← Back to the rankingQSI International School of Münster
Munster, Germany · est. 2015 · Private
Illustration · Munster
QSI International School of Münster is a private, nonprofit day school with an American curriculum taught in English for children aged 3 to 18. It opened in 2015 at the request of the German Netherlands Corps of NATO, headquartered in Münster, for the children of military families from the corps' countries; today it also serves children of international company employees and German families. The school is small: classes average 7 children in preschool and elementary and 8-12 in middle and secondary school, with neighbouring ages combined. Teaching follows the Mastery Learning approach: a student moves on once a topic is mastered, and parents receive five status reports and three narrative reports a year. Secondary students earn an American high school diploma and can take Advanced Placement courses in person or online; German is taught to all students daily. Since 2016 the school has been accredited by the American Middle States Association (MSA). The first class graduated in 2016, there are 19 graduates in total, and students come from more than 12 countries.
Key facts
Programmes
American programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English
Class size
an average of 7 children per class in preschool and elementary, 8-12 in middle school; 2-4 students in each of grades 9-12, 8-12 students in the whole secondary school
About the fees The school does not publish its tuition: the site says tuition details and employer payment are shared on request at munster@qsi.org.
Admissions The school serves primarily children of international families staying in Münster for a year or more and accepts them at any time of the school year. Required: an application form per child, previous school records (the past 2 years for ages 6-13 and all high school credits for secondary students), a copy of the child's passport and a non-refundable registration fee of 300 USD. Children aged 6 and over may be asked to take an English screening test; it is not an exam and cannot be failed, it is used for placement. Children still learning English receive Intensive English up to grade 10; secondary admission requires sufficient English, assessed during admission. Children of German nationals and residents may attend up to age 7; beyond age 7 permission from the regional education department is needed because school attendance is compulsory in Germany. Class placement is by age on 31 October.
Stages and year groups The network's American curriculum: a preschool for ages 3-4 (Frog Street programme), Kindergarten for 5-year-olds, elementary grades 1-6 (ages 6-11), middle school grades 7-8 (ages 12-13), and secondary school Secondary I-IV, grades 9-12 (ages 14-18). The outcome is an MSA-accredited American high school diploma in three forms: General Diploma, Academic Diploma and Academic Diploma with Honors, which requires at least two Advanced Placement (AP) courses; 240 credits are required. AP courses (mathematics, English literature, history, sciences, German) are offered in person or online through the network's virtual school, on an individual-needs basis. In the final year every student completes a year-long research project; SAT preparation is provided. There is no IB, Cambridge or German Abitur programme.
Address Salzmannstrasse 152, 48159 Münster
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MSA · accreditationQuality Schools International · school is part of the networkThe school is accredited by MSA (Middle States Association).
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
MSAMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
One of the oldest American accreditations, working since 1887 in more than a hundred countries and linked to the Office of Overseas Schools of the US State Department. It judges the school as an institution across twelve areas, including finances, governance, premises and student support.
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 →American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
Quality Schools Internationalschool network
Quality Schools International is a not-for-profit organisation of international schools, created in 1991 by its founders Duane Root and James Gilson to work with expatriate families in new countries; the organisation's first school was Tirana International School in Albania. It counts its history from 1971, when Sanaa International School opened in Sanaa in Yemen and began with four pupils. Governance runs through a board of directors of its own and a central office in Malta, where a president and a vice-president work along with departments for personnel, finance, school operations, curriculum and technology; six regional supervisors oversee the schools assigned to them. The numbers on the site differ and we give them all: the home page speaks both of 35 schools with more than 6,500 pupils of 125 nationalities and of 37 schools in 30 countries on five continents, while the history page speaks of 35 schools in 29 countries; the list of schools has 36 on-site schools plus a virtual one. Teaching is in English, the stages run from pre-school to upper secondary school, the model of mastering the material is by outcome, and the upper secondary school has AP programmes and the IB diploma.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.
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
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Playground
Campus: The school occupies the four-storey building of the former Latvian School in the Latvian Cultural Center in the Kinderhaus district in the north of Münster: one preschool classroom, three elementary classrooms, three classrooms for middle and secondary school, an art room and two libraries with more than 4000 English books. All rooms have large windows. PE lessons take place in a full-sized gym 3 minutes' walk away, and the school uses the cultural center's auditorium for lessons, events and performances. The yard has a large tree-bordered playground with a slide, swings, a climbing structure and a basketball court. The Old Town is about 10 minutes by car and 20 minutes by bike, the bus stop 5 minutes on foot. From the 10-year-old class every student brings a personal laptop or tablet. There is no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Model United Nations · Cross-country running · Student Council
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: Teachers are credentialed educators fluent in English; the school says it recruits qualified and experienced teachers.
The staff page names the director, the academic coordinator and 9 teachers: preschool, lower and upper elementary, English and cultural studies, mathematics and science, German, Intensive English, technology and library. Middle and secondary classes are taught by 4-5 subject 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 room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
✓Staff training
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The network has a child protection policy, staff training and consistent reporting methods; children follow the Keeping Safe curriculum within the Empower programme. There is a school nurse on staff. Students with mild to moderate learning challenges are supported through a learning support framework with regional coordinators.
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 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 data67 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