About Platanus School Berlin
Platanus School Berlin is a bilingual educational institution (German/English) based in Berlin-Pankow with Kindergartens in two different locations and a Primary and Secondary School with a focus on mathematics and science. In our kindergarten, we ensure holistic and age appropriate care which takes the individual capabilities and talents of the children into consideration. Our ambitious educational concept and immersive bilingualism is ideal preparation for the children to continue in our primary school. Under the roof of a distinguished, listed building, our bilingual primary and secondary school offers optimal learning conditions, where natural curiosity and individual needs can find their place from Grade 1 all the way through to Grade 10.
Here, children and young people can learn in a calm environment, test themselves, develop their talents, deepen their interests, learn about cultural diversity and internalise languages. The time a child spends at kindergarten and school is an intensive and also incredibly important chapter in their lives and we would like to invite you and your child to spend this time with us in an international, caring and open community.
How would you rate Platanus School Berlin?
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Find Out More >Curriculum
German
Primary Language
English
Ages
3 to 16
Max Class Size
Unknown
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More Info >7 Reviews of Platanus School Berlin
Average Ratings
Reviewer Nationalities
German (3)
How would you rate Platanus School Berlin?
The concept of this school seems to be: leave the kids here and see if they survive.
We were in a trial week at this school. After couple of days visiting, following summer break the school did tests/assessment of my child to see weather they will accept her or not. It was strange that, one of the assessment criteria also was a German language test. Although it was informed by me in advance that she does not know German and is not using this already in the last 2 years. Need some time to learn, develop it. This was also the reason why we tried to use this school as a bilingual. So, they used German language level also one of the deciding factors. The school/classmates and the teachers/erzieherin did not do any motivation and support for my child to 'get integrated' and settled. My child's daily feedback during trial week also wasn't good. It was feeling that she is facing almost every day with rude behavior by classmates. At the end the did not accept her. Overall my expectation initially from the school during visit and introduction was good, but it seemed to be not the case. Especially teaching stuff doesn't look friendly and supportive. No kind of motivation, interest in getting in pupil. Only about administration/secretary stuff I could share a good experience in communication, explanation of procedures, etc. In general, I would not recommend if you don't want to lose your time. I think at every school, it should be an attempt by the stuff/pupil to get corresponding attitude to almost every different type of child. There should be a motivation and welcoming atmosphere in the class, so the new pupil can easily mix up and integrate with the class. This seemed not a case here, mostly reminding strict military/gestapo regime environment. And yes, one of the teachers were very rude physically with my kid. My kid picked up some leaves/from the bushes and the teacher did not like it and hold her arm and forcefully pulled, requiring my child to throw them away. Instead of telling/explaining the rules in a normal way, they seems prefer making physical harm to kids. Absolutely intolerable and unacceptable. The trial week costs for 125 Euros, although during the entire preparation, agreeing on time of trial week, etc it was not informed in advance. It was informed right before beginning of a trial week hence was a kind of surprise. Would not recommend
Perfect. It was great at Platanus. I went to the school for 6 years and I never regreted it one day
Reviews from Google
Recent reviews posted on Google.
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Natascia Silvestri, 11 months ago
We had our child at Berlin Metropolitan School and we weren't happy. We were able to move him at the Platanus. Today are 2 months we joined this school. We are amazed and so happy we made the decision!!! This school has an amazing teachers team, high quality teaching, good discipline and ... very simple: as parents we feel everybody cares about education! This is not a business, like lots of private schools are. I would suggest this school to everybody that is moving into Berlin. Real bilingual school :-)
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BiomEdit ., a year ago
The place where my children love to be..... KINDERGARTEN Our eldest started attending the Platanus Kindergarten in the Vorschul year. She had been at a previous day care in Wedding. Honestly, this change was a sigh of relief. The children are actually encouraged to use their minds and be creative. They attend regular excursions, which was something so rare in the old Kita. They learn so many interesting things, especially nature is a big theme. My youngest attends the Kindergarten now and loves going there. SCHOOL Our daughter has been blessed with the best teacher you could have imagined these last three years. They are very encouraging at the school and it does feel like a 'big family'. We could not comprehend sending our daughter to a school with more than 600 students, especially with mixed grades in one classroom. I'm old fashioned and am a fan of the individual class concept. There are a maximum of 24 children per class. Team teaching is a big BONUS here. There are great AGs/clubs provided by the school. The English staff are young and don't stay for more than a few years. This isn't surprising as they gather experience and move onwards to the next place. I do not agree with the negative reviews here: no school is perfect. In contrast, we have only experienced a very welcome, supportive, and encouraging atmosphere.
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Anni-Kristin Fomferra, a year ago
Unsere Kinder besuchen die Platanus Schule seit fast 3 Jahren und gehen sehr gern in die Schule. Die Einrichtung überzeugt vor allem durch sehr engagierte, kompetente, internationale LehrerInnen, ErzieherInnen und Mitarbeiter, tolle Angebote und Arbeitsgemeinschaften im Nachmittagsbereich sowie moderne Ausstattung und Einrichtung. Die SchülerInnen werden im Ganztagssystem in kleinen Klassen mit max. 24 Kindern bilingual im Team-Teaching (d.h. ein(e) LehrerIn plus ein(e) weitere LehrerIn bzw. ErzieherIn) unterrichtet. Mehrmals im Jahr finden Austauschgespräche zwischen den (Fach-) LehrerInnen und Eltern statt. Anregungen, Wünsche und auch evtl. auftretende „Probleme“ werden von der Schulleitung wohlwollend aufgenommen, bearbeitet und Ernst genommen. Wir können die Platanus Schule sehr empfehlen! Interessierte können sich übrigens auf regelmäßig stattfindenden „Tagen der offenen Tür“ über die Schule informieren.
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Alycia Paulsen, a year ago
We had an absolutely horrific experience with Platanus. Our child was a student there for two years. At first we assumed that a lot of the differences were cultural, considering that we were coming with a North American perspective. Teachers and staff yell (scream) at the children. It is ran in a very militaristic manner. When we first signed up for the school, they assured us that they had just hired a 'German as a second language' tutor since it is a bi-lingual school. They did not hire one until the second year of our child's time there. When we enquired about it, the principal responded "by law we are not required to have one". And that's fine, but a pretty low response if you told us there would be one a year prior. To make things worse, we had two incidents with two(!) different teachers at the school PHYSICALLY HURTING our child. The first teacher grabbed our child's arm so hard he left bruises. At first, the school showed concern, but there was no punishment from the administration for the teacher's actions. A few months later, another teacher pushed our child against a pillar in front of the whole class. We were fed up and (rightfully) outraged. We contacted the administration and they ignored our complaints. We didn't even get a response! Our child's psychologist took us to the equivalent of 'Children's Services for Schools' in Berlin, but unfortunately since it is a private school their hands were tied and were unable to do anything about it. They advised us to go to the police or hire an attorney. Since we were planning on leaving Germany after that school year, they suggested talking to a doctor. When we did, the doctor saw how terrified our child was and wrote a note to excuse them from the rest of the year. It was an absolute nightmare. I am sure Platanus is well aware of their power in being a private school. Many other parents had similar stories as well and when we left this past school year so were many other families. I tell you this to warn you and protect your children. There are many other schools available in Berlin, please, avoid Platanus at all costs.
