← Back to the rankingMontessori Campus Westfalia
Hagen, Germany · est. 2012 · Private
Illustration · Hagen
Montessori Campus Westfalia (MCW), called HagenSchule until 2022, is a private Montessori school in Hagen for grades 1-13. It grew out of a group of parents and teachers in 2010; its operator is the non-profit public limited company HagenSchule gAG, majority-owned by the parents' support association. The school opened in 2012 with two groups and about forty students in a former distance-learning university building; its first grade 10 class graduated in 2016, and since 2019 it has been approved as a comprehensive school (Gesamtschule) with an upper stage and the Abitur. Since June 2023 MCW has been an IB World School offering the IB Diploma for grades 11-12. Students learn in mixed-age groups without traditional classes or homework, and until the final grades receive detailed written reports instead of marks; each student has a mentor who leads a group of about ten. The main language is German; in the IB programme mathematics, English, computer science, physics and CAS are taught in English, and German literature, history and Theory of Knowledge in German. The school is run as a democratic school: since 2017 it has had a constitution setting out students' rights, and older students take part in a weekly community meeting.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · Montessori · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, English
Class size
A mentor group has about ten students; learning groups are mixed-age, without traditional classes.
Admissions The school admits to primary and lower secondary up to and including grade 5; older students transfer from other schools only in exceptional cases. Steps: a form on the website, then an interview and information events; for future first graders aged 4-6 there are monthly Montessori preschool taster sessions. Most IB Diploma students move up from the school's own grades 1-11 without exams, after an assessment in grade 11 and a teacher-parent-student conference. External applicants must show English at level B2 (certificate or interview), pass marks in their IB subjects, a motivation letter in English, tests in German, English and mathematics, a discussion of their strengths and weaknesses and three trial school days. Under state rules the upper stage requires the Fachoberschulreife; without it, especially when transferring from another IB school, a case by case decision is made. Students with learning or behavioural difficulties are admitted if the school can meet their needs. The IB admission decision is made by a team of the programme coordinator and two IB teachers.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-13. Primary stage (Primarstufe) and the lower and upper stages of a comprehensive school (Gesamtschule, Sekundarstufe I and II) approved by the Arnsberg district authority in 2019; North Rhine-Westphalia qualifications: the ZP10 exam after grade 10, the Fachhochschulreife or Abitur after grade 13. Learning is in mixed-age groups following Montessori pedagogy, with all state curriculum content built into projects. Separately, through the private supplementary school (Ergänzungsschule) MCW, a two-year IB Diploma Programme runs (IB World School since June 2023); with a suitable subject combination the IB diploma is recognised as the Allgemeine Hochschulreife. In the IB, German A: Literature at higher level is compulsory for all; mathematics (Applications and Interpretation), English B, computer science, physics and CAS are taught in English, history and Theory of Knowledge in German. The school names no Cambridge courses.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeThe school is listed in the IB register and runs the Diploma Programme.
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 →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
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 transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Makerspace
Clubs and activities: Schülerzeitung (school newspaper) · Makerspace · Näh-Atelier (sewing studio) · Kreativwerkstatt (creative workshop) · Schulsanitätsdienst (school first aid service) · Theater · Projektteam Küche (kitchen project team) · Schulgarten (school garden) · Sport- und Bewegungsangebote (sports and movement) · Study Halls
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
Teachers are called learning companions (Lernbegleiter); each student chooses a mentor, whose group has about ten students. According to the school's language policy, 80% of teachers have German as their first language; volunteers from India and South America help in primary and middle school. The school does not publish teacher qualifications or numbers.
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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The IB programme has policies on inclusion and diversity and on academic integrity. Since 2017 the school has had a constitution setting out students' rights, and their concerns and complaints are discussed at regular meetings. Each student has a personal mentor, and there is a school first aid service of trained students.
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 data60 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 Value for money (6%) scored at the median84 "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