Welcome to Charles Dickens School Förderkreis e. V.
There are many reasons why you, as a parent, should become a member of the Förderkreis. But the main reason is to support your child’s acquisition of priceless language skills in years 1-6. And here’s why:
State-funded ‘Europa’ schools were established almost two decades ago. This development took place because parents took the initiative. The idea was, and still is, to provide children with a bilingual Primary School education (which can be continued in the subsequent Gymnasium), in the context of the ‘new’ Europe. The initiative was eventually implemented by the Berlin Senate as the ‘Schulversuch Europaschule’, which translates (rather uncomfortably) as ‘School Experiment Europa 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 bring the children to a full understanding and the English language. The school is a fundamentally German environment – in the playground, the children inevitably use German between themselves. Even families with two English parents will be aware that in such an environment, the use of English requires additional support in order for the children to become fully conversant with and comfortable in both languages.
For more information please visit our "What We Do" section.
Happy Summer Holidays
Here is a native speakers video update, from Ray, the Director of the Native Speaker program.
Ferienbotschaft Ray Jul24.movCheck out our News Feed section for latest news about Förderkreis services, announcements, etc.