The International School Augsburg (ISA) is an English-speaking private all-day school in Gersthofen, a town near Augsburg. As an “IB World School” the ISA belongs to a worldwide network of international co-educative schools which offer the International Baccalaureate (IB Diploma) in English. Established in 2005, the ISA is the only international school within an area of around 60 kilometres around Augsburg. In school year 2011/2012, 320 students were taught by 50 teachers from 15 nations.
History
The agglomeration Augsburg (Regio A³) and the metropolitan area of Munich are two of the largest business locations in Bavaria with a large number of international companies having their seats there. For local companies an international school is an important site factor in the competition for foreign specialists and executives. Therefore, the ISA was established with the support of the IHK Schwaben (International Chamber of Commerce in Swabia) and opened in 2005 for its first school year. The location of choice was Gersthofen, situated 15 minutes from downtown Augsburg, 30 minutes from Munich and having good access to transport. In 2005, 65 children started their first school year in preschool (Early Learning Centre), Lower School (grade 1 to 5) and the first year of Middle School (grade 6). In 2010, the first class took their International General Certificate of Secondary Education exams (IGCSE) and in the following school year 2010/11 the High School was set up. In school year 2017/18, 342 students from more than 26 nations were enrolled in the ISA. In 2018, the seventh class took their International Baccalaureate exams (IB Diploma).
Campus: the buildings
In 2005, the school moved into the first bricks-and mortar-built building in Ziegeleistraße. In 2008, when the school continued to grow, a gym and additional class rooms had to be built. In the year 2009 the new building, which is heated and supplied with power by a gas-fired cogeneration power plant, could be opened to the students. In 2012, the campus was enlarged by a third building. ISA have a playing field, a gym, a school-owned woodland, a school canteen, music rooms, a computer lab, a Mac lab, and a science room as well as school buses.
Curriculum and projects
Curriculum
The curriculum of the ISA is based on the guidelines of the International Baccalaureate Organisation IBO and is developed in close collaboration with other international schools and the Bavarian Ministry of Education. It offers, especially to German children, a foundation for their future education. The school offers an Early Learning Centre (ELC) (3 – 5 years of age), a Lower School (grade 1 to grade 5), as well as a Middle School (grade 6 to grade 8), and a High School (grade 9 to grade 12). In the 10th grade, the students take their IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams, in grade 12 students sit for International Baccalaureate Diploma exams. If certain criteria are met, both certificates are recognized, also in Bavaria, through the “Zeugnisanerkennungsstelle“ as the German “Mittlere Reife“ or “Allgemeine Hochschulreife”, respectively. The language of instruction is English, though German is frequently spoken by the large amount of German students that attend. Where possible, in addition to German, Spanish is also taught. By EAL (English as additional language) classes, the English level of children with a different linguistic background shall be converged in different steps to the level of their grade. German is taught throughout all grades, at both a native and foreign language. At ISA, the percentage of German students far outnumber that of international students, because the majority of these German students struggle succeeding in a German school and cannot transition into a Gymnasium. They are then put into ISA by their parents.