Our school

Dr. Martin Sachse-Weinert

School principal

We educate the Europe of tomorrow

We are classified as ‘Exzellente Deutsche Auslandsschule’, a seal of approval by the German Federal Office of Administration. It signifies the highest standard of quality for German schools abroad.

We follow a German curriculum and, in addition, offer a wide range of courses and a diverse academic offering at all levels – from our entry group for two-year-olds at the Kindergarten through to the German Abitur and the German-French dual exam Abibac.

Our motto: We are building the Europe of tomorrow! Every day, in an international context, at the Eurocampus and at the Lycée Victor Hugo. Our pupils are not only exposed to a variety of languages, but also a wide range of intercultural experiences that prepare them for the demands of a globalised world.

In small classes and support groups, we can adapt our teaching approach according to the strengths and weaknesses of our students. Not only do we immerse them in different subject matters, we also teach them skills that expand far beyond an academic curriculum: they take responsibility for their own learning progress, learn to think independently and develop creative problem-solving skills.

With families and employees of different nationalities and backgrounds, we are a diverse and open-minded school community that makes it easy for new students, new parents and new colleagues to integrate into our school.

Facts & Figures

The school at a glance
Our tradition
  • Founded in 1973, sponsored by the German School Society Toulouse (DSVT).
  • Private school, recognised by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) and supported by the Federal Foreign Office through financial aid and seconded teachers from Germany.
Our educational offers
  • Kindergarten from 2 years
  • Primary and secondary school
  • Qualifications: Secondary school leaving certificate, Realschulabschluss, German International Abitur / Abibac
Our language profile
  • Bilingual kindergarten
  • English Grade 5-12
  • French Grades 1-12 at three levels:
    Foreign language basic and advanced level, national language
  • History and geography in French from grade 8 (Abibac)
  • Trilingual Approach: Art & Music in Grades 6 and 7 in cooperation with the Collège Victor Hugo
  • Cambridge Certificate
Our supervision
  • Kindergarten and primary school: all-day care from 7.30 a.m. to 6.15 p.m.
  • Secondary school: classes until 3.50 p.m. or 5.00 p.m.
  • Wednesday afternoon no formal lessons but Club AMELI (afternoon care)
Our two sites
  • Kindergarten and primary school including orientation grade 5 are based at the Eurocampus in cooperation with the International School of Toulouse.
  • Secondary school grades 6-12 are based at the Lycée International Victor Hugo
  • New science building extension for the DST financed by the Conseil Régional (2013)
Key-figures
  • 82 places in the kindergarten
  • 324 pupils, of whom 182 are in secondary school I + II
  • 43 teaching staff
  • 25 specialist staff in the kindergarten and in all-day care
Our international partners
  • International School of Toulouse at the Eurocampus
  • Lycée International Victor Hugo
  • British Section at the Lycée International Victor Hugo
  • Lucie Aubrac Primary school in Colomiers
Our achievements
  • 2010 & 2017 Seal of Approval “Exzellente Auslandsschule”   from the Federal and the State Governments
  • Graduation pass rate 100% in all educational sections since 2011

Our Guiding principles

The Deutsche Schule Toulouse is recognised as a “Exzellente Deutsche Auslandsschule”, a label sign-posting German educational excellence. Embedded in an international environment, we pride ourselves in being a place of encounter and exchange. We enable our students to participate in the dialogue of cultures as self-confident members of a constantly changing global community and teach them openness, tolerance and respect.

These values are ingrained in our school culture and philosophy, and we strive to live by them on a day-to-day basis.

Your child in good hands

We are a diverse team of committed colleagues, most of whom are German speakers and some of whom are French or even English native speakers.

In this way, we meet the requirements of a German school abroad in France and can support German, French and English-speaking children in their foreign or second language acquisition.

For those children who are native speakers in more than two languages, we offer a differentiated language acquisition approach.

Our strengths: What defines us

Trilingualism

German, French, English

We follow a German curriculum and the language of instruction is German. With French and English, our students learn two additional languages at a very high level.

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Already in primary school, we differentiate between native French and French as a foreign language and structure lessons accordingly. This makes it easier for children who do not speak German to enter the German school through lessons in German as a foreign language/second language.

Our Francophone pupils expand their competence in French in our mother tongue-oriented French lessons in accordance with the requirements of French schools. For German children, we offer French as a foreign language, mostly at two levels, depending on prior knowledge.

English as a subject is introduced in Grade 5 and taught based on competence: at native and secondary-language level.

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Starting at 2!

In this group we welcome children from two years on and all children who are not yet 3 years old by September of the same year. Very young three year olds can also be accepted into this group. Children do not need to be toilet-trained in order to join.

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In the course of the kindergarten year, the children have the opportunity to interact with children from other group rooms of the kindergarten and socialise with older children or different members of the teaching staff. They are accompanied by a teacher from their own group and receive additional support from other teachers.

This way, we aim to get the children off to a good start and to make any future transitions to other groups ore classes more seamless – it hopefully paves the way for their future school career at the DST from the onset.

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Abibac

Two school-leaving qualifications in one

Many graduates of the German School are already studying in France. And we might see even more students chosing a French university for their tertiary education: since 2015, we have been preparing students for the simultaneous acquisition of the Abitur and the French Baccalauréat at the German School.

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Our goal is to improve our students’ prospects with the double Abibac qualification. From Year 8 onwards, we prepare some of our pupils for this challenge through bilingual lessons in history and geography.

Very different groups of pupils are to benefit from this offer. On the one hand, the bilingual lessons offer French pupils of the DST subject lessons in their native tongue. On the other hand, German pupils interested in languages gain additional insights into the host country France and its language and deepen their intercultural skills.

In 2020, the first Abibac students took the double school-leaving examination at the German School. They took part of the Abitur exams in French. They have been well prepared for this by francophone teachers at the DST. They are thus well prepared for their studies on either side of the Rhine as well as for the European labour market.

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Individual support and talent development

With our support, children and young people develop personal and professional skills to lead successful lives. In an atmosphere of mutual respect, we promote the development of each individual.

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Our counselling service

Competent, comprehensive, effective

The counselling service at the German School provides competent support for students, teachers and parents with a variety of issues. Our school social worker and our learning counsellor help with learning difficulties and other problems in the school area by offering individual support and information evenings.

What comes after school? We support our graduates in choosing an apprenticeship or a field of study with regular career orientation events and work placements.

Our support of talents

Musical, artistic, sporting

Targeted encouragement is an important part of our teaching from the onset. It is very important to us to discover and promote musical abilities in our children. In addition to regular lessons, our pupils have the opportunity to learn the recorder or to sing in the school choir. With public performances such as the annual Christmas concert, the choir enriches the cultural life. School events strengthen a sense of unity and the joy of music. Our specialist teachers in art and sports motivate the children and encourage them to explore their talents, which they can then demonstrate at exhibitions or sporting competitions.

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Guaranteed full-time care

With an all-day care offering, kindergarten and primary school make an important contribution to the social development of our students.

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Afternoon

In addition to fixed times in the morning and afternoon, we offer additional activities for school and kindergarten children on all five afternoons of the week. These are based on the interests of the children and the age structure within the group.

The school canteen provides a healthy and balanced lunch, which is prepared on site. Afterwards, there is a fixed programme for primary school pupils with homework supervision, lessons or targeted leisure activities. Some of the afternoon activities take place in French. The afternoon activities in the kindergarten, with a varied pedagogical focus, take place in both French and German.

We offer before and after school daycare services for kindergarten and primary school children. This early and late care model (Garderie) is also available to children of the International School of Toulouse. It thus offers the pupils of the Eurocampus another opportunity for intercultural encounters.

Wednesdays

Traditionally, there are no classes on Wednesday afternoons in France. However, we offer a Wednesday afternoon daycare service called AMELI (Activité du mercredi ludique et interculturelle ). In addition, we offer a “Wednesday School”, where children between the ages of 6 and 11 playfully learn German under the motto “Envie de parler l’Allemand?”. Advanced learners can deepen their knowledge in a separate course.

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Digital learning

Digitalisation has significantly changed all aspects of our daily lives over the last decade; a process that was even further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the German School Toulouse includes digital learning and the development of digital skills in its portfolio. Our guiding questions: how can digitalisation help us to better teach our students? How do our students learn to use digital media responsibly and navigate the media landscape safely?

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Our IT strategy is therefore based on the pillars of competence building, promoting new collaboration methods and using digital tools to better illustrate the teaching material. Our goal is to support the high quality of our current teaching through digitalisation and to give our students the necessary competences in an age-appropriate style and “along the way”.

What does this mean precisely? We incorporate digital media early and playfully into the learning process and, for example, use digital boards in class for illustration and collaboration. In addition, we offer to familiarise ourselves with topics such as programming, robotics and 3D printing. One might want to be a pupil once again…

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Open to Interculturality

Exchange and encounter

Through regular educational projects with our local French and English partner schools, the Lycée International Victor Hugo, the École Primaire Lucie Aubrac and the International School of Toulouse, our pupils learn intrinsically to approach people from other countries and to communicate successfully with them through direct interaction and personal exchange.

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A unique project is our trilingual art and music classes in grades 6 and 7 and trilingual geography classes in grades 8 and 9. The children are taught in mixed groups with their French and English peers from the Lycée International Victor Hugo, each in the native language of the German, English and French teacher.

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School life

Our school is characterised by a lively learning environment and a strong sense of togetherness. Many clubs, projects, cultural events, trips, excursions or participation in competitions offer space to live out individual interests.

Parent engagement

Commited & collectively

Our parents play an important role in the vibrant school life at the DST. They are involved with different tasks at different levels.

Representing interests:
Involvement in the committees

Parental involvement

Commited to the community:
Friends of the DST

Friends of the DST

The german school association Toulouse

Preservation and development

We are a state-recognised German school abroad, financed by school fees and subsidies from the Federal Republic of Germany. The school is run by an association under French law, the Deutsche Schulverein Toulouse (DSVT). It is this association that makes a German school in Toulouse possible in the first place.

In addition to the school administration, it is the school association that supports and accompanies the development of our school. It creates the framework conditions for the preservation and further development of the German School Toulouse. All members of the school association, mainly parents of students of the German School, are entitled to vote in the general assemblies. They elect an honorary board of directors from among their members, which represents the association externally and internally.