← Back to the rankingEuropäische Schule Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, Germany · est. 2002 · State
Illustration · Frankfurt
The European School Frankfurt (ESF) is one of 13 European Schools in six countries, official educational institutions jointly overseen by the governments of the EU member states. Its main task is to educate together the children of staff of European institutions. The school opened in 2002 and now has about 1600 students from kindergarten to the final year. Teaching is organised in language sections - German, English, French and Italian - and since 2018 a Spanish section has been growing from the kindergarten upward. Each child learns in their mother tongue or dominant language (L1), and children without their own section study their mother tongue separately; the school teaches all EU languages as mother tongue except Maltese. Stages: a 2-year kindergarten from age 4, a 5-year primary school from age 6 and a 7-year secondary school, ending with the European Baccalaureate, recognised in all EU member states. Secondary focuses on languages - up to four foreign languages - and sciences; in secondary year 5 there is a work placement and a one-semester exchange with another European School.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $5 036–9 443 a year
4 457.8–8 358.46 EUR
Programmes
European Baccalaureate
Admits from
4 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German, English, French, Italian, Spanish
Languages taught
Latin, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Greek
About the fees Tuition is charged only for category III children and is set annually by the Board of Governors of the European Schools. For 2026-2027, for the first child: kindergarten 4457.80 EUR, primary 6129.55 EUR, secondary 8358.46 EUR per year. The second child receives a 20% reduction, the third and further children 40%. 25% of the fee is paid in advance by 30 June 2026 and is non-refundable; the rest is invoiced after the school year starts. For children of staff of European institutions (category I) tuition is not paid by families but by the European Schools system; category II fees are paid by employers under an agreement with the school.
Admissions Admission is by category, as at all type I European Schools. Category I - children of staff of European institutions - are admitted if they apply on time. Category II - children of employees of companies with a financing agreement with the school. Category III - all other families, including international ones: places are given only where available, and the school states it admits such children only in a few exceptional cases to keep places for category I children. Priority order: category I, siblings of current students, category II, students from other European Schools. Applications for the next school year are accepted from 1 December to 28 February, decisions are sent by April, and original documents are submitted by post; applications during the year are considered only for category I and II students arriving in Frankfurt. The section is decided by the director according to the child's mother tongue or dominant language, if in doubt after comparative language tests. Kindergarten admits children from age 4 and grade 1 from age 6 (reached within the calendar year in which school starts).
Stages and year groups Kindergarten - 2 years from age 4, often mixed groups of 4- and 5-year-olds, in the section language; children without their own section (SWALS) study their mother tongue for 30 minutes a day. Primary P1-P5 (from age 6): focus on mother tongue, mathematics and the first foreign language (L2), plus art, music, discovery of the world, religion or ethics and European Hours where children from different sections meet. Secondary S1-S7: mother tongue (L1), L2, L3, mathematics, integrated science, human sciences, optional Latin, ICT, art, music, PE, Ancient Greek for students with Greek as first language; up to four foreign languages over the course of secondary. S6-S7 form the European Baccalaureate cycle with compulsory subjects (mother tongue, first foreign language, one science, philosophy, PE, history and geography) and a wide choice of courses. Sections: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish (growing from the kindergarten since 2018).
Address Praunheimer Weg 126, 60439 Frankfurt am Main
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
European Schools · authorised programmeA Type I European School, part of the EU's intergovernmental European Schools system: the curriculum runs from nursery to the final year, and graduates sit the European Baccalaureate.
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
European SchoolsThe European Union's European Schools (Schola Europaea)
An intergovernmental system of European Union schools with its own curriculum and its own certificate, the European Baccalaureate. It runs thirteen schools of its own, and national schools gain the status of Accredited European School after an audit with a visit by inspectors. The certificate is recognised for university entry in every EU country.
What the badge means for this school. The school runs the European Schools curriculum, and this can be checked in the system's lists at eursc.eu. The system's own schools are checked by inspectors from EU countries, accredited schools pass an in-school audit, and accreditation is renewed every three years. Whether the school awards the European Baccalaureate, and whom it admits, is stated on its own page. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →European Baccalaureate
The European Union's European Schools curriculum from nursery to the final year, with the European Baccalaureate as the leaving certificate. Teaching is in language sections, and a second language is compulsory from primary school.
What this means for this school. The curriculum and the certificate are set by the European Schools system, whose Board of Governors is made up of the education ministers of the EU countries. European Baccalaureate papers are marked by the teacher and an external examiner, and the certificate is recognised for university entry in every EU country and in several others. A school may award it only if it is one of the system's own schools or is accredited for the senior years.
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
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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a child protection policy and policies on anti-bullying, drug abuse, mental health and student wellbeing. Two school nurses staff the health office. There is a school psychologist and a counselling team of teachers from all sections with a room open daily for students, running preventive workshops on bullying, stress and isolation. Since 2016 the primary school has followed the Finnish KiVa anti-bullying programme with its own team.
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 data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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