Compulsory education

All children who have reached the age of six by a fixed deadline will be required to attend school at the beginning of the following school year.

At the request of the legal guardians, younger children can be admitted to school if they have the necessary physical and mental ability to attend school and are sufficiently developed in their social behavior. School-age children who are not yet sufficiently developed physically, mentally or in their social behaviour can be deferred by one year. They may be required to attend a school kindergarten to promote their development.

The cut-off date for compulsory schooling in Lower Saxony will be moved in three steps from 30 June of each year to 30 September. In order to give school authorities and parents enough time to adapt to the change, children who had reached the age of six by 31 July 2010 were required to attend school for the first time in 2010. In 2011, the cut-off date will be 31 August and from 2012 30 September. That is, becoming obligated to attend school

• at the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year, all children who reach the age of six in the period from 1 August 2010 to 31 August 2011,
• At the beginning of the 2012/2013 school year, all children who reach the age of six by 30 September (2012).

From 2012 onwards, the new version of the Lower Saxony School Act (NSchG) will be applied for the first time and will then apply accordingly for the following school years - the cut-off date is then 30 September.

Compulsory schooling generally lasts 12 school years. It is divided into at least nine years of full-time compulsory education in primary and lower secondary education. Subsequently, compulsory schooling in upper secondary education is fulfilled by attending a general education or vocational school or, for trainees, by attending vocational school. It can also be shortened in individual cases.

Exceptions may be allowed if students skipped a school year or attended a school abroad. The duration of a deferral of school attendance as well as the third school year in the entrance level can be counted towards the school period. The duration of a suspension of compulsory schooling is also taken into account.

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