If you have a child applying for our First Steps program through Grade 1, please note that we have firm age requirements for entrance. To be admitted to First Steps, a child must be three years old before 1 September of that school year; to be admitted to the Pre-Primary Program, a student must be four years old before 1 September. Primary school applicants must be five years old before 1 September and Grade 1 applicants must have turned six before 1 September of a given school year.

It is also important to note that FIS has limited resources for students with special needs and, by policy, can only assist students with mild disabilities. To understand if a child qualifies for learning support and learn if space is available in this program, please submit an early application along with a recent psycho-education evaluation and other documents related to the student’s special needs and services.

Also, if your child has special medical needs, or has had any other special support or testing, it is important that you share this information on the application.

If your child is in need of extra English support, FIS accepts beginning English speakers through Grade 8. Beginning in Grade 9, FIS requires an intermediate level of English skills and offers an ESL placement test to assess student’s English proficiency. While English is the foundation of the FIS curriculum, many of our students graduate with a proficiency in three or more languages due to the emphasis on language instruction at our school.

FIS has established a Corporate Partnership Program with a select number of companies that make a substantial annual investment in the school in return for a limited number of guaranteed placements. The Corporate Partnership Program is not managed by the admissions office but companies with more than five students enrolled in the school can make inquiries directly to the Head of School's office.

For more information, please contact Dr. Paul Fochtman at Paul_Fochtman@fis.edu. There are approximately 11 companies in this program and by policy, it impacts less than 10% of the enrollment at the school.

Our school's status as a supplementary school (Ergänzungschule) offering the IB Diploma Programme has certain consequences for students holding only a German passport. Please read the Merkblatt für deutsche Familien for this important information.

German students also need a special permit to attend FIS and must submit a form (Ausnahmegenehmigungsantrag) that requests authorization from their local school office (Schulamt) for their child to enroll at FIS. For more information about the special permit, please read the Information über die Ausnahmegenehmigung.

This sheet, as well as the special permit application form and the list of local school offices, can be downloaded here or requested by contacting the school’s admission office.