Städtisches Gymnasium Olpe (SGO) is the only state Gymnasium in the town of Olpe in Südwestfalen, maintained by the town of Olpe. Pupils join in grade 5 after Grundschule and study through to the Abitur. All pupils get extra English lessons from grade 5, and from grade 7 they can choose the bilingual branch, where History, Politics and Economics and Geography are taught in English, leading to a bilingual Abitur. The Internationale Schule Südwestfalen operates within the Gymnasium: in grades 11-12 (Q1-Q2) students can take the IB Diploma Programme free of charge alongside the Abitur; the school awarded its first IB Diploma in 2023. Regular teaching is in German, IB subjects and bilingual courses partly in English. Languages: English from grade 5, French and Latin from grade 7 or 9, Spanish from grade 9 or the upper school, Italian as a club. The school's strengths are science and technology (a junior engineering academy), music (a wind orchestra since 1973, choir, string group) and sport (rowing, swimming, skiing, football as a DFB training base).
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish, Latin, Italian
About the fees The Gymnasium is state-run (maintained by the town of Olpe) and charges no tuition; according to the school the IB Diploma Programme is free, supported by the international school's friends' association. Lunch (5.50 EUR), cafeteria food and trips are paid separately.
Admissions Grade 5 enrols pupils leaving Grundschule: an information event for parents and grade 4 children is held in autumn, individual guidance from November, and registration in February and March by appointment; families bring the secondary school referral, the last three school reports, proof of measles vaccination and proof that the child can swim. New entrants to the upper school are admitted separately in February with their last three reports; transfer from the partner Sekundarschule Olpe is especially supported. The IB Diploma Programme is a voluntary, free track for students who meet the requirements: good English, high motivation, openness to the world, interest in science and social commitment. The school states directly that it offers this pathway to international students and expat families as well as to students from the region and beyond.
Stages and year groups Grades 5-10, EF, Q1, Q2. A German Gymnasium of North Rhine-Westphalia: Erprobungsstufe (grades 5-6), Mittelstufe (grades 7-10), Oberstufe (EF, Q1, Q2) with the Abitur (Allgemeine Hochschulreife); a bilingual Abitur with English is available. The IB Diploma Programme runs within the Gymnasium alongside the Abitur in Q1 and Q2: German A Literature (Higher Level), English B (Higher), History, Biology, Mathematics, Geography or Physics; three subjects at Higher and three at Standard Level, plus Theory of Knowledge, CAS and the Extended Essay; an advanced English course is compulsory. Cambridge First Certificate, CertiLingua, DELF and DELE language certificates are separate exams, not programmes.
Address Seminarstraße 1, 57462 Olpe
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 hall
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Makerspace
Campus: The only state Gymnasium in the town of Olpe. Three chemistry rooms, five biology and physics rooms with interactive boards, a school X-ray unit for physics, a digital lab with 3D printers, LEGO Mindstorms robots, VR headsets and soldering stations, a separate robotics lab, two computer rooms and a green screen studio; about 430 iPads, with tablets for all upper school students. The library has operated since 1999 and has eight computer workstations. A House of Learning centre is being built with Siegen University and the Olpe district digital workshop. The cafeteria opens in the morning, and from 12:45 two hot lunches are offered at 5.50 EUR; homework supervision and a leisure area run until 14:45 Monday to Thursday. The nearby Biggesee lake is used for rowing and the school forest for running.
Clubs and activities: Blasorchester / Juniororchester (wind and junior orchestra) · Chor-AG (choir club) · Schulband AG (school band club) · Rollenspiel AG: Dungeons & Dragons (role-playing games club) · Computerschreiben mit Turboscript (touch typing) · DFB Stützpunkt-Training (football training) · Volleyball-AG (volleyball club) · MINT-AG (STEM club) · Junior-Ingenieur-Akademie (junior engineering academy) · Italienisch-AG (Italian club)
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
The staff page lists 95 teachers by name with their subjects. The IB track is run by two coordinators, and there is a CAS coordinator.
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 policy
A school social worker advises students in difficult situations, runs social learning, helps resolve conflicts and deals with truancy; the school has a prevention plan for each year group. Grade 5 pupils are mentored by pupils from grade 8. The school holds the title Schule ohne Rassismus - Schule mit Courage.
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 data80 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
Olpe, Germany · State