Munich · time the January bus
Munich is not one IB Schloss. It is two fee-paying IB campuses that share a city and not a commute, and a Type 1 European School in the south-east. Name the paper, then time the bus.
Munich is not “the international school.” It is a Bavarian capital with two English-medium IB campuses posting families name in the first week, and a European School that exists because of the Patent Office.
The portraits we have are Munich International School at Schloss Buchhof in Starnberg, Bavarian International School in Haimhausen with a Schwabing primary, and the European School Munich in Fasangarten and Neuperlach. Use them for euro tables and admissions rules. This note is the city between them. The Germany country page is the wider map — Frankfurt’s pairing of FIS and another European School, Hamburg, and official German doors we name without ranking.
MIS sits at Schloss Buchhof in Starnberg. Lake weather. IB from Early Childhood through the Diploma, plus an MIS high-school diploma. English in the classroom. German for every child — the school’s own design. If someone says “the castle by the water,” this is often the gate they mean. Time the Starnberg road in January, not a June open day.
BIS sits in Haimhausen, north of the city, with a primary in Schwabing. Another IB continuum, another Schloss story, another bus. It shares Munich with MIS and almost no commute. The 2026–27 prospectus the portrait uses is the live sheet — confirm the filename year.
ESM sits in the south-east: kindergarten and primary at Fasangarten, secondary at Neuperlach. It is not IB. The leaving diploma is the European Baccalaureate. Category I children of EPO and EU staff are admitted and fee-exempt. Category III pays the Board table and waits on a limited place. Time the S3 and the U5, not a lake.
They share an airport and almost no Tuesday. Two fee-paying IB castles. One public European system with language sections. Walk at least two.
If a parent works at the European Patent Office or an EU institution that opens Category I, start with European Schools versus internationals, not with a Schloss open day. A tour of Elise-Aulinger-Straße does not move a Category III file.
If nobody in the house is Category I or II, you are in the IB woods — or in a Bavarian state or church door the country page names. Do not tour ESM as if it were MIS with a nicer U-Bahn.
The language of the yard still matters. A child can thrive in an English classroom at 9 a.m. and be lonely at 11 if the park is speaking German — or the section language you did not expect.
A Bavarian Gymnasium, a church house, a neighbourhood Grundschule — those are official mornings. If you might stay, ask how universities here read the paper you are buying — IB, European Baccalaureate, or Abitur. If you will leave, ask the university there.
Frankfurt is not a suburb of Munich. FIS and European School Frankfurt are a different Monday. Do not flatten Bavaria into one Schloss.
Ask which category you actually are, in writing. Ask which side of the city you can rent in without lying about the bus. Ask what the yard speaks after lunch. Ask whether a mid-year arrival is even possible.
Walk Starnberg, Haimhausen, and Fasangarten on an ordinary Tuesday, not only in May light. The Alps are pretty. Ice on the pavement is the school run.
The city hub is the short map. The three portraits are the long ones.
Friendly orientation, not formal admissions advice. Always confirm dates with the school.
Two IB campuses, one non-profit gAG. Primary can sit in Schwabing. Secondary sits in Haimhausen, north of the city. The 2026–27 prospectus prints tuition and a three-year entrance fee. Time that commute before you fall in love with the Schloss.
MunichThis is a Type 1 European School, not MIS at the lake and not BIS in Haimhausen. The leaving diploma is the European Baccalaureate. Category I EPO and EU staff children are admitted and fee-exempt. Category III pays the Board table.
StarnbergThe castle is in Starnberg, not in the city. English in the classroom, German for every child, IB from four years old. The Board prints the 2026/27 fees in euros, including an entrance fee that lasts three years. Read that PDF before you fall in love with the Alps view.
KleinmachnowAn IB campus in Brandenburg, not a first-district Berlin tram. Ersatzschule through Grade 10, Ergänzungsschule in 11–12. The 2026–27 pages print euros, including a reduction programme for Grades 1–10. Time Kleinmachnow.
The letters on the leaver’s certificate matter. They are not the whole child. Here is how to tell them apart without a headache, and without pretending every door stays open.
16 minYou do not need a perfect algorithm. You need a few true things about your child, a boring list on the fridge, and the courage to ignore a beautiful campus that does not fit.
15 minTuition is the number on the homepage. The PDF is the number that arrives in March. Here is how to read the second one, without inventing a euro, a krona, or a deadline.
12 minSkip the question about last year’s average. Ask the ones that make a teacher’s face change. Then look at the corridor while they answer.