Management of the iDSB

School Board

Jochen Flohn has been head of the iDSB since August 2022. From Paris to Landau to Brussels – Mr Flohn came to the southern Palatinate metropolis of Landau in 2015 as deputy headmaster from the German School in Paris. There he was head of the Max Slevogt Gymnasium, an AbiBac school with a focus on music, art and foreign languages, especially French.

In addition to the natural sciences and mathematics that Mr Flohn teaches, interculturality, linguistic diversity and the musical and artistic offerings are particularly close to his heart.

---

Since the summer of 2019, Jörg Heinrichs has been at the iDSB as Deputy Headmaster and in the school years 2020/21 and 2021/22 he has been given the provisional leadership of the school. He teaches English, History and Geography and has gained experience in different school systems, including European Schools in the UK and Brussels. Most recently, he was Head of Department and Deputy Headmaster in Freiburg i.Br. At the European Schools, he was involved in the development of the bilingual curricula for the subjects of geography and history and is still active as an external expert for history for the EU Schools.

For Mr Heinrichs, the essential question is how we can best prepare our pupils for their future lives in a changing world. School development is consequently his central concern.

---

Nicole Bordelais has been working as a foreign teaching assistant for German, history and French at the iDSB since 2016 and has been the PQM officer and head of the steering group there since 2018. Since 2021, she has also taken on the role of deputy head of school and is responsible for school development, among other things.

---

Petra van den Beukel has worked in the administration since 2004 and is responsible for Human Resources and Internal Services (including the canteen). Since 2018, she has been entrusted with the management of all administrative business. Before coming to Brussels, Ms van den Beukel worked for many years in the marketing for various large companies in Frankfurt am Main. After 16 years at a school, she can identify very well with the words of A. Lindgren A. Lindgren: “There is no age in which everything is experienced as much as in childhood. We adults should remember what that was like.” Ms van den Beukel is supported by experienced staff in the areas of marketing, finance, personnel, secretariat in KiBi/GS and OS as well as school catering for Bistro & Mensa and facility management.

Extended School Board

At the beginning of the school year 2022/23, Dominik Haba took over the leadership of our primary school. Previously, Mr Haba held the position of Lower School Coordinator at the iDSB. After returning to the Baden-Württemberg state service in 2015 from teaching abroad (DS Kiev), he became deputy headmaster of a community school. At the beginning of the school year 2021/2022, he moved back to the foreign school service and has since strengthened the school management of the iDSB. He also teaches German and geography. One of his concerns is strength-based teaching. This builds on abilities and addresses sensitivities – always with the aim of bringing out the best in everyone.

Emanuel Imfeld has been working at the iDSB as deputy head of primary school since summer 2019. He teaches the subjects mathematics, German, science and music. During his teaching career at various primary schools in Switzerland, Germany and South Africa, as well as through his work as the head of a bilingual Montessori nursery, he was able to gain valuable experience and acquire new skills. His focus is on a learning-friendly climate that encourages children to learn independently and motivates teachers to design learning environments and accompany learning processes with joy and passion.

---

In August 2023, Jennifer Laumert took over as Head of the Bilingual Kindergarten with Preschool (KiBi). From 2014 to 2023, Ms Laumert worked at the German school abroad in Seoul, South Korea. First as a pedagogical specialist and then, from 2019 to 2023, as the preschool and kindergarten director. During her years in Seoul, she was able to gain a lot of experience in dealing with interculturality and multilingualism.
The focus of her work is always on providing the best possible support and guidance for the children. In close coordination with the pedagogical staff and the families of the kindergarten, but also with the children themselves, the kindergarten should always be a place of discovery, encounter and togetherness, where every child feels comfortable and can develop according to their individual needs.

---

Marion Montgomery has been at this school since spring 2006. Previously, kindergarten and preschool were still separate. Mrs Montgomery completed her teacher training in America, so she takes over the English part in the kindergarten group. For the last two years, she has been the KiBi director’s absentee deputy and has now been the deputy director since June. Ms Montgomery has two children, both of whom have gone through the iDSB from kindergarten to high school.

---

Katharina Zettl has been working at the iDSB since 2020. She teaches business administration, economics and English and is the head of the Fachoberschule (FOS). Previously, she worked for nine years at a vocational school in Hamburg, where she was particularly active in the Berufsoberschule (vocational high school) and in training preparation for migrants as an all-day coordinator, language officer and DSD Pro exam officer. During longer stays abroad in the USA, Spain, South and Central America – among others at the German Ursuline School in Santiago de Chile – Ms Zettl’s heart has been beating for a long time for the foreign school service and the work in a dynamic, motivating, international environment.

In the course of her work with young migrants, Ms Zettl has already gained valuable intercultural experience as well as extensive knowledge in individualised learning. As a certified learning coach and yoga teacher, Ms Zettl is happy to integrate elements of learning coaching, yoga and mindfulness into her teaching.

---

Karoline Kocher has been working at the iDSB since summer 2015. Before that, she gained experience as a teacher in lower secondary school in Cologne for more than 15 years. She teaches the subjects chemistry, natural sciences, art and performing arts/theatre. At the beginning of 2017, she took over the management of the secondary school at the iDSB. At the same time, she coordinates the final exams within the secondary school.

---

Thomas Leitheiser has been working at the iDSB since 2019. He teaches German and English and is head of the upper school. Previously, he worked at three different grammar schools in North Rhine-Westphalia and at the German International School of Silicon Valley (GISSV) in California, USA. In recent years, he gained organisational experience as Upper School Coordinator at GISSV and then as Head of the Bilingual Branch and International Baccalaureate (IB) at Cologne’s Lessing-Gymnasium in the area in which he is now employed at the iDSB.
Mr Leitheiser is delighted that he can now work as part of the iDSB family in the heart of Europe and be involved in educating young people here to become convinced Europeans.

---

Rolf Linse has been working at the iDSB since 2020. He teaches German and French and heads the middle school. Previously, he gained experience at general and vocational high schools in Germany as well as at the German International School of Silicon Valley (GISSV) in California. In recent years, Mr Linse worked at Wirtemberg Gymnasium in Stuttgart, an elite school of sport and football that enables young top athletes to combine school and sport. There, he was particularly responsible for the school first-aid service and the India exchange and was also involved as a liaison teacher and staff council member.

Mr Linse is particularly concerned not to see his teaching subjects but the pupils as the focus of his work and to help them grow into responsible, tolerant and cosmopolitan people and find their own way in life. As a convinced European, he is particularly pleased to now be pursuing this task in the heart of Europe.

---

Matthias Verdoodt has been working as a Dutch teacher at the iDSB since 2018. He has strengthened the extended school management as coordinator since September 2023 and is interested in languages and creative digitalised lesson design in his professional environment. What Verdoodt particularly likes here is that the work is very student-oriented. Children are not a number here, but a person whose qualities he wants to emphasise. Matthias Verdoodt hopes that he, as coordinator, can get the pupils to think outside the box and help them grow into critical, empathetic young people.

All-day coordination

Anne-Kathrin Albl is responsible for all-day activities at the primary and secondary school. In addition, she works as a social pedagogue in the Psychological Pedagogical Service and supports pupils in their everyday school life. She gained several years of experience in a therapy centre of SOS Children’s Villages in Austria and worked as a consultant for UNICEF in Indonesia. Anne-Kathrin Albl has lived in Brussels since 2008 and has been working at the iDSB ever since.