← Back to the rankingȘcoala Germană Hermann Oberth
Voluntari, Romania · est. 2006 · Private
Illustration · Voluntari
Școala Germană Hermann Oberth (HOS; in IB documents Hermann Oberth International German School) is a private school in Voluntari, north of Bucharest, founded in 2006: kindergarten, primary school, gymnasium and lyceum (Liceul German Hermann Oberth). It follows the Romanian national curriculum taught in German as a mother tongue; there is also a bilingual German-Romanian line, and Romanian language and literature is compulsory for everyone. In grades 11-12 students choose between the Romanian Baccalaureate (taught in German and Romanian) and the IB Diploma Programme, where the main language of instruction is English and some subjects can be taken in German. The school serves the German minority in Romania, Romanian families and expatriates, mainly from German-speaking countries: around 85% of students are Romanian citizens and around 15% are international. The school is a DSD German language exam centre, prepares students for Cambridge exams and ECDL testing, and takes part in Erasmus. Its students regularly reach national olympiad finals in German, Romanian, English, computer science, mathematics and chemistry. The school is accredited by the Romanian Ministry of Education and ARACIP.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German, Romanian, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese
About the fees The school does not publish tuition on its site. The Diploma Programme handbook lists the fees for grades 11-12: yearly tuition fees and IB exam fees, due in June of the first year of the programme; all fees are paid to the school.
Admissions The school admits children of different nationalities: its admission policy states directly that nationality, race and creed are not taken into account. Newcomers who speak neither German nor Romanian are enrolled with a language immersion programme: at first they attend Arts, PE and English and study German and Romanian on an individual plan. For the Diploma Programme in grade 11 internal students are admitted first, then external students as places allow. External candidates need a clean school record, English at B2 or above (certificate or school test), C1 for the Group 1 language, tests in mathematics, literature and the chosen science, a recommendation from a grade 10 teacher, a letter of intent and transcripts; then an interview with the DP Coordinator and the Head of School. The school advises the Romanian Baccalaureate for students who plan to apply to medicine or law in Romania. For students without English the school offers intensive preparation before DP enrolment. Admission to primary and gymnasium is not described on the site.
Stages and year groups Grades grădiniță, 0-12. Kindergarten, primary school (clasa pregătitoare and grades 1-4), gymnasium (grades 5-8) and lyceum (grades 9-12) follow the Romanian national curriculum taught in German as a mother tongue or on the bilingual German-Romanian line; the lyceum is accredited for mathematics-computer science, natural sciences and philology, and the lyceum page also mentions social sciences. In grade 10 students take the DSD German language diploma. In grades 11-12 students choose between the Romanian Baccalaureate and the IB Diploma Programme; moving from the DP to the national curriculum is possible with make-up exams. Between ages 8 and 16 students take Cambridge English exams through extracurricular classes.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Diploma Programme at the school (registered as Hermann Oberth International German School); it is taught in English in grades 11-12 alongside the Romanian programme and the bacalaureat exam. German runs through the whole school.
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
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: robotică (robotics) · astronomie (astronomy) · scriere creativă (creative writing in German and Romanian) · debate (debating in German, Romanian and English) · teatru în limba engleză (theatre in English) · pian (piano) · cor (choir) · cercul de matematică (maths club) · arte vizuale (visual arts: graphics, modelling, painting, photography)
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 sizenot stated
Teachers come from Romania, Germany, the Saxon and Hungarian communities and other countries; German is taught by teachers trained for German as a mother tongue, and some staff are native speakers. Not all teachers speak German, so subjects not taught in German are taught in English. The school says its classes are smaller than usual, and every class from primary to graduation has a form teacher.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a fully equipped medical office with medical staff, a psycho-pedagogical guidance service and school counselors. Form teachers run sessions on road safety, earthquake preparedness, drug prevention, bullying and online safety; the school says it constantly updates its measures for preventing bullying and intervening quickly. School transport vehicles have full safety equipment.
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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median55 "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