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International School OWL International School OWL

The competencies engine

Where grades become outcomes.

Universities and employers don’t just want top marks, they want character, competencies, and the ability to communicate. Our enrichment programme develops exactly what the exam hall cannot measure and feeds it straight back into academic results.

The thinking

Academics give the currency. Enrichment gives the competence.

A-Levels open the door; what students do beyond the classroom decides how far they walk through it. Three internationally recognised programmes turn classroom knowledge into research, advocacy and resilience — the qualities that distinguish a strong university application from an outstanding one.

Apply

Classroom theory meets real research questions, real policy debates, real challenges.

Develop

Character, communication and discipline. The competencies grades alone never reveal.

Distinguish

A profile that stands out: top grades and evidence of who the student is.

The programmes in brief

Four internationally recognised enrichment programmes

Character & Resilience

Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award

What it is: A global youth award (in 120+ countries). You grow through volunteering, sport, a new skill and an adventurous journey. 

  • Cost: about €300 for your own personal equipment.
  • Runs only if at least 5 students sign up. 

Pairs with: any other programme

Global citizenship

Model United Nations

What it is: You act as a country in a model of the UN – you debate, give speeches and write resolutions on real world topics.

  • Runs only if at least 4 students sign up. 
  • Possible cost for parents: attending a MUN conference (travel, accomodation, food)

Pairs with: any other programme

Research & innovation

Jugend forscht

What it is: Germany's largest youth STEM competition. You design your own science or technology project and present it. 

  • You need at least B1 German. The whole programme is in German. 
  • You keep a 70% average in your assessments. 
  • Commitment & self-motivation: at least 5 extra hours of work each week, outside class. 

Pairs with: Duke of Edinburgh or MUN only

Language & Integration

German Plus

What it is: Extra German lessons to help you advance faster, settle in, and fell at home in Germany. 

  • Only for students with A2-level German. 
  • You keep a 70% average in your assessments. 
  • Commitment & self-motivation: at least 5 extra hours of work each week, outside class. 

Paris with: Duke of Edinburg or MUN only. 

Programme intersections

The real magic is how they combine.

It is not any one programme that makes a student university-ready, it is the way academics, character, language and research reinforce one another. Each combination compounds the others.

Knowledge with stakes

Students argue policy, climate and geopolitics using A-Level frameworks. Academic content stops being abstract and becomes genuinely meaningful.

Grades with grit

Universities do not just see top marks, they see a young person with proven discipline and persistence behind them.

Theory into inquiry

Classroom knowledge becomes original research. Students apply scientific and mathematical rigour to real questions and compete at regional and national level.

Excellence in a new language

Master both the subject and German, and the full spectrum of German university programmes opens up.

Citizenship with follow-through

Advocacy and volunteering as two expressions of the same moral impulse which are developed in parallel, not in isolation.

Direction from day one

Subject choice, performance and enrichment are shaped from the start by the student’s university goals and every result counts toward a purposeful application.

The outcome

A graduate who is genuinely university-ready.

By the time a student leaves EIS, enrichment has done its quiet work: the research portfolio, the public speaking, the volunteering, the second language and the self-discipline are no longer extras. They are the evidence behind the grades.

A standout application

Top grades backed by demonstrable character, research and service.

Research experience

An original Jugend forscht project. Rare at school level, valued at university.

Confident communication

MUN-honed argument and public speaking, in more than one language.

Proven independence

A young adult already used to managing time, effort and commitments.

The whole learner — not just the transcript.

See how our values and learner framework hold academics and enrichment together, or find out who thrives at EIS.