Deutsche Schule Seoul International, the only German school in Seoul, will soon have to find a new location as it is filled to the brim, especially the kindergarten which now has up to 30 students per class.

There is expected to be a waiting list when children of Siemens staff, set to arrive with the opening of the new headquarters, joins the crowd later this year. 

“Space is becoming a really a serious issue,” said Thomas Snay, the chief financial officer of Merck who volunteers on the board at the German school as treasurer.

Another issue is that local laws are keeping the school from quickly relocating to a new home.

The school has been looking to relocate further north to Seongbuk-dong from its current locale in Hannam-dong, and has been seeing much progress.

Regulatory red tape, however, is expected to be a challenge since the school will need various permits from Seoul City and the central government, not to mention the district of Seongbuk.

There are 160 students at the school from kindergarten to grade 12, and some of the classrooms for the upper grade students have been “rented out” to the kindergarten classes due to the lack of space.

Siemens, which is to usher in up to 100 engineers from Germany ― the company has not yet decided on the proportion of Koreans in that group ― when it opens its Asia-Pacific headquarters here in October is one of the main reasons behind the school’s upcoming growth.

“We heard that the school is in a little bit of a panic because of the upcoming Siemens situation,” said one parent, declining to be identified.

The current and expected inflow of German expats has been adding to the number of students in each class so that even in the elementary school, there are up to 15 students per class from the previous dozen or below.

“The situation is actually quite good considering that back home, there are around 25 to 30 students in each class. But the number does reflect a significant increase,” said another German parent.

The school, along with Siemens Korea, is already receiving numerous queries about the educational situation in Seoul, those close to the matter said.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)