Glasmacher

Glasmacher is the trading name of Barbara Glasmacher Internationale Schulberatungs-GmbH, a family business in Munich. Its history starts in 1982, when founder Barbara Glasmacher's eldest daughter joined Sevenoaks School, and traces how advising other families grew into a firm. All four of her daughters took the IB Diploma at Sevenoaks, and two of them, Theresa Glasmacher and Virginia Jakob, now manage the business. Barbara Glasmacher also says she persuaded several British schools to introduce the IB, among them Felsted, Oakham and Gresham's.

The firm advises on boarding schools in the UK only, Scottish and Welsh schools included, and says it works with around 200 of them and knows each one personally. Advice starts with getting to know the child. Glasmacher then suggests four or five schools and guides the family through the application and entrance tests, with preparation material in an online family portal, through to visas, guardians and departure. When a pupil chooses between A Levels and the IB, and then picks subjects, the team keeps in view what German universities will later ask for. Consultations take place in Munich, at weekend sessions in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Wiesbaden, or online, and the site says most families get in touch when their child is between 12 and 15.

Support carries on during the stay and when a pupil returns to the German school system or moves on to university or a gap year. Glasmacher also arranges holiday English courses at British boarding schools for ages 12 to 17, term-time stays of two to eight weeks, and foundation courses in Oxford, Cambridge or London after the Abitur. It runs webinars, held its first Career Day in July 2025, and organises an IB Schools Fair, which in April 2027 brings eight IB boarding schools to Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich.