The potato field is a reference to an adjacent agricultural plot to which the school hopes to move its sports facilities. The current facilities will have to make way for more containers, as the school is expected to continue growing. But unless something changes quickly, the school will have to stop enrolling pupils by 2028.
The European School Frankfurt is part of a network of schools backed by the European Commission, set up so that the children of officials in EU institutions around the bloc can access a guaranteed standard of education in a language suitable for them, free of charge. Outsiders who wish to send their children there can pay up to €8,194 a year in fees.
The ESF’s campus in Praunheim, in the north of the city, has been bursting at the seams for years. It was always meant to be an interim home and was initially designed for 900 students, but as the ECB more than doubled in size to include a banking supervisory arm the school now hosts more than 1,600. Student numbers are expected to rise further to over 2,200 by 2032.
And pressure on the school is now higher than ever: the ECB’s more than 5,000 staff are now no longer alone, because Frankfurt has attracted two more EU institutions in the meantime: the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), with some 200 staff, and — as of this year — the Anti-Money Laundering Agency, which will have a complement of over 400 by 2027.
Before the school opened back in 2002, the German government agreed with local authorities that the city of Frankfurt would provide land free of charge, while federal authorities covered building costs. Federal authorities have long pressured the city to stop dragging its feet and provide a spot.
In its pitch to host AMLA, Frankfurt had once again promised a new and larger European school. But unless a solution is found by 2028, the kids of AMLA staff may have to go to local schools: The European school can only use the site of the new containers until the end of 2028, after which the city will reclaim it for a new housing development.