The European School RheinMain (ESRM) is diversifying the educational pathways it can offer to students. As an alternative to the European School’s curriculum leading to the European Baccalaureate, students can choose to study towards the International Baccalaureate at the International School RheinMain (ISRM) – a sister school to the ESRM on the same premises. The ISRM will follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, leading to the IB MYP Certificate and the IB Diploma. The ISRM commenced in September 2021 with Grades 6, 7 and 8 (MYP 1- MYP 3) into the Middle Years Programme (MYP), before expanding to Grade 9 (MYP 4) in September 2022 and Grade 10 (MYP 5) in September 2023, with a full MYP continum. ISRM plans to open its Diploma Programme in September 2024.  

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The European School RheinMain prides itself on ten years of existence. It has grown successfully from housing a starting number of 350 students in 2012 to currently being involved in the pedagogical development of 1700 students. The European School focuses on fostering key competences for lifelong learning, including civic citizenship, intercultural skills, multilingualism, digital competences and STEM skills in the sphere of natural sciences and mathematics, as well as entrepreneurship. ESRM students have successfully been receiving the European Baccalaureate, which is the fully-fledged equivalent to all the national high-school leaving diplomas of the member countries of the European Union. Currently, there are 33 European schools on the European map. Multilingualism and a professed fluency in the second language represent the distinct character of the European schools: students who graduate with the European Baccalaureate possess a C1 level of mastery in the second language, which in turn, enables them to pick up their studies in any of their first two languages without a problem.
Whilst ESRM offers an exceptional education pathway geared toward multi-lingualism, entrepreneurship and European identity, we also understand that this system may not appeal to every family, whether local, expatriate or living in Germany on a short-term basis.

However, we have noticed that with its stringent focus on multilingualism, e.g. three languages are compulsory until 11th grade, the European school system might not appeal to every family.

Pedagogically speaking, ISRM espouses a conceptual approach to learning, which places emphasis on transferability of skills and concepts, existing due to a multitude of cross-curricular and interdisciplinary projects. This means that students will analyze particular concepts/ themes at the same time in all of their subjects, while mastering subject-specific skills, e.g. a concept like sustainability will be analyzed in all of the subjects taught for a certain period of time – Language and Literature, Design, Mathematics, Sciences etc. Students and teachers are driven to explore, reflect, analyze, research and show empathy for our world in a collaborative manner. Accompanied by a community service project and a personal project, the students of ISRM aim to contribute in a caring way to their own personal development and give back to the community within which they are anchored.

By offering an international branch of education at our school, we cater for the needs of such families who are conceptual-minded, project-driven and globally orientated. With more than 5000 international schools worldwide, ISRM belongs to a wide international network of schools, which enables easy transferability to another international school worldwide. The Diploma Programme itself remains one of the highest respected undergraduate education programmes for university applications and serves our students in great-stead for their futures as global citizens.

To conclude, pedagogically speaking both ESRM and ISRM foster similar skills within their students, however, the path taken to become critical-thinkers and problem-solvers differ slightly. Driven by the aim to be a student-led environment, ESRM and ISRM offer different paths of personal development, tailored to individual student strengths and needs.
We as the school management from both streams signalize at the moment that some parents seem a bit confused about the current situation with regard to the increase of study-possibilities at our wonderful school. It is therefore our duty to create even more transparency when we describe the two options with the aim to hopefully bring these feelings of uncertainty to an end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ESRM is one school under one roof, under one directorate and under one governance. Our great teachers work for both European and International School. The students are participating in the same events, the same sports, on the same school yard and they all enjoy the same food in the same restaurant. The time tables of the two streams are coordinated and both have the same holiday scheme. Both streams are educating the students towards a Baccalaureate diploma in year 12 and both Baccalaureates guarantee to the holders of it the entitlement to enter into University.

In short: two on all sides and everywhere highly respected Secondary School organizations completely integrated under one umbrella with the purpose to offer young people to profit from an even more colored diversity of subjects and perspectives.

For all these reasons it would be our advice to you as parents to not enter a dead-end-street of comparing the two with the aim to weigh one against the other. There is no better or worse curriculum, there are no better or worse teachers in the one or the other, there is no higher academic status in one the two…The real and fascinating differences however, become visible  when we observe how this parade from talented and creative young people will orientate themselves towards their academic future by selecting their preferences out of this challenging and broadly variegated joint package of two roads to success.

With every best wish,

School management

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Introduction from IB Coordinator

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to our growing Middle Years Programme community and our future Diploma Programme students at International School RheinMain. Here at ISRM, we have developed a new and innovative curriculum that pioneers both conceptual and inquiry-based learning in order to facilitate the growth and development of future-orientated young learners. We strive for our students to be principled and caring members of their local, national global communities and at our heart we aspire to instil a life-long passion for learning.  

Dominic Rogers
IB Coordinator