← Back to the rankingSIS Swiss International School Kassel
Kassel, Germany · est. 2014 · Private
Illustration · Kassel
SIS Swiss International School Kassel is a private bilingual all-day school in the Marbachshöhe district, opened in 2014. It takes children from the reception stage (Eingangsstufe) for ages 5-7 through primary school to the Abitur at its Gymnasium and, since the 2024-2025 school year, optionally to the International Baccalaureate Diploma; the school gained IB World School status in 2024. At every stage subjects are taught in German and English in roughly equal shares: in primary each class has two main teachers, one German-speaking and one English-speaking, and in the Gymnasium a subject is usually taught in one of the two languages for a whole school year. The curriculum is that of Hesse: primary follows the Hessian Kerncurriculum with elements of the British curriculum and the school's own curricula, the Gymnasium is a nine-year Gymnasium (G9) with a science profile, with French as the second foreign language from grade 7. In grades 12-13 students follow an integrated programme leading to the Hessian Abitur and, optionally, the IB Diploma examinations, taken mostly in English. The primary school with its reception stage is a state-recognised private school (staatlich anerkannte Ersatzschule), the Gymnasium a state-approved one (staatlich genehmigte Ersatzschule). 201 students from more than 25 nationalities attend. The school is funded by parental contributions and state subsidies; fees depend on family income, and the company Wintershall Dea AG funds scholarships. The school holds the title School without Racism - School with Courage (Schule ohne Rassismus - Schule mit Courage).
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $16 279–16 505 a year
1 441–1 461 EUR a month
The year is counted as ten payments: the school does not say how many payments it takes.
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Admits from
5 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German, English
About the fees Parental contributions for the 2026-2027 school year depend on the family's gross income in the previous year (worldwide income) and include lessons and care from 7:30 to 16:00 as well as teaching materials. Primary school with the reception stage: from 142 EUR per month (income up to 20000 EUR a year) to 1441 EUR (income over 250000 EUR); Gymnasium from grade 5: from 145 to 1461 EUR per month. Without a timely income declaration the highest rate applies. Fees are charged 12 times a year and invoiced half-yearly in advance; monthly payment carries a 3% surcharge, annual payment in advance a 2% discount. Second and further children get a 10% discount. Scholarships are available on proven need (with a reasonable family contribution), and Wintershall Dea AG funds scholarships for children from low-income families.
Admissions The reception stage (Eingangsstufe) admits children from age 5; a child can join the first or directly the second year of the reception stage depending on age and maturity, after which children usually move to grade 2. Applications are accepted all year round and, when places are free, also during the school year; most children are registered between February and April for the school year starting in August or September. Steps: a non-binding registration form on the website, a check of available places (a waiting list if the class is full), a meeting with a member of the school leadership (a video call is possible) based on the completed admission application, one or two trial days, then the school contract; the place is reserved once the enrolment fee has been paid. There is no entrance exam at any stage; admission or transfer to the Gymnasium requires suitability for the Gymnasium, which as a rule follows from the grade 4 report. Knowledge of German or English is not required: children learn both languages by immersion, supported by cross-class German and English courses or an intensive course during lessons. The school says it welcomes students from both local and internationally mobile families. The school states that its students come from many countries and often learn German and English as a second or third foreign language.
Stages and year groups Grades Eingangsstufe, 1-13. Reception stage (Eingangsstufe, ages 5-7; the second year follows the Hessian Kerncurriculum for grade 1), primary school (Grundschule; the primary school page says primary school up to grade 6, while the fee list counts the Gymnasium from grade 5) and a nine-year Gymnasium (G9) up to grade 13 following the Hessian Kerncurricula with a science profile. The leaving qualification is the Hessian Abitur; additionally, optionally, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: an integrated programme for both qualifications in grades 12-13, IB exams mostly in English, with CAS, TOK and the Extended Essay. IB DP since the 2024-2025 school year. Primary includes elements of the British curriculum; the school does not name any Cambridge International courses. Languages of instruction are German and English at all stages, with French as the second foreign language from grade 7.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · DP · authorised programmeSIS Swiss International School · school is part of the networkThe 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 →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.
SIS Swiss International Schoolschool network
A group of private all-day schools, legal entity SIS Swiss International Schools Group AG, Männedorf, Switzerland. Since 1 January 2025 it belongs directly to the German Klett Gruppe, to its kindergartens and schools division. The site names 20 sites in Switzerland, Germany, Brazil and Italy, some 5,000 pupils and a start of operations in 1999. On the recognition of its schools the site says one thing: all SIS schools are approved or recognised by the local education authorities. Of the status of a recognised Swiss school abroad the site says nothing at all.
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 hall
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Playground
Campus: Its own school building in the Marbachshöhe district surrounded by varied outdoor areas: bright classrooms and subject rooms with modern technology, a library, a canteen (Mensa), a sports hall and a separate room for lunch for the youngest. Organic lunch is served Monday to Friday for an extra fee, or children can bring food from home. It is an all-day school: care from 7:30 to 18:00, lessons from 8:30 to 15:00, supervised homework from 15:00 to 16:00, clubs and paid care from 16:00 to 18:00. The primary school mentions a shuttle bus. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Futsal AG (futsal club)
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 sizenot stated
What the listings show: The school is led on an interim basis by SIS Germany's head of pedagogy and school operations, who has led schools in England; the deputy head holds a Master of Music (Manhattan School of Music) and has worked at the school since it opened; the head of the upper school is a Gymnasium teacher of mathematics and chemistry (Heidelberg University, second state examination); the IB coordinator is a mathematician (University of Edinburgh) with teacher training from the University of Manchester; the head of primary is a primary and lower secondary teacher (University of Hamburg).
Teachers are native speakers of German or English and each speaks their own language with the children in and outside the classroom; the school says staff regularly attend internal and external professional development.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data61 "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