← Back to the rankingDeutsche Schule Istanbul - Özel Alman Lisesi
Istanbul, Turkey · est. 1868 · Private
Illustration · Istanbul
The German School Istanbul was founded in 1868 as the German-Swiss School, and its present building in the Beyoğlu district was put up in 1896. The school calls itself a school of encounter between two cultures and says that through all its changes one thing never changed: raising generations close to both countries. Today it is a high school of 640 pupils with a German preparatory class. Club life runs in two languages at once: some clubs are announced for the German classes and some for the Turkish ones, and the descriptions in the list stand side by side in German and Turkish.
Key facts
Programmes
German programme · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, Turkish
About the fees Fees are paid either in full in advance or in instalments. Under the instalment plan a first payment is made and the rest is collected by the bank the school has a credit service agreement with, from an account opened in the parent's name; if the bank grants the parent no credit limit, enrolment proceeds only against payment in advance. The school offers no other way to pay. Contracts are signed in the accounts office by appointment.
Admissions Admission runs in two steps: a pre-application, and then a queue in order of submission from which the school calls families in for final enrolment. The conditions come with an enrolment guide, a list of required documents, the admission conditions for the school year, answers to frequent questions and the enrolment contract. By the start of the school year the admissions committee recorded that the places were full and asks families to watch the page.
Stages and year groups The school is an Anatolian high school with a German preparatory class before the senior years, and has 640 pupils in all. It does not print a breakdown by year group or class size.
Address Şahkulu Mahallesi, Şahkulu Bostanı Sokak No: 8, 34420 Beyoğlu, İstanbul
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
ZfA · accreditationWDA · part of the allianceThe school is listed in the register of German schools abroad. It states that it holds the status of an Anatolian high school with a German preparatory class and leads its graduates to two certificates at once: the Turkish school leaving diploma, without which no one enters a Turkish university, and the German Abitur, which is used for admission to universities in Germany. The Abitur examination covers six subjects: German, mathematics, English, biology, chemistry and physics. Pupils who do not sit it are given the chance to take the language diploma, which lets them continue in Germany in the same field they won a place for in Turkey. The school is also listed among the members of the Weltverband Deutscher Auslandsschulen (WDA), the association of the founding bodies of German schools abroad; it does not inspect schools, and the membership carries no accreditation threshold.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
ZfACentral Agency for German Schools Abroad
A German federal agency. It recognises a school as a German school abroad, funds it and grants the right to award the German leaving certificate. Quality is examined by a state inspection about once every six years, and schools that pass receive the mark of an excellent German school abroad.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →WDAWorld Association of German Schools Abroad
An association of the owners of German schools abroad: in essence an industry lobby and a service organisation. It runs no inspections. The condition of admission is a recognised German certificate, but that recognition is granted by the German state, not by WDA.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to an association of school owners. There is no inspection of its own behind it: the badge rests on a decision of the German state and adds nothing to it. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →German programme
The German school programme. Recognised German schools abroad award the Deutsches Internationales Abitur, the German leaving certificate used for entry to universities in Germany. Behind the recognition stands the federal agency ZfA.
What this means for this school. ZfA recognition comes at levels: a school that takes pupils through to the German leaving certificate is one thing, a school with the DSD language diploma, where German is taught as a subject, is another. Which level this school holds is not stated here.
National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: Adab-ı Muaşeret / Knigge AG · Alman Lisesi Futbol Kulübü · Basketbol Erkek / Basketball Jungen · Board-Games AG · Felsefe Kulübü · Fotoğrafçılık Kulübü · Fussball AG · Gezi, Tanıtma ve Turizm Kulübü · Interact Kulübü · Kreativ-AG · LEGO AG · Lieder der Begegnung · Matematik · Model United Nations Club · Münazara · Physik · Psikoloji · Robotik AG · Sanat ve Tasarım · Satranç · Soziale Hilfe
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median65 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country