FINALLY A PUPIL!
Here we bundle all important information for the registration of children that will start school in the upcoming school year. Since this registration process is very different from the registration process of the ongoing classes, we explain it on this page.
It is very important to emphasise here that you should please pay attention to and keep to the registration period as well as our office hours for registrations!
For more information on how to register children that will start with school, please visit the website of the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family Affairs (Senatverwaltung für Bildung, JUgend und Familie):
In 2022, the Senate Office also published a very informative brochure on school registration for the school year 2023/24 that describes the general process and other useful information regarding the school start. You can find it here:
REGISTRATION PERIOD
Please note:
For families living and registered in Berlin, the registration period for children to be enrolled in school for the 2024/25 school year was during the following period: 09 October to 20 October 2023. This concludes the registration period for the upcoming school year.
Late registration for families registered in Berlin must please be arranged with the school office of your district and with the school office Steglitz-Zehlendorf. We as a school cannot decide here if this is possible.
YOU ARE MOVING TO BERLIN AFTER THE REGISTRATION PERIOD?
If you move to Berlin after the registration period (see above) and can provide proof of this, then a different registration period applies to you or a deadline by which all documents (in particular the registration applications and the change of school application, which must be as original must be submitted to the Steglitz-Zehlendorf School Office) and language test(s) must be completed. You can find out more below.
The registration process of children to be enrolled in school
1. Letter from the school authority (Schulamt)
Before the enrolment period, you will receive a letter from the school authority informing you which primary school (in your catchment area) is responsible for your child, i.e. in which school your child will be enrolled.
You can find out which catchment area primary school is responsible for you by using the school district’s catchment area search. Here is the link:
2. Visit of your responsible primary school
During the enrolment period indicated above, visit your responsible primary school (this is indicated on the letter you received previously). It is important that you re-register there – this is very important for a smooth school registration.
FOR FAMILIES WHO WANT TO ENROL THEIR CHILD WITH US:
Please read the notes below regarding the change request (Wechselwunsch). These are important when you fill out this form.
3. Our website + admission forms
Please print out the Application for admission(s) on our website and fill them out – depending on whether you want to register your child for the bilingual class only or for the regular class (monolingual) as well. Please also make use of our checklist listed in advance in the application for admission, which will help you gather all the documents that are essential for registering with us.
4. Visit us & handing in the application(s)
Are we your first choice (SESB or regular branch)? Great! Then visit us at our registration office hours during the registration period (see above) and hand in all necessary documents. If necessary, we will assign a date for the language test, which usually takes place until the end of the year (language group ‘bilingual’ receives two dates). You can find out more about the language test further down this page.
Please note that we only accept first choice registrations and only allocate language test appointments for these.
5. Language test(s)
Please visit us at the set date(s) of the language test (bilingual = two dates). Please be at our school premises 5-10min before the language test starts. The language test takes place without the presence of parents (they wait outside the test room).
We will NOT tell you how the test went. After the test, all documents go to the school authority (Schulamt).
6. Allocation of the school spot
The school authority will inform you via mail whether your child has passed the language test and (if applicable, by lottery) has received a spot at our school (either in the monolingual or the bilingual class).
Usually, you will be informed about it from Easter before the start of school. Until then, we ask for your patience – if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the school authority (Schulamt)Steglitz-Zehlendorf.
Important information about the change of school
If you want to REGISTER your child WITH US:
Fill out a request for change of school when you visit your responsible primary school. There, you can specify three wishes. Be sure to specify the initial request – ‘Regel’ for monolingual class or ‘SESB’ for bilingual class! Furthermore, you have the possibility to select our second school concept (SESB or Regelzweig) as a second choice. This will increase your chances of getting a spot at our school! But please keep in mind that the monlingual class is not only different regarding the language (more detailed information regarding these differences you can find here on our website). A later change from the monlingual class to the bilingual class is only possible under certain conditions.
Please also note that – as already mentioned above – usually only first choice requests in the SESB branch can be considered. This is due to the large number of first-choice applications. Thus, we only schedule language tests with first choice request registrations. Second- and third-choice requests, meanwhile, are registered by the school district. Thus, you only need to visit us if we are your first choice (whether regular or SESB branch).
When you indicate the schools you are most interested in, all involved authorities (school authority, responsible primary school and first choice school) ask you to be fully transparent i.e. if you are considering to enroll your child in a private school (and in this administrative process it also includes the John F. Kennedy School), it is important to note this in the request for change of school!
Once you have completed the request for change for school (the catchment area primary school stamp must be on it), you will receive one copy and another one for your first choice school. For more important information, please read the school authority’s note.
If you want to DEREGISTER your child WITH US:
Fill out the request for change of school when you visit us. There, you can specify three wishes.
When you indicate the schools you are most interested in, all involved authorities (school authority, responsible primary school and first choice school) ask you to be fully transparent i.e. if you are considering to enroll your child in a private school (and in this administrative process it also includes the John F. Kennedy School), it is important to note this in the request for change of school!
Once you have completed the request for change school (our stamp must be on it, i.e. completing an online version of this form is NOT advisable!), you will receive one copy and another one for your first choice school. Afterwards, please go to your first choice school and hand in the request for change of school form there. For more important information, please read the school authority’s notie (click on the blue ‘School Authority Note’ button above).
We look forward to your application(s)!
The school authority decides...
The registration process for the children starting with school is carried out by the school authority (Schulamt). Our school is only responsible for collecting the applications (monlingual Regelzweig or bilingual SESB classes), coordinating the language tests for the bilingual applicants and then passes the language test result together with the applications on to the school authority (Schulamt). We will not tell you whether the applicant has passed the language test and also not if the applicant has been accepted at our school .
If you have questions about the registration process we recommend to contact the school authority of Steglitz-Zehlendorf.
Early enrolment
If your child was born by March 31, 2019, you can apply for early enrolment.
Prerequisite for this: It does not require language
support. For the application, please bring the
QuaStA form on your child’s language development.
If your child was born after March 31, 2019, you may apply for
it will not start school until the summer of 2025.
Later enrolment
If you are wondering if your child is really ready for school, we ask you to talk to the kindergarden first and foremost. This is a good help of whether it makes sense to enroll now or later.
For a ‘Rückstellung’, as the later enrolment is called, you need, among other things, a written statement from the kindergarden including assurance that it assures you a place for your child for the coming school year. Furthermore your child must have completed the school entry examination with the school doctor (noting that a deferral has been/is being requested or is being considered). The report of the school medical examination (or of the school psychology) is sent to the Schulaufsicht. The Schulaufsicht then decides on the later enrollment. The schools do not.
LANGUAGE TESTS
The language tests of the children to be enroled in school (i.e. those who start school) in the bilingual SESB classes are carried out after specifying the language group in your application form.
You have the choice between
- Mother tongue German,
- Native English or
- Bilingual.
Please only tick one box for this question.
If you choose one of the native language groups, your child will be tested ONLY in that native language.
If you decide for ‘Bilingual’, your child will be tested on two different days in both English and German.
In order to pass the test, at least 80% must be achieved in the mother tongue test and at least 80% and 60% in the bilingual test. If your child does not achieve this, it has not passed the test and only has the chance to repeat it again after a year. For example, if your child passes 85% and 55% in the bilingual test, they will be registered in the mother tongue language group in which it achieved 85%. However, if your child achieves both of the required percentage points on the bilingual test, they are considered bilingual. During the class formation we will place your child in the language group where it scored the highest (since classes consist of only two language groups – Mother Tongue and Partner Tongue groups).
An information sheet from the Steglitz-Zehlendorf school authority (Schulamt), which also explains this process with the respective language groups, can be found here on our website. We ask you to read this carefully.
IF YOU ARE MOVING TO BERLIN AFTER THE REGISTRATION PERIOD…
If you are only moving in the near future, you can also register your child.
Then it is important that you send us all the necessary documents for registration by email and inform us about your move. In the case of school/learning beginners, the school office would also like, among other things, proof of assured move-in, i.e. a copy of the rental or purchase contract and a certificate of registration from the citizens’ registration office (the certificate of registration can be submitted later) – please send the school office this proof.
IMPORTANT:
As soon as you have moved to a new school and want to enroll your child in the first grade, it is necessary to submit the pending change of school application to your catchment area elementary school (you can find this out at the school office or
here
) and submit it to us. In this case, the Steglitz-Zehlendorf school authority insists on the original form for a change of school. Without this original form for a change of school, the application you submitted is not complete for the school authority and hence will not be included further in the process.
As stated, this ONLY applies to school beginner registrations that want to enroll in first grade, but do not move to Berlin after the registration period and can provide proof of this!
Once we have received all the documents from you, we will invite your child to the language test. As already described, this depends on your choice of language group that you ticked off in your application form. After the language test has been completed, the school authority will inform you about the admission to our school. We don’t do this.
