Carpe Diem - Willich

For us, being a good school means guiding students to their personal success.

The Carpe Diem private all-day school in Willich near Düsseldorf continues the established concept of its sister school, the Carpe Diem in Bad Neuenahr. As a person and especially as a teenager you not only have a growing intellect, but also an unfolding body and a stormy, sometimes pubescent soul, which we address holistically. Therefore, creative artistic expression, emotional coaching, sport and practical craftsmanship are as important as specialist knowledge and competence. We strive for strong personalities, emotional intelligence and humanity through appreciation and trust. We are role models in the pursuit of education, expressiveness, understanding of history and nature. We value the openness to the world acquired through learning modern languages and political commitment. Finally, we create the conditions for our students to be able to survive in the professional world. Our aim is to both lead and grow by providing the best possible individual support for each student. Communication and harmony with oneself are decisive foundations for good relationships with others. Thus there is the possibility of a student coaching in which strategies for learning success, motivation, relationship success and fun in education are created together with the coach and student.

More than 26,000 square metres of green space in the landscape conservation area surround the boarding school, including an old tree population and a small lake. There is also a direct connection to public parks, forest areas, riding stables, local recreation areas and swimming pools. Willich as a city offers numerous sports and leisure opportunities in the form of sports grounds, clubs, leisure centres and well-developed cycle paths.

Key Facts

  • School-leaving certificate: Abitur
  • Boarding school places: 45 in total; currently occupied 22; single and double rooms available for pupils
  • Total number of pupils: 100
  • Class size: 3 -12 pupils
  • Students from many different nations
  • G9 classes (class 10-13),
  • Proportion of girls and boys 35/65 – Boarding school
  • Percentage of girls and boys 40/60 – School
  • Abitur grade point average: 2.4
  • Leisure activities: Horse riding, swimming, DJ club, cooking club, indoor sports, fitness, excursions, football
  • The artistic talents of our students are encouraged in the open studio.
  • Whether graphic or sculpture – our studio offers free space for every form of creativity.
  • Multimedia and interactive learning – working with Smartboards, iPads and learning platform
  • Individual support according to the level of learning and development of the student
  • Direct connection to the surrounding major cities of Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach, Krefeld and Neuss
  • Very rural and therefore very safe environment
  • Social and experiential education projects
  • Promotion of communicative and social competence

Carpe Diem School Preparation Year

The DIP or “German Intensive Programme Carpe Diem” is the programme of the private all-day school Carpe Diem for learning the German language and culture. The basic concept is: “Learning German among Germans”, and everything is organized on this basis.

It is important to form small class groups so that the individual needs and characteristics of the students can be taken into account. Young people with a non-German language of origin learn here together with German native speakers. This not only promotes language skills, but also the cultural understanding of the non-German pupils. The extensive cultural exchange is reinforced by the general conditions in which the guest students find themselves.

Language and culture are thus no longer imaginary stories in textbooks, but are learned on the spot and the young people have the opportunity to deal with them in a real context. The Carpe Diem School would like to enable the best possible integration into the German school system in order to promote the achievement of school-leaving qualifications and to support the personality development of the pupils, especially under multicultural conditions.

In the course of the rapid integration of the pupils, English, sports and, if necessary, mathematics are taught in class in addition to an intensive German course. The German course is organised by trained and experienced teachers outside the classroom. Here, special grammatical and communicative skills are trained and the teachers ensure that the German vocabulary is expanded and that the complicated German grammar is learned correctly.