German School of Barranquilla

German School of Barranquilla (Colegio Alemán de Barranquilla, Deutsche Schule Barranquilla) is a private German international school in Barranquilla, Colombia. It is a German School of excellence abroad, who is officially sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the oldest German school in Colombia, and one of the only two schools in the Colombian Caribbean coast that offer an IB Diploma, or the International Baccalaureate program. The School serves nursery, which starts when children are 3 years old, kindergarten, primary (grades 1-6), and senior high school (grades 7-12). The institution offers a 3-6 month exchange program in Germany (when students reach Grade 10), and Summer Camps to improve language immersion. The main instructional language is Spanish. As of circa 2015 under 1% of students are native German speakers. The school first opened on February 9, 1913, making it the oldest German school in Colombia. Its first facility was a tenement building in the center of Barranquilla, and initially the school used rented facilities. It moved into its own building in 1930. The school originally used German as the language of instruction, and it used a German-Spanish bilingual program. In 1940 the pre-World War II school reached its peak student population of 253. 65% of the students were Colombians, 26% were Germans, and the remaining 9% were of different nationalities. It closed in 1942 due to political reasons stemming from World War II, it did not reopen until 1956. In the interim there were secret classes held at the Colegio del Prado. When the school officially reopened with 255 students, it became a Spanish-medium school, while German was only an academic subject. Students were required to use the Colombian curriculum. In 1957 the student body increased to 345. The first post-war teachers from Germany came in 1959. In 1961 an inspection committee from West Germany looked at the school. That year the first post-war graduates finished their studies.