Children as young as three are learning to speak German at a small language school based in Totterdown.

Children with German-speaking parents, grandparents or other links to German-speaking countries are attempting to keep their language alive with a two-hour weekly class at the German Saturday School.

The small school, which is based at Hillcrest Primary School, in School Road, has proved so popular, with 44 students on the roll, that there is now a waiting list.

The school is now expanding to meet demand and is looking for new teachers to join the team.

The school was set up in January 2007 by a group of Bristol parents.

Nadya Webster, 36, is chairwoman of the committee and one of the founder members.

She and her brother grew up as the only bilingual children in a small town and therefore know the importance of children speaking German with other young people. She said: "My brother and I were the only children we knew that spoke a foreign language at home and it made us feel very isolated. Giving the children of Bristol a place to meet and make friends brings them out of their shell and feel more relaxed about speaking German. It makes them feel normal.

"Some of course speak fluent German, but others might be a little more shy. Our aim is to expose the children to the language, let them have fun hearing and speaking it and, above all, meet other children just like themselves."

Nadya, whose mother is German, only speaks German to her two girls, who are aged three and five, and as a result they are bilingual.

Nadya, whose family moved from Germany to Wales when she was six, said: "We read German books and my children watch German TV. They understand everything that is said to them in German. I just have to persevere and keep speaking to them in German even if I get an answer or a question in English. This is what my mother did with me."

The parents who set up the German Saturday School met through the German Playgroup which has been running in Bristol for many years, with about 40 bilingual families from all over the city meeting there on a regular basis.

Nadya said: "Once children are of school age, they often no longer want to go to a playgroup or they are too tired after school. Because they are now in an English-speaking school all day and no longer at home with their German-speaking parents, their contact with their second language is reduced. This is what motivated us to set up the German Saturday School."

As well as keeping the language alive, the school also celebrates German festivals with the children, such as Nikolaus and Fasching.

The school is proving so successful that more qualified teachers, preferably with German mother-tongue, who have experience of teaching primary school aged children, are now needed.

Nadya said: "We realise this is a very rare combination of skills but we hope to attract the right candidates with a good salary and a fun place to work."

The school is also looking for assistants and supply teachers and therefore welcomes applications from candidates without all the above qualifications.

The German Saturday School summer fair takes place at St Matthew's Church, in Kingsdown, on July 11 from 3pm to 5pm. There will be plenty of activities for all to enjoy including children's games, raffle, toy and book sale and some traditional German food and drink. The event will raise money for the school to pay for teaching materials, school trips and marketing. Anyone interested in the school is invited to go along.

The German Saturday School is just one of many supplementary schools in Bristol supporting a range of languages, including Chinese, Somali, French and Polish.

The German Saturday School takes place on Saturday mornings between 10am and 1noon at Hillcrest Primary School, in Totterdown.

For more information call Nadya on 0117 902 1509.