← Back to the rankingDeutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Saarbrücken
Saarbrucken, Germany · est. 1961 · State
Illustration · Saarbrucken
The Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium Saarbrücken, in French the Lycée franco-allemand de Sarrebruck (DFG/LFA), is the first binational Franco-German secondary school: it opened on 25 September 1961, and in June 1972 its students were the first to take the joint Franco-German Abitur. Since 1977 it has been by law a public school of the Saarland. About 950 students attend, taught by about 90 teachers in the German and French services; the leadership is dual, German and French. The course lasts eight years, grades 5 to 12: in grade 5 German students start French from scratch with 8 hours a week, from grade 6 English, art, music and sport are taught in mixed groups, from grade 8 classes become Franco-German, and from grade 10 half the lessons are in French with French teachers and half in German with German teachers. For children who already speak both languages there is an advanced French profile. The final exam is the Deutsch-Französisches Abitur, common to the five Franco-German schools, which carries the rights of both the German Abitur and the French baccalauréat and allows entry to universities in Germany and France without a language test. In 2026 the school received the Saarland Europaschule label.
Key facts
Programmes
French programme · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, French
Languages taught
English, Spanish, Latin, Italian
Students per teacher
about 1 to 10
About the fees Tuition is free: the Franco-German schools, the school says, are public schools of the state where they are located, and this school has been by law a public school of the Saarland since 1977. Textbook rental (an annual contribution), the Etude afternoon programme and holiday care weeks are paid separately.
Admissions New students for grade 5 register in late February and early March at the office; required are the form, the original half-year report with the primary school's assessment, the birth certificate and proof of measles vaccination. Neither children nor parents need prior French: children from Saarland primary schools learn it from scratch. For children from German-speaking families living in France or after a French primary school there is a separate advanced French profile in grades 5-7. The school expects families to be ready for intensive learning of the neighbour's language and open to other cultures. Students with very different first languages attend; transfer from another Gymnasium in the first cycle is possible if the order of foreign languages matches. The website does not describe admission rules for the French section.
Stages and year groups Grades 5-12. An eight-year Gymnasium (G8) with its own Franco-German curricula reflecting Saarland and French requirements; marks on a 20-point scale. Grade 5 is an orientation year, with the same curriculum as other Saarland schools plus 8 hours of French and art taught in French. Grades 6-9: English from grade 6, Latin or Spanish from grade 8 (the Latinum can be obtained), mixed classes from grade 8, history and geography taught jointly, from grade 9 also social studies, mathematics and biology. At the end of grade 9 French students take the brevet (almost all pass, the school says). Grades 10-12 (seconde to terminale): since 2025-2026 a new upper school without tracks - a common class in grade 10, and in grades 11-12 courses in the section language, the partner language, two advanced subjects and compulsory and elective subjects, as far as possible equally in French and German; electives are Spanish, Italian, Latin, computer science, art and music. The final exam is the Deutsch-Französisches Abitur (centrally set for the five Franco-German schools), equivalent to the Allgemeine Hochschulreife and the baccalauréat. In grade 11 there is preparation for the Cambridge English First and Advanced exams - language certificates, not a Cambridge International programme. There is no IB or AbiBac.
Address Halbergstraße 112, 66121 Saarbrücken
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
AEFE · accreditationAEFE runs the school directly (établissement en gestion directe): the curriculum is French and recognised by the French education ministry.
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
AEFEAgency for French Education Abroad
It runs the network of French schools worldwide, while the accreditation itself, the homologation, is granted by the French education ministry and inspected by French state inspectors. A leaver from a homologated school moves into a school in France without an entrance examination. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
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 →French programme
The state programme of France. A school is homologated by the French ministry of education, and a leaver may move into a school in France without entrance tests. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
What this means for this school. Which year groups of this school are covered by homologation - only the primary ones, or all the way to the final year - is not stated here. The difference matters: it decides whether the school takes a child through to the French baccalaureate or hands them on to another school halfway.
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
Exam results The school does not publish Abitur results. The brevet at the end of grade 9 is passed, the school says, by almost 100% of students. Cambridge English 2026: 55 students passed - 28 took First (B2), four of whom reached C1, and 25 took Advanced (C1), seven of whom reached C2; since 2010, 98% of candidates have passed.
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
Campus: One building on Halbergstraße in Saarbrücken; a French primary school operates next door in the same building, students have art rooms in both parts and two libraries, plus an English library. All classrooms have interactive panels or whiteboards, the building has fibre and WLAN, all students and teachers have tablets, and work is done in Office 365 and on the state learning platform OSS. There is a school cafeteria; a full lunch is available in the neighbouring state police canteen on Mainzer Straße under a 2008 agreement. Lessons start at 8:00, with no afternoon lessons up to grade 7; the Etude afternoon programme runs 13:00 to 17:00 under the state's voluntary all-day school scheme (FGTS), with lunch, homework help and clubs, and themed holiday care weeks during the holidays. Some Saturdays are school days.
Clubs and activities: AeroLab · Badminton · Camäléon-Magazin (online magazine) · C’est la vie (school newspaper) · Cambridge Certificates · Éco-délégués (student eco-delegates) · English Club · Europäisches Schülerparlament (European student parliament) · Fast Track English · Football · Harmony-Botschafter:innen (anti-bullying ambassadors) · Mediatoren (mediators) · Orchestra · Robotik (robotics) · Chess · Schulgarten (school garden) · Schulsanitäter (school first aiders) · Selbst denken lernen (learning to think for yourself) · Steiger KI (AI projects) · Table tennis
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: Teachers are employed by the Saarland or by the French education ministry.
About 90 teachers in the German and French services; the website lists teachers by name with their subjects. Partner-language subjects are taught by native speakers.
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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a school social worker (confidential, for students, parents and teachers), a French education counsellor (CPE) in the leadership team, elected trusted teachers, peer mediators, the Harmony team under the French anti-bullying programme Non au harcèlement, student first aiders, age-based prevention programmes (Lions Quest, addiction prevention, internet safety), a school dog and a list of helpline numbers.
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 data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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 8 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