schools for 6th grader in Hamburg
Hello. My husband and I are professors at Pennsylvania State University in the USA. We are hoping to do our sabbatical in Hamburg from August Protected content June Protected content . My daughter will have just completed the 5th grade in the United States. Therefore, she would be in Germany’s equivalent of the United States’ 6th grade. She does not yet speak German, but we plan to get her a tutor here in the US & have her work on Rosetta Stone. Still, her German will be very basic (or even below basic) when she arrives in 1.5 years.
It looks like the international school is prohibitively expensive. We have emailed Phorms and Sophie-Barat plus several gymnasiums near UNESCO (where I hope to be working). We have only heard back from the private schools, and both were quite discouraging about the possibility of enrolling a student who doesn't speak advanced German. E.g., the person from S-B said, "it is generally possible for students without advanced German skills to attend our school. However, we ourselves do not offer any tutoring / assistance specifically for non-native speakers, so this is something that you would have to organize by yourselves."
Unfortunately, none of the gymnasiums have responded to our emails. We will be visiting Hamburg for a week in March during our spring break, but I learned that Hamburg schools will be closed that week.
Given the holiday break, the total lack of responsiveness from the gymnasiums, and the discouraging answers from the private schools, we are at a loss to know what to do--or even how to get information from the gymnasiums. Do you recommend that we just try to call them? Is there any chance that principals, teachers, or office staff would be there during the break?
We would welcome your suggestions re Protected content methods for contacting public schools; Protected content schools would be a good option for a 6th grader with limited German (and who will only be staying 1 year); and Protected content other suggestions for navigating the educational system.
