1st International School in Luxor - visit report

I made a pleasant visit to Luxor’s 1st international school last week. Their name is International German School Luxor; they are now independent . They started the year with 21 students which was a fantastic start and they have a big mixture of nationalities German/Egyptian, British/Egyptian, Egyptian, Italian/Indian. There are 10 kindergarten children and 11 primary (this is much more than other German schools - in Cairo started 8 students 12 years ago).





I am sure the support from Dr Samir Farag whose children go to the Cairo school is no little help. Science, Art and English are taught in English by a Montessori trained American teacher. They are taught history, religion and civics by an Egyptian Muslim who speaks English and German and although Muslim, has studied Christianity.

The atmosphere of the school is bright and welcoming with many examples of the children’s work around.


There was a cute family tree with pictures of the pupils and the leaves representing all the members of their family and hanging from the ceiling were the planets of the solar system.


There was some quality support equipment in all three languages.



I was given little demonstrations in the English and Arabic classes and thought that after only 4 weeks the standard was really high. The children seemed very happy, interested and relaxed. The little ones were listening to a story and one of primary classes was working on the solar system and the other on Arabic.

They are located in a huge villa which they have called Villa Shems (Sunshine House) on the banks of the Nile which even has a small swimming pool which they are making full use of.


They do nature walks in the local area, which is rural and has both agricultural and livestock. The ground floor is for the kindergarten and has a quiet area for naps, facilities for those little accidents that happen at that age. Healthy meals are provided and smelt delicious.

The school year takes account of both local and foreign holidays, I saw Halloween pumpkins, talk of St Martin’s, a German festival and the school had just been closed for 6th October.


I was very impressed to be honest and I think if you have the money it is a great place to send your child.

PS Apologies for the quality of the pictures, I haven’t got a decent camera at the moment and I deliberately didn’t take photos of the kids themselves, these days it is best not to but they were really happy and engaged.

Contact details Klaus Wehmeyer info@ids-luxor.com

International School in Luxor - an update

I asked the organisers for an update and got this reply.

We are opening at September 19th with about 20 children.

If there are any inquiries please point to our website www.ids-luxor.com (will work from tomorrow, September, 8th).
New e-mail adresses for contacts will be enlisted on this homepage. The name of our school has changed - we are now "Internationale Deutsche Schule Luxor (ids-Luxor)".
The telefonnumber of our school mobile is +20199784917, a landline is not available at the moment.

1st International School in Luxor - further meeting

Their next meeting, will be on Thursday, 20th of May, 7 pm in the Sonesta. Office hours for questions, information and application will be on 21st and 22nd from 10am - 12 am, also from 5pm - 7 pm also in the Sonesta-Hotel. There you also can get the application papers in the business-center.
Kate Baker in the Sonesta-Hotel is our contact person.

Please pass this information on to as many people as possible

1st International School in Luxor - Meeting Report

There were three people giving the presentation
Muriel Plag (email plag@deutsche-schule-hurghada.de) she is a German government appointment and a trainer of teachers for 5 years
Gamal Nawara (email schultraeger@europasschuleKairo.com) from Cairo school, 12 years
Klaus Wehmeyer(email wehmeyer.klaus@gmail.com) who will be the new head of Luxor school

They presented apologies from Samir Farag and Mandouh Phillipe.

There was a comprehensive information pack given out.

The idea for the school came after a class trip one year ago to Luxor and they found there was no international school in Luxor. It gained momentum when they went to Samir Farag with the idea and he told them his grandchildren went to the Cairo school.

My notes from the presentation.

Their mission is to integrate different nationalities, cultures and religions using the Montessori system. The school day is 08:15 to 16:00 and they provide healthy meals and snacks. There are breaks, playtimes and time to do homework. Languages are taught by native speakers. There is Arabic for religion and civics, English is taught in Grade 1 and Pre School, maths is taught in German and French is taught at Grade 5. They have not totally decided on what the final exam will be could be International Baccalaureate or German DIAP. In Cairo it is DIAP. There will also be an option for Thanaweya, the Arabic exam so children leaving the school can go on to Egyptian Universities.

The school starts on 18th September in a villa, location should be decided this week. Eventually the school will move to Teba, transport will be provided. There will be Kindergarten, Nursery and Grade 1 and 2. They are hoping for 10 students in each class as a start up.

In their Cairo school out of 250 KG students 245 speak only Arabic so they have experience of teaching children German and English from scratch. The nursery day can be 8-2 or 4. There is a 10% discount for parents applying this year. They need a minimum of 2-6 kids in each class 15 in total. In Cairo they started 12 years ago with 19 children and now have 750. They are now offering bursaries to worthy students in Cairo. They can offer extra German 30 hours a week. They can have one class for several grades 1-4, 5-7 and 8-10.

There were a lot of questions.
Children outside the start up age range, IF there was sufficient demand then they would think about doing classes.

Teacher recruitment was possible but they need kids first. the more kids the more teachers.

Extra German could be offered

A lot of comment and questions about the price
KG 1,900 € Preschool 2,440 € and grade 1-4 2,900€. 10% discount first year, 25% on second and subsequent children. The meeting thought this was very high for Luxor; hardly any Egyptian families could afford that. Also for many ex-pats they are not employed by international companies. I suspect that if demand was strong enough they would move on this. Volumes have to matter to them as well. A number of people were filling in the application forms with caveats as their kids were the wrong age or the price was too high. The feeling was if we gave them the chance to see demand and comments they might be more flexible as they want to start this. Tonight and tomorrow morning they are on site at the Sonesta for questions.

1st International School in Luxor

I have received an email with a flyer, please see below. I have no other information but if you are interested please go to the meeting. Great news for Luxor.

Details

First International School in Luxor

International German School

Lessons in German and English
Education from 2 years to graduation age
Full time school with homework supervision
Education based on the principles of the Montessori system
Final examinations will be the DIAP(German International Arbitur)
Strong co-operation with recognised German School in Cairo

The school will start September 2010 with Kindergarten(2-4), Pre School(4-6) and Elementary(Grade 1 and 2)

We invite you to the information evening Thursday May 6th 7pm Sonesta Hotel, Luxor

Also for more information Friday 5-7 pm and Saturday 11-1