Germany · Starnberg
The 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.
Este retrato ainda está em inglês. As outras línguas chegam escola a escola.
Currículo como a escola o publica:IB Primary Years Programme · IB Middle Years Programme · IB Diploma Programme · MIS High School Diploma
Línguas de ensino:English, German for every student
Munich International School is a not-for-profit day school on a former castle estate in Starnberg, about a lake and a stretch of forest south of Munich. The legal name is Munich International School e.V. The address the school prints is Schloss Buchhof, 82319 Starnberg. The original building, the school says, is a castle from 1875. Families and teachers walk from the drop-off through a “rainbow tunnel” and come out with the Alps on one side and the Schloss on the other.
It opened on 19 September 1966 with 120 students in Reception through Grade 8. The homepage’s history line is that the only English-medium school nearby had been the American military’s, and that as US forces left, diplomats and companies needed something else. Teachers swept out the Schloss a couple of years later. The barns became the Senior School. Other buildings arrived over decades. The school now says it serves 1,300+ students and 60+ nationalities. Treat those as the school’s own snapshot, not a census we counted.
It is a day school. The FAQ is blunt: MIS is not a boarding school. If the posting has not found a flat, this campus will not absorb the child. The useful conversation is the bus map — and the school wants you to talk to the Transportation Office before you sign a lease.
The useful questions are not “is it the best school in Munich.” The homepage does call itself “#1” for academic outcomes. We are not ranking MIS. The useful questions are: 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 three years of entrance fee as well as tuition? And do you understand that almost every Grade 12 attempts the full IB Diploma?
Families on Munich contracts who want an English-medium IB path, with German as a serious second language, and who can live within reach of Starnberg. The 2026/27 fee PDF describes MIS as a non-profit private school whose purpose is “to serve mainly international mobile families coming from abroad to Germany for a certain amount of time,” and who also accept children with permanent residence in Germany and an international background. In Bavarian terms it is a genehmigte Ersatzschule in Grades 1–9 and an Ergänzungsschule in Grades 10–12.
It is not a German Gymnasium. The FAQ says the curriculum is not designed to replicate any national programme. The IB Diploma can be recognised as allgemeine Hochschulzugangsberechtigung for German universities if the student meets the specific Kultusministerkonferenz subject rules. That is a counselling conversation, not a brochure sentence.
It is also a school that prints its money. The 2026/27 overview is unusually complete: tuition by grade, a three-year entrance fee, technology, buses by kilometre zone, after-school care, and a sibling reduction from the third child. Read it.
Schloss Buchhof is a full campus, not a converted office block. The homepage and FAQ walk it in pictures.
You come through the rainbow tunnel. Pathways lead to organic gardens, café seating, outdoor basketball and tennis, a regulation track and field, a recess meadow, an outdoor Makers’ Space and fort-building area, and five age-appropriate playgrounds. Primary students designed the newest play area, “the Octagon.” A Grade 3 team is designing a new Early Childhood playground.
Indoor sport sits in a triple-level quadruple gymnasium the school calls the Fitness and Athletics Building (FAB): dance studio, fitness centre, canteen, locker rooms. Junior School has its own gym as well. The Junior School page names easy access to the nurses’ office, cafeteria, Junior School library, play areas and gardens, and an 80qm Makers’ Space — a co-teaching room for basic coding, robotics, woodworking and prototyping.
Middle Schoolers, the homepage says, spend a normal day all over campus. The main Middle School building holds an auditorium, a food-design kitchen, science labs and classrooms. The Language Arts & Design Center is a separate building: woodworking and design rooms, art studios, and a Middle and Senior Makers’ Laboratory with a media studio for live-streaming and podcasts, a bike-repair station, outdoor gardening, electronics, robotics, 3D printers, sewing machines, looms, pottery wheels, a kiln, laser-cutters and woodworking tools.
The school calls itself a Three-Star Eco School, the first international school to hold that award, and says it has held the highest award for a seventh year. It also claims 95% carbon-neutral status. Confirm what that means for this year on a tour; sustainability claims move.
None of that tells you if your child will have a friend in week two. It does tell you this is a large, purpose-built site with a lake-and-mountain backyard. Ask to see an ordinary classroom and the dining room, not only the Schloss façade.
Think in four bands. The FAQ prints the clock.
Early Childhood, ages four to six. EC 4/5 is for four- and five-year-olds; EC 5/6 is for five- and six-year-olds. The Junior School day starts at 9:05. EC ends at 1:20, 3:15, or 4:20, depending on whether you booked morning, regular, or extended day. The 2026/27 fee PDF names four booking options by hours: morning 4–5 hours, short day 5–6, regular day 6–7, extended day 7–8. Morning, short and extended days have no afternoon bus; you collect the child.
Junior School, Grades 1–4. IB Primary Years Programme. Day is 9:05–3:15. After School Care runs from 3:15 until 4:00, Monday to Thursday, except early-release and noon-finish days. Junior School after-school activities run Monday to Thursday, 3:15–4:15, some until 4:45.
Middle School, Grades 5–8. IB Middle Years Programme begins here and continues through Grade 10. Middle and Senior days are 9:05–4:05. After-school sessions for older students run Monday to Friday, 4:15–5:45. The main Middle School building is the hub; students still move across campus.
Senior School, Grades 9–12. Grades 9–10 finish the MYP. Grades 11–12 offer three leaving routes on the same campus: the MIS High School Diploma, the Diploma plus IB Course Certificates, or the Diploma plus the full IB Diploma Programme. The homepage says over 90% of Grade 12 students attempt the full Diploma each year, and that of those, 95–100% routinely succeed. The Class of 2025 line on the homepage: 95% of those who attempted the Diploma earned it (106 diplomas), average 35 points, world average printed as 31. The Class of 2026 line says an average of 35 and two perfect scores. That is the school talking about itself. We are not treating a homepage sentence as your child’s forecast.
The Junior School handbook (2025–26) lists accreditation as CIS and NEASC, plus Bavarian approval, and IB authorisation for PYP, MYP and DP. Confirm the live accreditation page; those cycles move.
Instruction is in English. That is the easy sentence. The rest is why families stay or leave.
German is not a club. The FAQ and the Junior School handbook say every student takes German from Early Childhood through Grade 12, grouped by ability, with the host-country language treated as part of the IB story. If you want a child who can live in Bavaria rather than only commute through it, this is the paragraph to test on a tour. Ask how many hours, how sets are made, and what a January arrival is doing by June.
English as an Additional Language runs in Grades 1–8. The FAQ says children with all levels of English, including beginners, attend MIS. Grades 9–12 need a certain level of English proficiency. That is the gate. Ask admissions what “a certain level” means for this child before you pay the application fee.
Spanish, French and Mandarin begin in Grade 6. There is also a Mother Tongue Programme for home languages. Ask who teaches your language this year, and what they charge; the fee PDF does not print a Mother Tongue price.
The Parent Teacher Verein runs coffee mornings in 22 languages, the about-page blog says. That is a kindness on a campus this large. It is not a substitute for German in the classroom.
The FAQ publishes a range, which is more useful than “small classes” on a homepage. Maximum class size is regulated. The school aims for 18–22 students in every class. We are not inventing a cap beyond that sentence.
Applications run online. The FAQ says tours happen almost every day of the year if you book. The admissions team names specialists by section: Lee Kim Briffa Jaspers for Junior School, Denise Hitchen for Middle and Senior, plus Julie Kempe and Elena Ershova. Email: admissions@mis-munich.de. Phone: +49 (0) 8151 3660.
The 2025–26 Junior School handbook sets placement on availability, chronological age on 1 October, current grade relative to the MIS curriculum, language proficiency, and any screening the school thinks necessary — reports in English, an interview, school-readiness testing, special-needs documents, health records, a confidential recommendation. The aim, the handbook says, is to check that the curriculum meets the child.
The 2026/27 fee PDF adds a probation clause most brochures skip. For new students in Grades 1–12, the first twelve months of physical attendance are probationary. For Early Childhood, the first six months. Either party can end the contract without cause with one month’s written notice, effective at the end of the month. After probation, ordinary termination is three months’ notice, effective 31 December or 31 July.
There is no uniform, except a PE kit from Grade 3, bought online from a local provider.
These are the school’s numbers, in euros, from the official fee overview. They will move. Confirm the live PDF before you budget.
One-time and first-year costs
| Fee | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Application (with each application) | €343 |
| Registration (first year, due with the School Contract) | €2,100 |
| Entrance, first year | €9,788 |
| Entrance, second year | €4,098 |
| Entrance, third year | €4,098 |
| Re-enrolment (each later year) | €1,043 |
The Entrance Fee funds campus development and strategic initiatives. It is due by 1 July each year of the three-year stretch. Application, Registration and Re-enrolment are not refundable. The Entrance Fee is not refundable unless the child attended 65 days or fewer in that school year (then 50% back) or withdrew before the entry date (100% back).
Annual tuition is payable in two 50% instalments, 1 July and 1 December. Families who pay 100% privately (no company contribution) may ask the CFO for a Special Payment Plan: four equal direct-debit dates on 1 July, 1 October, 1 January and 1 April, plus a €500 service fee. Ask by the end of May.
| Band | Annual tuition 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| EC morning (4–5 hours) | €14,120 |
| EC short day (5–6 hours) | €16,066 |
| EC regular day (6–7 hours) | €18,013 |
| EC extended day (7–8 hours) | €20,841 |
| Grades 1–4 | €19,002 |
| Grades 5–8 | €21,744 |
| Grade 9 | €23,863 |
| Grades 10–11 | €27,218 |
| Grade 12 | €28,659 |
Technology fee, due 1 July
| Band | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Early Childhood | €702 |
| Grades 1–4 | €1,056 |
| Grades 5–8 | €1,119 |
| Grades 9–12 (bring your own device) | €734 |
Sibling reductions start at the third child enrolled at the same time: 10% of tuition for the third, 20% for the fourth and any further. There is also a School Fee Reduction Programme for social diversity; eligibility is on the website, not in a number we can print here.
Buses, if you use them. The FAQ says more than 80 routes and over 700 stops in one place, and about 70 routes in another. The PDF bills by round-trip kilometres for the year:
| Zone | km | Round trip | One way |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 0–6 | €2,349 | €1,527 |
| B | 7–13 | €3,290 | €2,139 |
| C | 14–20 | €3,860 | €2,509 |
| D | 21–26 | €4,718 | €3,067 |
| E | 27–34 | €5,717 | €3,716 |
| F | >35 | €6,678 | €4,341 |
Late Activity Buses are €929 for all three seasons or €332 per season; free for annual round-trip subscribers if you sign up. After January 1, new bus enrolments are 65% of the year. No refund for illness or unused days. Contact transportation on +49 (0) 8151 366 150 or transportation@mis-munich.de before you choose a street.
After School Care for Grades 1–4: ASC A €1,880; ASC B (includes on-site Junior School SLP places, subject to availability) €2,370; ASC C (early-release Fridays only, to 16:00) €503. Join on or after 1 January and you pay 65%.
Student Life Programme extras, per 10-week season: activities from €70 (one hour a week) to €210 (three hours); swim club €215; Wildcats athletics or swim team €260. ISST championships and trips outside Bavaria are extra.
A first-year Grade 6, no sibling discount, is not “about €22,000.” It is application + registration + first-year entrance + tuition + technology — €34,094 before a bus, lunch, SLP, or a ski weekend. Lunch is Organic Garden on site; the FAQ does not print a cafeteria price, so we are not inventing one.
Late joiners still pay application, entrance, registration and technology in full. Tuition is prorated by first month on campus (August/September 100%, then 95% in October down to 15% in June). Leave early after probation and tuition refunds follow a month-by-month table in the same PDF.
EAL and Learning Support exist in Junior School: EAL teachers, classroom observation, a parent language survey; Learning Support in groups, individually, or in the classroom. The fee PDF says other fees may apply for optional programmes. Ask, in the room, whether MIS can staff what your child actually needs — and what that would cost.
Ask where a January arrival sits at lunch in week one. Ask how German is grouped, and whether a child can still make a joke in the corridor by Easter. Ask who teaches Mother Tongue in your language this year. Ask how many Grade 11s are on the full IB Diploma versus Course Certificates. Ask what “a certain level of English” means for Grade 9. Ask the Transportation Office for your postcode before you rent. Ask to see Grade 4 and Grade 9, not only the Schloss and the FAB.
If you might stay in Germany, ask the Kultusministerkonferenz question twice: once for the IB subject package, once for a later move to another Land. The FAQ has already warned you the Diploma is not automatically a German Abitur.
We are not saying MIS is the best school in Munich. We are not guessing a waitlist. We are not inventing a 2027/28 fee or a cafeteria price. The homepage’s “#1” line and the IB averages are the school talking about itself.
Read the current fee PDF and write to admissions before you resign a flat in another country. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Páginas e documentos oficiais que lemos. Se um número importa para o orçamento ou a candidatura, abram o link e confirmem que ainda vale.
Orientação amiga, não uma candidatura. Datas, propinas e programas mexem-se. Confirmem tudo com a escola.
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.
15 minAs letras do diploma importam. Não são a criança inteira. Aqui vai como distingui-las sem dor de cabeça, e sem fingir que todas as portas continuam abertas.
16 minNão precisam de um algoritmo perfeito. Precisam de algumas verdades sobre o vosso filho, uma lista aborrecida no frigorífico, e a coragem de ignorar um campus bonito que não serve.
15 minAs propinas são o número da página inicial. O PDF é o que chega em Março. Aqui vai como ler o segundo, sem inventar um euro, uma coroa ou um prazo.