Kindergarten and school in Germany

If you plan to stay for a longer time in Vechta, for instance to do your PhD or work as a researcher or professor, and you would like to bring your children with you, you will need specific information on how to navigate the German school and kindergarten system. Please find below some first information and links on these topics. If you have further questions, please contact us at the Welcome Centre.

Obligatory measles vaccine 

Since March 1st, 2020, parents are required to vaccinate their children that are attending school and kindergarten against measles. The vaccine certificate must be shown at the beginning of the school /child care period. This newly introduced rule is motivated by the high infectiousness of the disease, which can have long term consequences for the health of infected people. Purpose of this law is therefore to protect all children in schools and kindergardens from this disease. You can find more information on the website of the German ministry of health.

Kindergarden and children day care

In kindergartens children of three to six years of age are supervised and fostered by personnel with pedagogic qualifications. Children under three years of age may be supervised in "Krippen". Kindergartens usually offer three different types of supervision: part-time supervision (only half of the day, morning or afternoon), a prolonged morning supervision (until after lunch) and full day supervision. Kindergartens have different providers and can thus have different pedagogic orientations. For instance, a christian provider will have a pedagogic orientation drawing on christian values. You should therefore think about whether the pedagogic orientation might be an important criterion for choosing a kindergarten.

You can find the various providers and pedagogic orientations on the website kita.de. You will have to pay a fee for the kindergarden services.

Besides kindergartens, there is also a children day care option. This option foresees the supervision by a qualified person in his/her own home or in the home of the cared child. Also in this case, fees apply. The exact costs of kindergartens and children day care options are available on the website of the charter of the county of Vechta (fees for other counties and regions may vary). On this map of the county of Vechta you can locate the various institutions that offer child care in the county. You should start to look for a place in a kindergarten early on, as there are a lot of requests. Please note that your child does not need to be able to speak German to be admitted to a kindergarten.

German school system

In Germany children that are six through 18 years old have an obligation to attend school. Children that are six through 10 years old attend elementary school/Grundschule, then middle school (Sekundarstufe I) (from 10 to 15/16 years old). Hence, they change from an elementary school to another school. To which school they transition to will depend on their performance and the recommendations of their school teachers. There are different types of middle school (Sekundarstufe I): Haupt-, Real-, Gesamtschule and Gymnasium. In order to get an access to universities ("Abitur"), children need to continue going to school after middle school (Sekundarstufe I). Thereafter, when they are 15/17 through 18/19 years old, they attend the Sekundarstufe II, the "gymnasiale Oberstufe", or professional schools, which lead to the "Abitur" (that allows access to university).  

Children do not necessarily need to go to a Gymnasium after finishing elementary school, in order to be admitted to a university thereafter. They can also go to a "Realschule" and obtain a diploma ("erweiteter Realschulabschluss") and then change for a Gymnasium to get an Abitur. It normally takes 13 years to get to the "Abitur" level.

If you have questions on the German school system or you need guidance, we will be happy to assist you at the Welcome Centre. You can also find information on the website of the county of Vechta on the various county schools (in German). Attending a public German school is free of charge. You can find further information on schools and germane topics in this leaflet provided by the Ministry for Migration and Refugees, which is available in 11 different languages.

Please note that in the county of Vechta there is no multilingual school or childcare available. If you are interested in multilingual education for your children, you can find it in cities close by, like Bremen and Osnabrück.