PROFILE: ST KILIAN'S GERMAN SCHOOL, CLONSKEAGH, DUBLIN: Though tucked away beside the UCD campus, the windows of St Kilian's in south Dublin look out onto Europe – and you don't have to be German or speak the language to go there, writes JOANNE HUNT
DECIPHERING German newspaper headlines was recently the sport of choice for many Irish economists – but instead of thumbing dictionaries, they could have had a masterclass from children at one Dublin school.
Students of St Kilian’s Deutsche Schule, a kindergarten, primary and secondary school in Clonskeagh, learn German from the age of four. While we relied on pundits to translate the headlines about us in Die Welt, this school’s transition year class did if for themselves.
“We did interactive classes with the children during the IMF and ECB debate where we went online and read and discussed the headlines in German newspapers,” says deputy principal of the secondary school, Alice Lynch. Though tucked away beside the UCD campus, the windows of this south Dublin school very much look out onto Europe.
The school traces its origins to the Save the German Children Society, founded in Dublin in 1945 to give homes to orphaned and homeless German children after the second World War. But to refer to St Kilians as “the German school” is a label they are keen to shake off.
“There’s a perception that everything is taught through German, but it’s not,” says Sarah Finnegan, head of the primary school. “Or that you have to speak German or that one of your parents has to be German, but that’s just not true,” she says.
In fact, one third of families who choose the school are Irish, one third have an Irish parent and a parent from another country with just a third from German families.
Offering tuition from kindergarten, 90 per cent of pupils continue at the school for their second-level education – but with pupils of up to 40 nationalities coming and going, many having parents who travel with their jobs, there’s no sense of this being a sheltered route.
This flux, St Kilian’s teachers say, makes the school more like the real world and challenges students and teachers to accommodate new points of view and ways of doing things in the classroom.
At Kindergarten, things like art and singing are delivered in German. “It’s a fantastic start with the language,” says Finnegan.
At primary, subjects are taught through English and German is taught every day. For parents without a word of the language, it is a great way for them to pick up a bit, says Finnegan. “All we would ask for is a bit of enthusiasm for the language.”
For junior cycle, the school shares facilities with the Lycée Francais d’Irlande, a French government initiative co-located with St Kilian’s on the Clonskeagh “Eurocampus”.
The pairing means St Kilian’s pupils share classes with native French teachers and pupils, exposing them to high standards in a second European language.
In transition year, pupils do three weeks work experience with companies in Hamburg where the school has built up strong industry links.
In senior cycle, pupils have three choices: to complete the Irish Leaving cert; a bi-lingual leaving cert in German language, literature and history recognised by the German ministry of education for entry into German universities; or the French Baccalaureate.
Academically, the school holds its own with 48 per cent of pupils achieving 450 points or more and with 28 per cent achieving 500 points or more. St Kilian’s is also bucking the national trend in maths with 50 per cent of those who took the subject at higher level scoring an A1, 10 per cent an A2 and 40 per cent a B1.Lynch says the school boasts some A grades honours Irish too – even though tuition only begins with “games and oral work” in fifth class.
Kilian’s is no slouch on the playing fields either. While big-name “rugby” schools dominate the south Dublin neighbourhood, this school has two pupils on the Leinster hockey squad and, in a combined team with the Lycée de Francais, recently reprised Ireland’s World Cup woes by winning the Primary Schools World Cup in South Africa, in a world tournament that ran parallel to the real thing.
So what is the St Kilian’s ethos?
“We’re looking to educate young citizens for Europe, with a sense of Irish culture, German culture and French culture,” says Alice Lynch.
“We encourage all of our children to be independent thinkers and learners and we want them to ask ‘why?’”
For one Irish parent who has three children at the school, the German phrase auf eigene Gefahr meaning “at your own risk” sums it up. “The children are taught individual responsibility from primary school, to be responsible for your own actions, and that you can’t blame it on someone else.”
One past pupil says, “You were treated like an adult. We were allowed to be ourselves. The place wasn’t strict, but discipline was never an issue. You made good friends but the school wasn’t about building a network of ‘contacts’ to get you a job.” Another agrees, “There was none of that ‘you are the future leaders of your country’ stuff you hear of in other private schools. The teachers wanted the best for you, whatever that was.”
Walking through the corridors, not only is there a mix of ethnicities and ages, but there’s no school uniform and teachers clearly don’t occupy themselves monitoring dyed or long hair.
While the school is inter-denominational, there’s the option to prepare for communion and confirmation and ethics is taught in secondary school, says Sarah Finnegan.
Run as a limited company with parents dominating the board of management, parent and chair of the board Frank Heisterkamp says, “I would guess that parental involvement at Kilian’s is somewhat stronger than in other schools.
“If parents decide they want a bigger focus on science, then this is implemented in conjunction with the teaching body,” he says, citing a recent decision to increase the time allocated to the subject at primary school. As a result 5th class is now learning how to programme Lego robots.
“It doesn’t take much and it happens quickly,” says Heisterkamp. “It reminds me of the company I work for. A school has to have strategic plans and budgets.”
Such parental involvement requires teachers to be very responsive. “That’s another challenge for teachers in terms of integrating things into the classroom,” says Lynch. “But teaching can be very formatted, you can go in and get very comfortable, you need to put those challenges in place.”
Of the school’s ethos, Heisterkamp says, “We have a German aspect, but it’s not over-arching. We’re extremely international. People think about their children’s future. Germany is the third largest trading partner of Ireland so knowing about Germany must be an advantage.”
ST KILIAN'S GERMAN SCHOOL
Student numbers
Kindergarten, 85; primary school, 234; secondary school, 347
Fees
€4,000 per annum, with family discounts and scholarship places available.
Campus
St Kilians German School (Deutsche Schule) is adjacent to UCD and is located on a “Eurocampus” where it shares facilities with the Lycée Francais dIrlande.
Unusual characteristics
All of this years transition year students use a laptop in class, which they will carry with them through to Leaving Cert.
The German Ministry of Education funds the schools German teachers who are all native Germans.
