Hermann-Böse-Gymnasium is a state gymnasium in Bremen, founded in 1905 as a Realgymnasium; girls have been admitted since 1959, and it has had its current name since 2005. The school calls itself the only gymnasium in Bremen that is bilingual from grade 5 to grade 12: grades 5-6 have two extra hours of English, and from grade 7 geography, biology and the six-hour subject European Studies (history with elements of politics, economics and geography) are taught in English. Families from any part of the city have been able to choose the school since 1993. Since the 2011-2012 school year it has been the only state school in the state of Bremen offering the IB Diploma: the IB profile in the last two grades leads to a double qualification, the Abitur and the IB Diploma, and all subjects except languages and sport are taught in English. The school holds the titles Europaschule, MINT-freundliche Schule and Digitale Schule and may award the CertiLingua language label. Students take the Abitur after 12 years of schooling.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, English
Languages taught
French, Latin, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Polish, Italian, Japanese
Class size
28 students per class in grades 5-9 pupils
About the fees Tuition is free: the school states it is the only state school in Bremen offering the IB Diploma. The IB exam fee is about 680 EUR per student; according to the January 2026 brochure IB students contribute 250 EUR for the whole two years, and the school and the state of Bremen cover the rest. Students who qualify for the profile but cannot pay the contribution can receive scholarships the school offers together with Bremen businesses. Canteen lunch and DELF exams are paid separately.
Admissions Admission to grade 5 follows the usual Bremen procedure for the transition from grade 4 to grade 5, and the school can be chosen from anywhere in the city; applicants must be willing to take extra English lessons. Switching to the bilingual stream in the middle grades is possible after counselling, especially for children with good English, who have lived in an English-speaking country or have an English-speaking parent. For the IB profile the decision is made in grade 9, and future IB students are grouped in one grade 10 class. The application is submitted with the upper-school profile choice: a cover letter with contact details, a motivation letter in English of 1000-1500 words, the two latest reports from a German school or, if the child attended only schools abroad, the two latest reports from the school abroad, and a recommendation from a teacher at the previous school. A 15-minute interview in German and English follows. Good English grades (2 or better) and a grade average better than 2.5 are expected; time spent studying in an English-speaking country improves the chances. The IB coordinator decides, but as a state school the decision is only a recommendation. Refugee students can take German as a second language.
Stages and year groups Grades 5-12. A Bremen gymnasium on the eight-year track: grades 5-9 of the middle school (four parallel classes of 28 students each) and an upper school of grades 10-12, with the Abitur after 12 years. Everyone is taught bilingually in grades 5-9; the upper school offers a bilingual profile (enhanced advanced English, history and biology in English, theatre in English), profiles with advanced economics and sciences, and the IB profile. The IB Diploma Programme runs in grades 11-12 together with the Abitur: English Language and Literature HL, German Literature HL or SL, History HL or SL, Biology HL or SL, Mathematics SL, Economics HL or Theatre SL, French or Spanish B or ab initio instead of a group 6 subject, plus Theory of Knowledge, an Extended Essay of about 4000 words and about 150 hours of CAS; IB students have 2-4 more hours a week, 35-37 in total. A club prepares for the Cambridge English CAE exam, and there is preparation for DELF and DELE; these are language exams, not a Cambridge International programme.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme. The IB track runs inside a German Gymnasium: in the upper grades students take the IB Diploma alongside the Abitur.
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
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: DP (ages 16-19). DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The main building was built in 1903-1906 in neo-Renaissance style with Weser Renaissance elements and in 1977 became the first school building in Bremen to be listed as a monument; since 1991 it has been converted for the bilingual gymnasium, and there are classrooms in the neighbouring building too. The building is at capacity, so since the 2015-2016 school year the school has had an annex with four classrooms in the old post office near the station, which also houses a FabLab workshop. There is an assembly hall, a gym, a music room, renovated science rooms and collections, and a textbook library. The canteen, opened in 2011 in converted vaulted cellars, cooks fresh on site every day; the cafeteria has run since 1994, with electronic or cash payment.
Clubs and activities: 3D-AG - Ein mittelalterliches Bremen (3D model of medieval Bremen) · Band AG (school band club) · Basketball AG (basketball club) · Breaking AG (breaking for girls) · FabLab AG (FabLab workshop) · Französisch AG (French club) · Geschichts-AG (history club) · Jugend forscht AG (youth science competition club) · Jugend debattiert (youth debating competition) · Mathematik-AG (maths club) · Musical-/Chor-AG (musical and choir club) · Schulorchester-AG (school orchestra) · Poetry Slam AG (poetry slam club) · Taekwondo-AG und Selbstverteidigung für Mädchen (taekwondo and self-defence for girls) · Zahlentheorie AG (number theory club) · CAE AG (Cambridge English CAE preparation) · Model United Nations
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
According to the IB brochure, IB profile teachers are trained by the IB. The site names contact persons: year-group coordinators, liaison teachers, the IB coordinator and the head of the support centre. The school does not give the total number of teachers.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school says it is a safe place where no exclusion or violence, including sexualised violence, is tolerated. Grades 5-7 have a weekly social learning subject based on Lions Quest and grades 8-10 project days; there is a student mediation programme, year-group coordinators, two liaison teachers elected by students, a social group for individual work with students, psychological counselling by a teacher training as a psychologist for crises, anxiety, bereavement, self-harm, depression and eating disorders, and links with the regional support centre ReBUZ.
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%)82 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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 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
Bremen, Germany · est. 1905 · State