. “The school is very flexible, and if a student wants to study Korean, we’ll invite a teacher of Korean in,” Stadthaus said. Of the initial intake, about two thirds of the pupils are German or international children, and the rest are Russian. “The international nature of the team gives children an excellent opportunity to learn from each other and to be part of an international community,” Stadthaus said. The school fee will amount to 8,000 euros per year ($11,500), while the kindergarten fee will be 7,500 euro per year ($10,760), Stadthaus said. The German government is financing the majority of the expenditure at the school, while its main sponsor, Siemens, is also making significant contributions, Stadthaus said. The school will have both German and Russian teachers, though the majority of the Russian teachers will speak German with the children. More information on the school can be found at www.deutscheschule.ru.
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