Our Team, Our Opening Hours and How to Reach Us

Richard Lord joined SIS Friedrichshafen as principal, with over twenty-five years of teaching and school leadership experience, including thirteen years as a headteacher in two secondary schools in the United Kingdom.

He gained a bachelor’s degree in German with complementary French at the University of Exeter before completing his post-graduate certificate in education at the University of Cambridge. He recently obtained a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Chester.

With a background in curriculum design, Richard Lord has a passion for the international dimension in education. Having participated in a Fulbright Administrator Exchange to the United States, he has developed curricular links and professional development programmes with schools across Europe, Eastern Asia and the United States. As a fluent speaker of English and German, Richard Lord is an avid supporter of the bilingual concept at SIS Friedrichshafen. 

In his free time, he enjoys reading, a variety of sports and spending time with his family.

Julia Maria Grötzinger has been teaching philosophy, ethics and French as well as the seminar course and TOK (IB) at SIS Friedrichshafen since September 2017. In the school year 2020/21 she took over as head of secondary school (upper classes) .

Julia Maria Grötzinger grew up in the Upper Swabian district of Biberach and became involved in voluntary work with the scouts and the youth culture association at an early age. After graduating from high school in 2009, she studied philosophy and French at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg. During this time she spent two semesters working as a foreign language assistant in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. She obtained her second state examination at the Seminar Weingarten in July 2017.

Respectful interaction and criticially reflecting upon values and attitudes is of utmost importance to Julia Maria Grötzinger. Through this she would like to shape the future of the students. It is her greatest desire that the students grow into citizens of the world, capable of facing global challenges, and yet remain attached to their roots.

Valérie Nadeau comes from Canada and she would proudly insist that she is from Québec. She completed a Bachelor of Science (Major in Wildlife Biology) at McGill University, followed by a Master of Science (Hydrogeology and Ecotoxicology) at INRS-ETE (Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique – Eau, Terre et Environnement) in Québec. She worked as an environmental consultant (project manager) for three years before starting her Master of Education at the Université de Sherbrooke.

This is her eighth year of teaching at SIS Friedrichshafen, as a Biology and NWT teacher. Before moving to Germany, she was teaching Sciences for four years in Québec (Collège St-Paul and Collège Notre-Dame de Lourdes). She’s also been teaching in Salem in the last two years. She is immensely happy to be back full-time at SIS, where her heart is. Both her kids have been attending SIS Friedrichshafen since Kindergarten and really enjoy their school life there.

Valérie is generally known to have a lot of energy. She likes challenges and enjoys working in a team, which she applies in her day-to-day life. As a teacher, she lets the students’ curiosity direct their learning in a respectful and cooperative environment. Her position as Head of Secondary gives her the opportunity to keep learning and have the feeling of being helpful, which she highly values.