Germany · Hesse
Oberursel and Wiesbaden are day-school campuses. English in the classroom, German in the corridor if you work at it. The tuition page is unusually complete. Read the capital-assessment line before you fall in love with the Taunus woods.
Ce portrait est encore en anglais. Les autres langues arrivent école par école.
Programme tel que l’école le publie:IB Primary Years Programme · NEASC-accredited High School Diploma · IB Diploma Programme (optional in Grades 11–12)
Langues d’enseignement:English
Frankfurt International School is a not-for-profit day school on two campuses in Hesse: Oberursel in the Taunus, and Wiesbaden. It opened in 1961, the about page says, when six expatriate families from international companies wanted an English-speaking school near Frankfurt. It is one of the older international schools in Europe, and it is not shy about saying so.
The inquire page currently prints 1,800 students across the two campuses, 200 faculty, 60 nationalities, a 2025 average IB score of 36, and 40+ extra-curricular activities. The students page says over 1,800 from 60 nationalities, and that 20–30% of the hallways are new each year. The high-school page says about 140 students per upper-school grade. Treat those as the school’s own snapshots, not a census we counted.
It is a day school. There is no boarding house. If the posting has not found a flat, the bus system is the conversation — and it is a large one.
The useful questions are not “is it a founding IB school.” The useful questions are: Oberursel or Wiesbaden? Can this child work in English by Grade 9? Will they actually learn German, or only hear it on the S-Bahn? Can you pay two years of capital assessment as well as tuition? And do you understand that every student works toward a High School Diploma, while about 90% also chase the IB Diploma? If the posting is Category I at the ECB, also walk European School Frankfurt in Praunheim. That is a different paper.
FIS says it accepts families, not only students. The admissions office also says admission can be highly competitive, with a published priority system and waiting lists. Some applicants wait a year or longer. Apply soon after 1 January for the following August; applications run through the year.
The school year runs mid-August to mid/late June. Families arriving from a March–February calendar (the page names Korea and Japan) who start in August usually continue in the grade they are already in. Mid-year joiners are placed on the grade they have just finished.
Wiesbaden is the smaller campus in the school’s own telling: the ELA page says that because the campus is small, language support can be more personal, from pre-primary through Grade 8. Oberursel holds the primary school on Alfred-Lechler-Str. 10, and the elementary/upper school on An der Waldlust 15, 61440. Wiesbaden is Rudolf-Dietz-Str. 14, 65207. The inquire form asks you to pick a campus, or “no preference.” Pick with a map and a work address, not with a brochure.
German-passport children are a separate FAQ item: Sondergenehmigung from the local Schulamt. That is a Hesse conversation, not an FIS waiver. Ask admissions what the school needs to see, then ask the Schulamt what it will actually sign.
Two sites, same academic claim, different Tuesday.
Oberursel sits in the Taunus woods. Primary is a short walk from the bigger campus, not the same front door. Upper school (Grades 6–12) shares a campus, which a Grade 9 on the high-school page says makes the jump feel smaller — same rooms, new timetable. Wiesbaden runs First Steps through Grade 8 on one site.
The school talks about strings in primary, VR in Grade 4, Upper School drama, Design Technology, coding, Design for Change, a large athletics programme. The students page names about 50 upper-school organisations or service groups, 11 sports teams, 50 volunteer opportunities a year. None of that tells you if your child will have a friend in week two. It does tell you this is a full campus pair, not a converted office block.
Ask to see an ordinary classroom and the dining room on the campus you would actually use, not only the performing-arts photograph.
First Steps, Pre-Primary, Primary. First Steps is for children who turn 3 before 1 September. The 2026/27 fee table prints a half-day First Steps line and a full First Steps / Pre-Primary line. Primary then follows the IB Primary Years Programme. The who-we-are page is the accreditation home: NEASC; founding IB member; IB Diploma for more than fifty years; an American High School Diploma; exam centre for IB, PSAT, SAT, ACT and AP. It is a founding member of ECIS (now the Educational Collaborative for International Schools) and a member of AGIS. That is not the same sentence as CIS accreditation, which these pages do not claim.
Grades 6–8, on the Oberursel upper-school campus or at Wiesbaden. About 140 to a grade on the high-school page — a large year group. ELA still exists.
Grades 9–12. Every student works toward the NEASC-accredited High School Diploma. About 90%, the about and high-school pages say, also pursue the IB Diploma. Online courses through the Global Online Academy are an extra route. Historically, the high-school page says, about a third of graduates go to the United States, a third to the UK, a third elsewhere. That is the school talking about itself.
Instruction is in English. ELA is built from pre-primary through Grade 8. All students in Grades 1–12 are assessed with WIDA.
On the Oberursel primary campus (First Steps to Grade 1), ELA is mostly co-teaching in the homeroom. Only Level 1 children get small-group work, five times a week, and that pull-out starts in the Primary Grade — First Steps and Pre-Primary are play, social immersion, and the homeroom. In elementary (Grades 2–5), Level 1 is six small-group sessions a week, Level 2 four, Level 3 two. Wiesbaden uses small groups and co-teaching through Grade 8.
The admissions FAQ includes “Does my student need to be fluent in English?” and “What other languages are offered?” as live questions. The accordion text did not print on the fetch. Do not guess a Grade 9 cut-off from a forum. Ask admissions, in writing, what WIDA score or placement they need for Grade 9 and for the Diploma years. The structure on the page is already a hint: the published ELA programme stops at Grade 8.
German is the host-country language. The FAQ treats it as a language-offer question, not as “every child studies German at every level” in the VIS sense. Ask how many hours, how sets are made, and what a January arrival is doing by June. A Taunus campus can be a German-speaking Saturday or an English island. That is a tour question.
Online application. Upload, from the how-to-apply page:
There is a published priority system. Read the General Student Application Information the school links. Interviews are a FAQ item; do not assume they are automatic. Learning support is a FAQ item; do not assume a place exists because a report is attached. Withholding a report is how files come apart later.
Campus transfers between Oberursel and Wiesbaden have their own intra-school process. Corporate partnership is a named programme on the apply page. If an employer is already in that programme, say so on day one.
The tuition page prints this table and tells you to download the 2026/2027 FIS Tuition and Fees Information Sheet for the starred lines. These are the school’s euros. They will move.
Annual tuition 2026/27
| Grade | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| First Steps, half day (age 3 before 1 September) | €11,590 |
| First Steps / Pre-Primary | €22,570 |
| Primary | €25,305 |
| Grades 1–4 | €25,815 |
| Grade 5 | €26,060 |
| Grades 6–8 | €29,750 |
| Grades 9–10 | €30,770 |
| Grades 11–12 | €31,365 |
Other lines on the same table
| Fee | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Re-enrolment | €350 |
| New student registration | €1,500 |
| Capital assessment (years 1 and 2, new students Pre-Primary and up) | €6,600 |
| New student registration fee and down payment | €3,500 |
August starters pay everything in advance. Mid-year joiners pay within two weeks of the invoice. Late accounts take a late fee. Other schedules can be arranged. The page names a tuition-reduction programme, personal payment plans, a diplomatic-mission schedule (its own 2026/2027 PDF), and a note on tax-deductible tuition. Alternative 1 on the same page: 55% of tuition and transport by 1 July 2026, the rest in January with a €100 surcharge per child; capital assessment still due 1 July 2026. Another alternative adds a 3.0% surcharge.
A first-year Grade 6 who is not on a diplomatic schedule is not “about €30,000.” It is registration + capital + down payment + tuition — read the information sheet so you do not double-count the €1,500 and the €3,500 — then the bus.
Bus. The school calls it the largest private-school bus system in Germany: more than 50 routes, 90 localities, 240 stops, both campuses. Annual cost approximately €2,000 to €3,400, by distance. First Steps to Grade 2 may take one-way at half cost. A late bus runs Monday–Thursday for Grades 6–12 in Oberursel, and Tuesday and Thursday for Grades 6–8 in Wiesbaden, if enough children ride.
Lunch, from the lunch page. Oberursel primary and the elementary/upper school: vegetarian €5.00, meat/fish €5.80, “front cooking” €5.50–€8.00. Wiesbaden: First Steps–Grade 5 €5, Grades 6–8 €5.50, ordered weekly, invoiced monthly.
We are not adding those lunch figures into an annual total. They move with the menu.
Two pieces of paper, easy to mash together.
The High School Diploma is the one every student is on. NEASC-accredited. Ask the counselling office what it opens in Germany, in the UK, and in the US without the IB sitting next to it.
The IB Diploma is the portable extra. The school says about 90% pursue it, and prints a 2025 average of 36. The about page calls that one of the higher European averages. That is the school talking about itself, for one year. We are not ranking FIS, and we are not treating 36 as your child’s forecast.
FIS was a founding IB school in the 1960s and has offered the Diploma for more than fifty years. That is history. It is not a guarantee of a seat in Higher Level Chemistry this September.
If a child would find the full Diploma too heavy, the school’s own wording already allows a High School Diploma path. That is a counselling conversation, not a consolation prize you decide from this page.
ELA is built through Grade 8. Learning support is a named FAQ. The apply page asks for psycho-educational reports when they exist. FIS is not describing itself as a specialist SEN school on these pages. Bring the current reports to the first meeting and ask, in the room, whether the campus you want can staff what the child actually needs — and what that costs on top of the table above.
Ask Oberursel or Wiesbaden with a commute in your hand. Ask how ELA is scheduled in this grade, and what happens at the Grade 9 door. Ask how German is grouped. Ask whether a German passport needs a Sondergenehmigung this year, not in 2019. Ask how many Grade 11s are on the full IB Diploma versus the High School Diploma only. Ask what the capital assessment is in year three. Ask the bus route that would actually stop near your flat — “90 localities” is not the same as your street. Ask to see Grade 5 and Grade 9 on the campus you would use.
If you might stay in Germany, ask whether the High School Diploma or the IB is the document a Hochschule wants from this child, with these subjects.
We are not saying FIS is the best school in the Rhein-Main. We are not guessing a waitlist. We are not inventing a 2027/28 fee. Accreditation on the official pages is NEASC, the IB, ECIS membership, AGIS membership — confirm the live page, because cycles move. We did not treat a webpage table as a substitute for the 2026/2027 information sheet you should still download.
Read the current tuition page and write to admissions before you resign a flat in another Land. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Pages et documents officiels lus. Si un chiffre compte pour le budget ou le dossier, ouvrez le lien et vérifiez qu’il est encore valable.
Orientation amicale, pas une candidature. Dates, frais et programmes bougent. Vérifiez tout auprès de l’école.
Frankfurt is not one IB campus in the Taunus. It is that house on two Hesse sites, and a Type 1 European School in Praunheim. Category I is a different door from an Oberursel open morning.
16 minLes lettres du diplôme de sortie comptent. Elles ne sont pas l’enfant entier. Voici comment les distinguer sans mal de tête, et sans prétendre que chaque porte reste ouverte.
16 minVous n’avez pas besoin d’un algorithme parfait. Seulement quelques vérités sur votre enfant, une liste un peu ennuyeuse sur le frigo, et le courage d’ignorer un beau campus qui ne vous va pas.
15 minLa scolarité est le chiffre de la page d’accueil. Le PDF est celui qui arrive en mars. Voici comment lire le second, sans inventer un euro, une couronne ou un délai.