Why Förderkreis?

There are many reasons why you should become a member of the Förderkreis.  The main reason is to support your child's acquisition of priceless language skills in years 1-6. And here's why:

Background

State-funded 'Europe' schools were established over 30 years ago. This development took place because parents took the initiative. In the context of the 'new' Europe, the idea was, and still is, to provide children with a bilingual Primary School education (which kids can continue in secondary school). The Berlin Senate eventually implemented the initiative as the 'Schulversuch Europaschule,' which translates (rather uncomfortably) as 'School Experiment Europe School.'

However, as in other aspects of education policy, the Berlin senate misjudged the schools' actual needs.  It is not enough to have a small amount of subjects taught in English to give the children a complete understanding of the English language. The school is a fundamentally German environment. Even families with two English parents will be aware that in such an environment, the use of English requires additional support for the children to become fully conversant with and comfortable in both languages.

Funding

The Berlin School Senate does not, and to date never has, made any financial aid available to our school.  While similar private schools such as the Berlin British School conduct daily school life entirely in English, the Charles Dickens Europa School uniquely maintains a delicate balancing act between the two languages. This precarious balance would collapse without the Förderkreis, due to the scarcity of suitably qualified English educators and teachers.

To maintain this balance between German and English, parents from the Charles Dickens Europa School created the 'Charles Dickens Förderkreis zur Zweisprachigen Erziehung e.V.' – in English the Charles Dickens Förderkreis for Bilingual Education. The Förderkreis is devoted to ensuring that the children gain familiarity with the English language through constant reinforcement and practice. All parents (whether German, English or any other nationality) are asked to pay an amount per child into the Förderkreis.

Activities of the Förderkreis

The voluntary Förderkreis board (comprised of parents with children attending the school) undertakes the following agenda:

• The Förderkreis employs Native Speakers to offer play activities throughout the day and support the teachers during lessons. Support from the Förderkreis helps to reduce lessons canceled due to teacher illness or other unavailability

• The Förderkreis finances school projects from Native Speakers for our children

• The Förderkreis is offering the Native Speakers to accompany the children on class trips when there are insufficient teacher availabilities

• The Förderkreis finances our school library, providing books and material in English and German for the children to borrow, and also pays the librarians

• The Förderkreis finances and supports English language projects during the lunch break and free afternoon hours, including sports, games, crafts, and more

Parental engagement and solidarity

The effectiveness of the bilingual German-English Europa Schools in Berlin is dependent upon the support of their Förderkreis; the ‘Quentin-Blake School,’ Berlin’s second Europa School, is also supported by a similarly-structured parents’ Förderkreis.

The Förderkreis complements those services financed by the Berlin Senate. The benefits that the Förderkreis offers are provided not by the state but by those parents who demonstrate their civil engagement. These parents want to give their children the best possible bilingual primary education, support this democratic alternative to expensive private schools, and make up for the shortfall in available funding.

Costs

See our latest membership fees page.

We cordially invite you to join the Förderkreis for your children’s education and future.