The École Voltaire is a French AEFE school in central Berlin with a kindergarten, a primary school and grade 6. It opened in 1994 as the Collège Voltaire in Reinickendorf after the French forces left and took any children, French or foreign, wishing to learn in French; in 2011 it moved to the centre next to the Französisches Gymnasium (Lycée français de Berlin) so that one Franco-German campus covers everything from kindergarten to lycée. The school is directly managed by the AEFE, shares its head of establishment with the Lycée français de Berlin and has its own director; since October 2024 the primary school has been an anerkannte Ersatzschule of Berlin, with a non-profit association as its German operator. In the kindergarten (about 90 children) French and German are used equally, about 13 hours a week each: one day in French with a French teacher, the next in German; since 2026 the kindergarten holds the Élysée label. In primary school (about 270 children) about 55% of lessons are in French and 45% in German: 7-8 hours of German a week, with science, PE, art and mathematics partly taught in German. English starts in CE2 with 2 hours a week and a dedicated teacher. Grade 6 is taught by Französisches Gymnasium teachers: 4 lessons of English, 5 of German, and mathematics and biology in German.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $6 157–6 406 a year
5 450–5 670 EUR
Programmes
French programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
French, German
Students
about 360 (about 90 in the kindergarten and about 270 in primary school), plus two sixième classes
Class size
15 to 25 children per kindergarten group
Registration fee
≈ $508
450 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 (September to June, in ten payments over three periods): kindergarten 5450 euros a year, CP to grade 6 5670 euros a year, approved by a decision of the AEFE director on 16 April 2026. Sibling discounts: 25% for the second child, 50% for the third and 75% from the fourth. Families with income up to 83899 euros can apply for an income-based reduction (CP to grade 6 only) if the employer does not pay the fees. French children registered with the consulate in Berlin can receive an AEFE scholarship. Textbooks and supplies, apart from small items, are paid by the school.
Admissions Online pre-registration for the next year runs from 1 to 31 March; the form requires a photo, birth certificate or family record book, parents' ID and a signed schooling contract. Pre-registration is not admission: the school reviews applications according to capacity and replies by email; if no place is available, families can join a waiting list. Enrolment is final once the first registration fee is paid. Families registered in Berlin must tell their local school that they have chosen the École Voltaire and pass the document they receive to the school; diplomats' children present their protocol card instead. Entry to CP requires the free pre-school medical check at the district health office. Schooling is fee-paying for all classes regardless of nationality; school families include French, Russian, Latvian and other families.
Stages and year groups Grades PS-GS, CP-CM2, 6ème. École maternelle: Petite, Moyenne and Grande Section (ages 3-6), bilingual on an equal basis. École élémentaire: CP, CE1, CE2 (cycle 2), CM1, CM2 (cycle 3), ages 6-11, under the French curriculum, with German following the Berlin curricula where possible. Two grade 6 classes (first year of collège, end of cycle 3) taught by Französisches Gymnasium teachers. The school is accredited by the French education ministry. There are no IB, Cambridge or Abitur qualifications at the school; pupils continue at the Lycée français de Berlin (Französisches Gymnasium).
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.
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
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground
Campus: Two renovated sites in central Berlin, less than 500 metres from each other and from the Lycée français de Berlin. The kindergarten on Lützowstraße has 4 classrooms, a marmothèque, interactive screens, a large equipped playground and a vegetable garden. The primary school and grade 6 on Kurfürstenstraße have a gym and sports ground, a library and documentation centre, tablets and an interactive screen in every classroom, an assembly hall with a cinema, an art room, a science room and a separate canteen building built in 2013. Lunch is provided by Leckerlogisch (Forum Esswirtschaft), with a meat or fish menu and a vegetarian menu every day using seasonal and organic produce; the State of Berlin subsidises primary school lunches. Lessons run 8:30 to 15:45 (Wednesdays until 11:45, Fridays until 14:45); after school the Cours et Jardins leisure centre runs until 18:00, and the French music school holds classes on Wednesdays. Outdoor lessons take place in Tiergarten and Gleisdreieck parks.
Clubs and activities: AG Robotique (robotics) · AG Arts (arts) · AG Journalisme (school journalism) · VIP, la radio des élèves (student radio) · Théâtre & Hip-Hop (theatre and hip-hop) · Chorale Berliner Opportune (choir) · École française de musique (French music school)
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 with Education nationale qualifications, native speakers of German and English
The school has about 80 staff, including 45 teachers, about 15 of whom teach grade 6, and about ten assistants in the kindergarten and after-school care. Each kindergarten group has a teacher with a French Education nationale qualification and an assistant (ASEM), both experienced in early childhood. The primary school has French teachers and native speakers of German and English, and French and German teachers work in pairs. Teachers are monitored and assessed by the Education nationale inspector in Berlin, with an annual AEFE training plan. There is a school psychologist, a special needs coordinator and a school climate officer. The school names its teachers on the website.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
✓Access control
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
A resource team supports children with special needs: a specialist teacher, a school climate officer and a school psychologist. Morning care is available only from 7:50 to 8:05, after which the gate stays closed until 8:20; children in the yard and canteen are supervised by adults. Internal rules approved by the school council apply, along with a secularism charter, a canteen charter drawn up with pupils, an IT charter and a data protection policy.
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 data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 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
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