How it all began

The school was founded in 1977, at the request of the European Patent Office in Munich. Consisting of a Kindergarten and a Primary School only, it was initially housed in the Lycée Français in the Berlepschstraße. There was a pioneering spirit in those early days. The school community combined resources and ideas to cultivate a learning environment based on the best of European cultures. The first Secondary School teachers arrived in 1979. There was much to learn and the European ethos began to develop. In 1981, the school moved to its present site between Perlach, which was then a rural district, and the rapidly developing area of Neuperlach, the thriving place we know today. The first European Baccalaureate certificates were awarded to twelve candidates in 1984. It was a small, but thriving school community bounded by the common goal of educating the young Europeans of Munich.

The school soon reached the limits of its capacity and by 1994 it became clear that new facilities and extensions were necessary. Two new temporary buildings were erected and two permanent extensions were approved. Due to the close proximity, the Kindergarten children experienced a smooth transition into their next stage of education. Various activities and projects such as Eurosport, Model European Council and European Schools' Science Symposium, allowed the students to share ideas and interact with the wider European School population. The "Culture Days", with art exhibitions, musical performances and drama included contributions from the youngest Europeans, our Kindergarten children. In 1987, a Commodore Pet with 8 kilobytes of RAM and a floppy disk drive represented the cutting edge of computing equipment in the Secondary School, while two BBC Micros were used by teachers in the Primary School.

The school's population continued to increase, and more temporary buildings were necessary to accommodate additional classes. The Europabau, completed in 2004, created space for events and performances, enabling a larger audience to enjoy high-class entertainment by young Europeans. The Primary School's "Silver Star" offered a well-resourced environment, helping our children to become confident learners and problem solvers. In 2007, the pre-school children moved to a new Kindergarten in Putzbrunner Straße, which provided a child-friendly environment, spacious classrooms and a well-landscaped playground. A dramatic expansion of the European Union to the east in 2004 added cultural diversity to the school. Teachers from other countries joined the staff and class numbers grew. By then, projects and events were well-established and gave the students the opportunity to develop wider interests in sport, culture, science and arts, while at the same time enabling them to gain valuable skills in "event management" on a European scale.

In 2010, the Eureka wing was opened. Besides housing the canteen and main administrative department, it included Secondary School laboratories for the Natural Sciences department. Throughout the school, smart boards, laptops and high-speed Internet access provided for effective IT enhanced teaching and learning. The range of cultural, athletic, musical, scientific and political events has never been greater, attesting to a vibrant school life. The launch of the Outreach Programme created wider opportunities for fundraising and interaction on a local, European and global scale. A record number of one hundred fifty-seven candidates were sitting the European Baccalaureate in 2017. With student numbers still rising, a new Primary School and a Kindergarten did open at the Fasangarten site in 2019.

Conceived in an era when European integration was both a desirable goal and a shared dream, the European School Munich has stood the test of time and represents an educational system which guarantees respect for all European languages and cultural diversity.