← Back to the rankingWerner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium Leverkusen
Leverkusen, Germany · est. 1976 · State
Illustration · Leverkusen
Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium in Leverkusen is a state Gymnasium of North Rhine-Westphalia with a bilingual German-French profile and a mathematics and science profile; it has been a member of the MINT-EC network since 2001. It started work in its new building on 30 August 1976 after two modern-language schools merged. The main language of instruction is German; in the German-French track geography from grade 8, and later politics and history, are partly taught in French, and a bilingual Abitur is possible in the upper school. Alongside the Abitur the school runs the two-year IB Diploma Programme in the last two years of upper school: the IB can only be obtained together with the central state Abitur, and history, biology, chemistry, mathematics and Theory of Knowledge in the IB track are taught in English. Students can take the full diploma or individual subject certificates. German is the mother tongue of about 85% of students. The school runs a full-day schedule with three long days and has a canteen, clubs and exchanges with France, the UK and the US.
Key facts
Programmes
IB · DP · National programme
Languages of instruction
German, English, French
Languages taught
Spanish, Latin
About the fees The website names no fee for regular Gymnasium education and does not state directly that it is free; the school describes itself as a German state school. For the IB track parents pay IB and exam fees, which the school collects and passes on: a 250 euro enrolment fee, then 100 euros per month for the full diploma or 30 euros per month for certificates (rates for 2022 according to the admission policy; the brochure gives no year). Financial help can be requested from the Carl-Duisberg-Stiftung or the City of Leverkusen.
Admissions Grade 5 admission follows a detailed interview with the family; applicants must be willing to learn English and French from grade 5. After grade 10, students from Realschulen and Sekundarschulen qualified for the upper school (FOR Q) are admitted. Anyone admitted to the final two Abitur years can apply for the IB track: family and student sign a form for the IB coordinator and choose the full diploma (three higher and three standard level courses) or individual courses. Above-average English is required, excellent grades are not; a year abroad is not compulsory, and pre-registration and counselling take place in the second half of grade 9. External candidates have an interview with the head or the upper school coordinator and the IB coordinator. Because the IB is only obtained together with the Abitur, with many exams in German, German is required of all; for foreign students admission to the Abitur qualification phase is confirmed by the Cologne district government. The school recommends transferring at the start of the introductory upper school year, and history must already be taken that year. Students with special needs are welcome within the limits of the building.
Stages and year groups Grades 5-13. A Gymnasium following the North Rhine-Westphalia curriculum (G9): grades 5-6 orientation stage, 7-10 middle stage, then three years of upper school: an introductory year and two qualification phases, ending with the Abitur (Allgemeine Hochschulreife). German-French track: French from grade 5 for 4 hours a week, subjects in French from grade 8, and in upper school French as an advanced course and history in French, leading to the bilingual Abitur. The IB Diploma Programme runs alongside the Abitur in the last two years (Q1 and Q2): German A Language and Literature, Language B in English, French or Spanish, history, biology, chemistry, mathematics, Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay replacing the Abitur research paper, and CAS. Higher level is possible in English, French, biology, chemistry, history and Spanish; the workload is 34-38 lessons a week. Students may take the full diploma or certificates in individual subjects. The website says the programme fits into G8, while the upper school is already described under G9.
Address Werner-Heisenberg-Straße 1, 51381 Leverkusen (Lützenkirchen)
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
Exam results In 2025 nine graduates completed the IB together with the Abitur, three of them with the full diploma and the rest with subject certificates; in 2022, 11 students passed the IB exams. The school does not publish average IB scores or Abitur results.
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: Playground
Clubs and activities: Astronomie (astronomy) · Basketball · Chor 5-7 (choir for grades 5-7) · Chor (large choir) · Eine Welt (One World) · Jazzband · Rechtskunde (law basics) · Social Media · Theater AG (theatre club) · WAVE HG (school podcast) · MINT-Labor (open lab) · Sani-Team (school first aiders) · Skifahrt (ski trip to the Alps)
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 IB page names 11 IB staff: the IB coordinator and deputy, the CAS and Extended Essay coordinators, and teachers of Theory of Knowledge, German A, Language B, history, biology, chemistry and mathematics. The language policy says language teachers regularly attend workshops on language teaching. The school does not publish total staff numbers, qualifications or class sizes.
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 policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Since May 2024 the school has had a school social worker offering confidential counselling on conflicts, family difficulties, school stress, addiction and violence, mental and physical health issues, as well as training and workshops on bullying and cyberbullying, media literacy and racism. The Own Your Power anti-bullying team of teachers and upper school students holds monthly open-door sessions and has an email address. Counselling teachers work with the City of Leverkusen school psychology service; since 2003 a student paramedic service of 20-30 trained students has operated.
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 data80 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 data75 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