Admission to secondary schools Advice
Elementary school ends in Lower Saxony after the 4th grade. From year 5, your child goes to a secondary school. This can be a Hauptschule, a Realschule, a Oberschule, a Gesamtschule (integrated comprehensive school/cooperative comprehensive school), a Förderschule or a Gymnasium. Not all types of secondary school are offered in every region or town. You decide which one to enrol your child in.
To support you in this decision, the elementary school offers you as a parent or guardian at least two counseling sessions in the 4th grade regarding the transition to the 5th grade. The teacher will inform you about your child's individual learning development and, if desired, advise you on the choice of secondary school types and possible courses of education. Your child should be included in the consultation in an appropriate form. The basis for these discussions is the performance level, learning development during primary school, work and social behavior and the findings from discussions with you. If you wish, a school career recommendation can be made by the teacher at the second consultation. The teacher will write down the main results of the discussions in order to ensure that they are binding and transparent. You will receive a copy of this document from the teacher.
At the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th school year, there will be an information event for you. At this event, you will be informed about the educational mission, the performance requirements and working methods of the secondary schools and the possibilities of a later change of school type.
Once you have made your decision, register your child at a secondary school.
Until the 2019/2020 school year, pupils with a need for special educational support were subject to a new assessment of their need for special educational support when changing school type. This has been discontinued since the 2020/21 school year.
- At the end of year 3 or at the beginning of year 4, you can attend an information event about the transition to secondary school.
- In the course of year 4, you will be offered two counseling sessions. The aim of the talks is to provide you with support and guidance with regard to your choice of secondary school
- You decide which secondary school your child should attend and register them at the appropriate school. When doing so, please note the deadlines set for registration. You can find this out from the relevant school or your elementary school. You will often also find this information on the homepage of the secondary school or the school authority.
- Elementary school responsible
- Elementary school responsible
- none
- No documents required
Fee: free of charge
- no deadline for the consultation (when registering at the secondary school, the time slots for this must be observed - contact person: corresponding secondary school)
- Forms: none
- Online procedure possible: no
- Written form required: no
- Personal appearance required: yes (for participation in the information event and the counseling sessions)
This administrative service does not constitute an administrative act. For this reason, there is no legal remedy.
Registration at the secondary school is not part of this service description.
Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture
The text was automatically translated based on the German content.
