Dc about to start school in Germany is there anything you wish you'd have known....

[ilovespinach]

Any hints and tips out there for coping with school in Germany?

[TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic]

That's hard to answer without knowing how much you know already, and what state (as in Bundesland) you're in :o One thing is you may not know exactly what time he's going to get home in the first few days, til his timetable's finalised!

[TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic]

Do you have all his stationary etc. already?

[TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic]

Schuletüte and Ranten are sorted presumably... The first day is just a welcome meeting and church service, and the kids put their stuff away in the classroom, not much more (people bring extended family - we took Oma and Opa as well as DH and myself and all 3 kids - some people had left younger siblings at home and / or brought aunts and uncles, overkill imo but its done). Proper lessons and homework start a couple of days in.

[ilovespinach]

thanks...Got most of the stuff and we have to make the schultüte still :) I don't know any details of the school day as yet will find out at the elternarbend. We're in BW.

[admylin]

Ds was eingeschult in BW! That was 8 years ago but i'd say traditions haven't changed!
We were invited by the new teacher to come to a meeting a week or two before school started. She told us what she would be teaching and that we should expect our dc to be reading by Christmas! She gave us the shopping list then too!

Then we were told how the actual first day of school would be, small ceremony in the hall of the school then each chlild was called up to their teacher who then led them all away to their classroom. They only stayed an hour then that was it for the first day.

The first 3 weeks the class was split into 2 groups, early group and late group so the teacher had time to get to know the dc and explain everything to them. They don't like you to walk your dc to school or to collect them (I actually hid behind a bush just at the bottom of the playground so they didn't see me) and they can be very strict abour that, we had letters sent home as some parents would still come into the school to collect the dc.

Can't think of much else really. My dc would get homework every day from day 1. Colouring in letters at first, counting and more colouring in! I was surprised as TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic said that you never know when your dc will be finished as when a lesson is cancelled they sometimes just sent the dc home early. You could be lucky though and have a Verlässlichegrundschule which means they have to keep your dc for the usual school hours, even if a lesson is cancelled.

[BieneMaja]

For me, the shock is that they really do completely expect the children to walk to and from school alone. Can you imagine that in the UK??!!?

My 6 year old nephew crosses 2 main roads and an unbarriered level crossing on his way to school

[ilovespinach]

ahh we won't have that problem...he isn't going to the local school and will be picked up and collected by bus every day. I also can't get my head around a 6 year old walking alone in the streets! Sounds very German to complain to the parents about collecting their kids

[Oder]

I am in Germany with children in kindergarten and find the school system here quite alien to my(British) ways. But I have never heard of them actively not wanting you to pick your kids up when they are 6. That is entirely up to you as the parent. astonished.

[Oder]

From all I have heard about the school system in Germany, it is run entirely for the convenience of the teachers, thank goodness I can say the kindergarten is nice.