Bavarian International School

BIS is the leading IB World School in Germany and the only one offering all four IB programmes, founded in 1991. Split between a primary city campus in Munich-Schwabing and the secondary base in a castle and modern blocks at Haimhausen, around 15 km north.

Around 1,250 students from over 60 nationalities aged three to nineteen, taught entirely in English, with average IB Diploma scores running four to five points above the global average in recent years. Tuition runs from roughly EUR 17,000 to EUR 24,000 depending on grade, with more than 80 after-school activities a week. Operated as a non-profit company supported by the Munich economic community.

Families describe a genuinely international community that absorbs new arrivals quickly, accessible leadership, and strong continuity from kindergarten through to the Diploma. The Haimhausen castle and grounds are a draw on their own. The trade-off is the commute to Haimhausen for secondary families living centrally. Best fit for expat families wanting a full English-medium IB pathway with strong outcomes and a pastoral feel.

• The main campus sits in Haimhausen, north of Munich, with a smaller City campus inside Munich. Online commentary is broadly positive, with two consistent themes: a warm community and strong curriculum breadth.
• forum threads from r/Munich and r/germany recommend the school for English-medium secondary alongside Phorms and the European School. Parents describe inclusivity, a learning-support function that engages directly with families, and small school buses for younger children.
• The school is the only IB World School in Germany running all four IB programmes (PYP, MYP, DP, CP), with Pearson Edexcel as an additional secondary track. Parent commentary on directory sites and Mumsnet praises facilities, the around forty extracurricular sports courses on the Haimhausen campus, and a community spread across roughly seventy nationalities.
• One material concern surfaces from a Mumsnet thread on Frankfurt-and-Munich international schools: that BIS is reported as not remotely interested in helping families with children with significant special needs. That sits in tension with another parent who specifically said the head of learning support was helpful for her autistic daughter. Read the special-needs picture as case-dependent rather than uniform.
• Cost is significant. A German-language Reddit thread quotes around two thousand euros a month per child as the reference figure parents weigh the investment against. Distance to Haimhausen is the other recurring practical theme, with parents using the school bus network from villages well beyond Munich.