Black Forest Academy (BFA) is a private international Christian (evangelical) school for grades 5-12 in the small town of Kandern in the south-western Black Forest, near Basel. It grew out of a one-room school for six missionary children opened by the Janz family in 1956; it moved between Switzerland and Germany, has been in Kandern since 1981 and has had all grades on one campus since 2017. All teaching is in English on the school's own US-style curriculum: graduates receive an accredited US High School Diploma, and upper grades can take Advanced Placement courses - 52% of high school students did so in 2023. French, German and Spanish are offered as foreign languages. There are 291 students on campus from 39 countries, and the average class size is 12. Grades 9-12 can board in six family-style dorms; the school has long had many students from Asia and has a dedicated staff member for them. Teachers and staff come to serve at the school after raising personal financial support from Christian organisations. Weekly chapel and Bible classes are compulsory; in 2023, 88% of graduates went on to universities in North America, Europe and Asia. For grades 1-4 the school runs the bilingual Christliche Schule Kandern together with a local Christian school.
Key facts
Programmes
AP · American programme
Languages of instruction
English
Languages taught
French, German, Spanish
Class size
12 students per class on average
Admissions The school serves families seeking a globally minded Christian education and especially supports the families of Christian workers around the world; its handbook states that it admits students of any race, colour, national and ethnic origin. Applications are made online; day students are accepted all year subject to space, ideally after 15 January, and boarders should apply as early as possible because boarding places are limited. All programmes are in English, and at least B1 English is required; English language support is available. Boarding is only for grades 9-12; students must be at least 14 at the start of the school year and under 20 at graduation. For boarders from countries requiring a student visa, the school issues a confirmation of acceptance for the visa; citizens of the EU, the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Switzerland, South Korea and some others enter visa-free and the school applies for their residence permit locally; for day students the school issues a certificate of attendance for the family's visa. Grades 5-8 can start during the year, grades 9-12 only at the start of a semester. Students agree to follow conduct rules based on the school's statement of faith.
Stages and year groups Grades 5-12. Middle school (grades 5-8) and high school (grades 9-12) follow the school's own US-style curriculum in English; from 1964 to 1998 the school used the Canadian Saskatchewan provincial curriculum. Graduates receive a US High School Diploma accredited by ACSI and the Middle States Association. High school offers over 85 core and elective courses, including Advanced Placement: English Language and Literature, French, German, Spanish, US History, European History, Comparative Government, Micro and Macroeconomics, Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science and others; the school is a test centre for AP, PSAT and SAT, and the AP International Diploma is possible. Bible classes are required every year. The school does not offer Cambridge International or IB courses.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
ACSI · accreditationMSA · accreditationCollege Board · authorised programmeThe school is jointly accredited by ACSI and MSA. The school is accredited by MSA (Middle States Association). The College Board AP Course Ledger lists it for the 2025-2026 school year.
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
ACSIAssociation of Christian Schools International
An accreditation of Christian schools: the school spends eighteen months to two years on a self-study, and then peers from other Christian schools visit. Faithfulness to the Christian confession is part of the standards, so this is an accreditation with a condition of belief. It often runs jointly with MSA or Cognia, and such a pair is stronger than ACSI alone.
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 →MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
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 →College BoardCollege Board, the AP programme
An American organisation that allows a school to put the letters AP on a pupil's transcript. The permission is granted course by course and tied to a particular teacher, it has to be renewed every year, and College Board reads the course syllabus before granting it.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run advanced AP courses - not the school as a whole, but one by one: by subject and by teacher. Governance, safeguarding and the primary years are not part of that check. Which subjects are actually approved is visible in the ledger. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →AP
Advanced Placement: American advanced courses for the senior years. The exam for a course is set and marked by the College Board, not by the school. A good result is counted by American universities as a first-year course already passed, which saves a student time and money.
What this means for this school. A school does not get to call a course AP automatically: the College Board reads the course syllabus and approves it separately for every subject and every teacher, and the permission has to be renewed each year. Every approved school in the world is listed in the open AP Course Ledger, and this school's entry there stands as a line in the accreditation block above. How many courses a school is approved for, and in which subjects, the ledger does not show in its general listing. AP has no leaving certificate of its own: it sits on top of the school's main programme rather than being a separate system.
American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results In 2023, 52% of high school students were enrolled in Advanced Placement courses; the school does not publish average AP or SAT scores. The school is a test centre for AP, PSAT and SAT.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Also on site: Art studio
Clubs and activities: Cross Country · Volleyball · Basketball · Soccer · Track & Field · Golf · Wrestling · Band · Orchestra · Choir · Plays and musicals · Student Council · Yearbook
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
Teachers and staff come to serve at the school after spending months or years raising personal financial support from Christian partner organisations; they include teachers, psychologists, counsellors and coaches. Discovery Program teachers are trained by the National Institute for Learning Development; there is a school psychologist and licensed counsellors.
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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school is a member of the Child Safety and Protection Network: safer recruitment, a code of conduct, regular training for staff, volunteers and students, a team of trained safeguarding staff and an online form to report a concern. Licensed counsellors help students and families free of charge; there is a school psychologist. In integrated dorms boys and girls live in separate halls, separated at night by an alarmed door.
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%)75 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)95 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median84 "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
Kandern, Germany · est. 1956 · Private