Phorms Education Hamburg

At our bilingual Phorms Campus Hamburg, we accompany our students in their development from infancy through to the senior high school leaving exams (the Abitur). From the very beginning, we focus on bilingual education in German and English, with both languages having equal status and the children being taught by native-speaking education specialists using the immersion method.

Our day care centre offers space for 80-85 nursery and elementary children as well as 60 children of preschool age. In age-homogeneous groups, the children are introduced to bilingualism in a playful way in the crèche (1-3 years) and in the elementary area (3-5 years). During the preschool year (5-6 years) we prepare the children gently for everyday school life. Regular sports activities or working on the Smart Board accompany this process. After the preschool programme, various club activities are available in the afternoon, such as circus, art, football or ballet.

Communication with parents plays an important role: information is given regularly and development meetings, as well as parents' evenings, allow for a lively exchange of ideas. Our offer includes care for 6 to 11 hours during our opening hours from 7:00am - 6:00pm in combination with the Hamburg day care voucher (Kita-Gutschein).

Children between the ages of six and ten form our bilingual German/English school community. They learn, play and discover the world with our dedicated and motivated teachers. The integration of the Kita and the secondary school shows us every day where we come from and where we want to go.

Phorms Education’s bilingual concept is based on the students acquiring English as early as possible. Each day, our students experience everyday situations in German and English. Both languages are supported to a high degree in the classroom. Children learn both languages from teachers who are native speakers.

We work in the British-American "cabinet system", i.e. students change rooms for each subject and enter a subject-related world where they adapt to the language of instruction given by the teacher. This is characteristic of our immersive approach: two equal languages of instruction - English and German as quasi native languages. Spanish and/or French are added later. In addition, many of our children and young adults bring at least one other language with them from home. "Bi-linguality" is therefore rather understated: we live "multi-linguality" - in the corridors, in the classrooms, with the students and with the teachers.

We teach grades 5 to 12 and, as a state-recognised secondary school, we carry out the central written examination in grade 10 like all other schools in Hamburg. This is the first building block for transfer to the senior secondary school. In the summer of 2020, we will celebrate a milestone in our school history: Our oldest students will be the first at the Hamburg campus to take the Hamburg school leaving examination (the Abitur) and will acquire the fully-recognised "Certificate of General Aptitude for University Studies".