← Back to the rankingDeutsche Schule Genua - Scuola Germanica di Genova
Genoa, Italy · est. 1869 · Private
Illustration · Genoa
Deutsche Schule Genua (Scuola Germanica di Genova, DSG) is a German school abroad, opened on 4 October 1869 on the initiative of Genova's German Evangelical Lutheran community; it closed twice because of war, in 1915 and 1943, and reopened in 1923 and 1955. Since 1973 the school has led to the German Abitur, and under a 1975 agreement its Gymnasium is recognised as equivalent to Italian schools, so graduates receive both the Abitur and the Italian maturità. It is a bilingual all-through school: a Kindergarten from age 3, a primary school (classes 1-4 following the Thuringia curriculum) and a Gymnasium (classes 5-12) with a science and language profile. Most subjects are taught in German, while Italian, philosophy, art history and some other subjects are taught in Italian. More than 80% of students are Italian, so German gets special attention: the kindergarten teaches it through immersion, and classes 5-7 have an extra German as a foreign language course with the DSD I exam. The school is run by a school association with a governing board.
Key facts
Programmes
German programme · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German, Italian
Languages taught
English, French, Latin
Class size
about 20 pupils per primary class
Registration fee
≈ $339
300 EUR
Admissions Kindergarten registration opens in January of the year the child turns two; children may attend from September if they turn 3 by the end of December and no longer need nappies; no German is required of the child or the parents. Kindergarten children generally move on to the primary school automatically; if German is insufficient, the school discusses support options with parents in advance. A child with sufficient German may enter class 1 directly on a trial basis on the parents' written request and the association board's approval. To enrol, both parents sign the form and pay a 300 euro enrolment fee; the child's ID, vaccination certificate, Italian tax code and last two school reports are required. The school admits foreign students: there is an Italian as a foreign language course for children whose mother tongue is not Italian.
Stages and year groups German curriculum (State of Thuringia, KMK directives) with Italian following the Italian Ministry of Education curriculum. The Kindergarten is bilingual, with native German and Italian teachers. Grundschule (classes 1-4, two parallel classes of about 20 pupils): German 7-8 hours, Italian 5-6 hours, English from class 4. Gymnasium (classes 5-12): German, Italian, English, Latin (from class 6, Latinum after class 10), optional French from class 8; physics, chemistry, biology. Italian, philosophy, art history, history (classes 5-8), biology (classes 6-7), geography (class 8), music and religion are taught in Italian, the rest in German. Extra German as a foreign language in classes 5-7 and the DSD I exam (level B1) at the end of class 7. Thuringia competence tests in classes 4, 6 and 8, central KMK exams in class 10. Final qualifications: the German Abitur in its international form (common written papers with the schools in Athens, Thessaloniki, Milan and Rome in seven subjects) and the Italian maturità.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
PASCH · takes part in the programmeZfA · accreditationWDA · part of the allianceThe school is part of the PASCH network. ZfA lists the school among German schools abroad (Deutsche Auslandsschule). The school is a member of WDA.
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
PASCHSchools: Partners for the Future, an initiative of the German foreign ministry
More than two thousand schools in about 120 countries. A school cannot apply for itself: participants are chosen by German agencies in agreement with the embassy. Very different schools sit under one mark - full German schools abroad, and ordinary national schools that simply teach German well.
What the badge means for this school. The school belongs to a German support programme. By itself the mark means neither a German curriculum nor the right to award a German certificate: of the two thousand PASCH schools, about seventeen hundred hold no such right. Look for a ZfA status next to it - that is the one that is about this. The entry is confirmed in the organisation's open directory.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 hall
·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
Also on site: Playground
Campus: The school and kindergarten share one building on Via Maragliano. The kindergarten is on the ground floor with direct access to the garden: a climbing frame and a sandpit; together with the primary school the children use the gym. Since 2005 there has been a library with children's and youth literature mainly in German, films and internet-connected computers, run by a German teacher with volunteer mothers. Lunches are supplied by Camst and served in the school canteen, booked and paid through an app. After lessons the KinderLab after-school programme for classes 1-4 offers lunch, homework time and workshops until 16:45. The school itself writes that the current premises lack, for example, an art room; Germany is preparing a new building.
Clubs and activities: AG - Additional Courses · KinderLab · KinderClub · Field Hockey · Music Lessons · Youth Debates · School Exchanges in Germany
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
✓Number of teachers45
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: Teachers and educators from Germany and Italy; the school follows KMK requirements and the quality framework for German schools abroad.
The site names 45 teachers, 6 management staff and 9 administrative and support staff. The kindergarten has native German and Italian teachers.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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