Thank you for your interest in the John F. Kennedy School and your desire to enroll your child in our school.
Before you begin filling out the application form, please read the following information carefully.
The John F. Kennedy School (JFKS) is, according to §1 of the John F. Kennedy School Act, a German-American School which, as a school of special educational character, directly serves the idea of international understanding and combines elements of the German and American school systems. About half of the teaching staff are U.S. citizens and enrollment is made up of equal numbers of students who are German citizens or U.S. citizens. More than 60 years after its founding, JFKS continues to embody the spirit of German-American friendship and the exchange of German and American culture.
Admission of children to the JFKS is conditional upon them having either German or U.S. citizenship (or both, as the case may be) and at least one parent or legal guardian being a German citizen or U.S. citizen, and that the child to be admitted speak the language corresponding to their citizenship as if it were a first language (in the case of multilingual children, a “dominant language”) in accordance with their age. This is necessary for the school concept, as all resources, the language program, and the successful learning of the respective first and partner languages depend on a balanced number of children in the American and German contingents.
The Entrance Class is the grade level before 1st grade (or Kindergarten in the U.S.) and applicants must be born within a specific time period according to the JFKS admission regulations (see table under Application Periods).
Before completing the application form, please consider the following questions:
- Does my child have either German or U.S. citizenship (or both, if applicable) and does my child’s first language or dominant language match his/her citizenship? Note: The first language or dominant language will be verified during a language test or determined for children who have both citizenships.
If you have answered this question with no, we are unable to admit your child and ask you to refrain from submitting the application for admission, as we will have to reject your application at the latest if the language test determines that your child’s first language or dominant language does not correspond to his or her nationality. Information on other schools with a German-English language program can be found here.
- Does at least one parent or guardian have German or American citizenship?
If you answered this question with no, then, according to No. 6 of the JFKS Admission Guidelines, admission of your child is only possible by decision of the JFKS Education Directorate subject to the availability of places and provided that admission does not block a place for a German and/or American child. However, these conditions have not been met due to the large number of German and American applicants for the Entrance Class. Therefore, we ask that you do not apply since your child’s application will not be entered into the lottery.
If you answered yes to both questions, we look forward to receiving your application!
Application and necessary documents
See Application Forms. Please refer to the information on page 1, as well as the list of documents (page 2) that must be submitted with the application.
Only complete applications with all necessary documents and signatures will be processed. Due to the high number of applications, it is not possible to remind you of missing or expired documents.
Only applications submitted digitally will be processed. Please send the scanned documents attached as (preferably one) PDF file.
Application Periods
See Application Periods. Once your complete application is received, you will receive a confirmation email within 4-6 weeks. Applications are processed in the order they are received within the application periods, however, the date of submission has no effect on your application.
Legal Requirements
The Administration does not deviate from the JFKS Admissions Regulations for any reason. The admission guidelines include, among other things, regulations with regard to
- Residence requirement
- Priority applications
- Lotteries for free spaces after priority applications are processed
- Reserve lists
- Twins taking part in the lottery
The German language version of the JFKS Admissions Regulations is legally-binding. The English translation is only provided for your convenience.
Lotteries
The 95 free spots in the Entrance Class are split into 47/48 American spots and 48/47 German spots, in order to admit in roughly equal numbers. Priority applicants are sorted into contingents based on first language and nationality. After priority admissions, the remaining free spots are filled in a lottery drawing.
JFKS is unable to tell you what your child’s chances of admission are, as these depend entirely on the number of applications in the various contingents in any given year.
After the lottery, you will be informed of the results by e-mail in a timely manner.
Probationary Year
The first year at JFKS at any grade level is a probationary year.
Even if your child is admitted to JFKS and attends Entrance Class, you must register with your local school (Einzugsschule) for Grade 1 to ensure your child has a spot for first grade in case he/she does not pass probation. Please note that the registration periods for German schools differs from JFKS application periods. If you have questions about other schools or your local Einzugsschule, please contact the Schulamt in the district of Berlin where you reside.
