The school enrollment examination in Baden-Württemberg takes place in two steps and is mandatory. First, all children are examined in the penultimate year of kindergarten by social medical assistants from the public health department. It is a comprehensive screening and includes the following areas: Height and Weight, Vision and Hearing, Language and Memory, Dexterity and Coordination, Fine Motor Skills and Numerical and Quantitative Comprehension, and Behavioral Assessment. Screening booklets, immunization records, doctor’s reports, educator questionnaires and parent questionnaires are also included in the assessment. It is also checked whether the children have been vaccinated twice against measles, as required by law. Some of the children are followed up by doctors from the health department. The aim is to determine any need for support at an early stage and then to initiate support.
After the examination, parents receive notification of the results for school registration, the pediatrician and the kindergarten. In case of school questions or special support needs, some of the children are examined again by a doctor in the last year of kindergarten in the second step (i.e. in the year of school enrollment). Schools may report children to the health department for deferrals or other issues.
The school enrollment examination is also possible for refugees if they arrived in Germany shortly before or even after the start of the new school year. If necessary, interpreters who speak Ukrainian and Russian are available for the examinations. Especially if the children do not attend kindergarten, however, the parents must take action themselves, because the schools do not automatically report the children to the health office. If it is foreseeable that a boy or girl still has too many language problems (or support needs in other areas) to keep up in the first grade, it is also possible to have the child deferred from school for a year so that he or she can continue to be supported in kindergarten or preschool. Parents must submit this request to the elementary school. Children born between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, will start school in 2023; those born between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018, will start school one year later.
The state health department has created a parent guide in Ukrainian, which can be accessed via the accompanying QR code. For questions about the school entrance examination, parents can contact the health office of the Tübingen district office at: s.schilling@kreis-tuebingen.de or call 07071/207 3340. Parents can also register there.
Source: Tübingen District Health Office.
Further information is available from the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the State of Baden-Württemberg:
https://km-bw.de/,Lde/startseite/service/Infos+for+Ukrainian+refugees+and+helpers
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Das Landratsamt Tübingen. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Martin Klaus.
