International School

[vienna4now]

I am looking for someone who can honestly tell me the +'s and -'s of the Vienna International School. I have heard good things and bad things. I don't want to start a negative thread about the VIS, I am just looking for an honest opinion. I have 'heard' there is a lot of infighting of the teachers at the VIS but have no idea if this is true.
THANKS!

[sarahgwynne]

Are your questions pertaining to working there or sending your child there as a student?

[vienna4now]

Student...thanks!!

[sarahgwynne]

It's a good school among the private institutions in Vienna. There's a large campus and their programmes are aimed at international community children (as opposed to purely "American"). As far as teacher infighting goes... well, find a school where the faculty is harmonious. No such thing! If I had to send my son to an international school, I'd probably choose this one.

[_rip]

Our son goes to the Viennese Bilingual School Donau-city. To send him to the private school would have been about €16000/yr. To compare, we ?ve spent about €500 all in, sending him to a 'local' school, over the past 18 months, and most of that was for field trips and christmas presents for the teachers (two per class, one native English, one native German).

And at the local school, he also gets German lessons, which he wouldn't have gotten at the 'International'. The class ratio as much as possible is 50/50 'German' native speakers learning English, 'English' native speakers learning German.

But I'd only recommend this route if your children were entering the Erste Classe (First grade) or were already somewhat bilingual. No fair dropping a 3d grader into a bilingual environment, if they don't have at least some abilities in both languages.

The only problem I have with the Austrian (? or maybe the bilingual school) system is that the teacher stays with the class from first to fourth grade. This means that if you end up with a frustrating teacher (not _bad_, just convinced that this 'email' thing isn't going to catch on, so doesn't use it or check it regularly, say more than once [which, since she already did a couple years ago, that should be sufficient, right? argh.])

[Snowdog]

Our son is a 10th grader at AIS. No complaints, pretty good school. We have seen nothing but professionalism at AIS.

As SG says, what school is there where the staff is harmonious 10% of the time?

[beachgirl]

But I'd only recommend this route if your children were entering the Erste Classe (First grade) or were already somewhat bilingual. No fair dropping a 3d grader into a bilingual environment, if they don't have at least some abilities in both languages.

I'm not a parent but I just can tell you from my personal experience that it's not such a huge problem for kids to go to even an only in-german-teaching school, even though they don't speak german at all. My family moved to austria when I was twelve and I didn't speak a word german when I started going to a hauptschule. At first I had some extra german lessons (instead of chemistry or biology). I also took german classes during the summer holidays as well. It took me only a few months to be able to understand pretty much. And after a year I was one of the best students in my class. The same goes for my brother who was 9 at that time... Just my personal experience.

[_rip]

the difference in this case I believe is that you were placed into a German Immersion environment, but the VBS system isn't that.

I think it's more fair to drop a non-speaker into an immersion course, because they won't have the chance to slack/be lazy about learning 'the other language'.

cases will of course vary from instance to instance, depending on native intelligence, drive to learn, etc.

The trick as a parent is to _not_ underestimate your kids' intelligence.

r

[vienna4now]

Thanks everyone for the advice. We are looking at the VIS and the DIS but don't know which one. The DIS is going through some tough administrative times and I have heard mixed reviews on the VIS. The bilingual schools are a good option for most but we would like to stick to an international school where an IB is obtainable. THANKS!!!!

[DanMan]

choose VIS...it has the nicer campus and even is a bit cheaper - not that it really matters at that price range anyways

[CapnNismo]

I've had some interaction with some of the older kids from the VIS and I have to say I wasn't impressed. Spoke to a parent with kids at the VIS and she said that her sons reflected my initial opinion of kids from the VIS: a lot are stuck up pricks. But she said the school itself was good and her kids (15 and 16) enjoyed it there, they also were getting German classes there.

[_kat_]

my brother and sister go to AIS - and I have only good things to say about the school

[Mischa]

After attending international school myself (although in Paris), I would never do that to my son. I have attended a lot of different schools in many different countries and this seemed like I went three classes lower when I got there.
IB? What do you need that for? Austrian Abitur is recognized by all universities, some still reqire you to do exams no matter where your graduation is from.
It is much better to give a child the opportunity to learn a forein language by full immersion then any kind of "special" school where people come and go all the time.
I do not see any point (in Europe) investing money in any education (and people still wrongly assume they get what they pay for here) prior to the University. I would rather think well about WHICH university the child gets a degree from then secondary school. They can go to best secondary school in the world but with a degree from a no name University they will not go very far.

[morgenhund]

@Mischa: Austrian children take the "Matura", "Abitur" is in Germany.

Re a somewhat sweeping statement private pre-University education: It depends whether the intention is for a child to then study in a country where there is a pre-leaving examination entry mode (e.g. like UCAS in the UK) - I certainly benefitted from having lower class sizes for my A Level subjects than I would have done had I been at a state school. With a Numerus Clausus system, the emphasis is on the grade you get, rather than the fact you passed a Matura to get you admitted...

If the plan is to study here, where there is no "Numerus Clausus" system and any Tom, Dick or Harriet can apply to study at a Uni, then I'd side with you - it will bring nothing regardless of where the child went if their aptitude is not suited to their degree subject. Here the "achievement" of completing a degree "in der Mindestzeit" is vaunted as such - elsewhere you have no choice but to do so!

[winch]

Hi,

I too am looking to put my 4 year old into the vis, we have been to see the school but I am still unsure if its right for my child.
If you do find out any pros and cons please let me know and i will you too!!
We not moving to Vienna til April.
How old are your children?

Regards
Fiona