Questions about starting German school from a clueless newbie.

[Kikaninchen]

DD is due to start Grundschule in September.

We have bought the expensive schoolbag with matching pencil case and drinking bottle, so I thought we were sorted.

But I have just seen that next week Aldi is selling school exercise books and folders and things. Is this aimed at "secondary-school" aged kids, or do the little ones have to provide their own exercise books and other equipment? And if so, can you choose what sort of lines, squares etc are in them or (I suspect it might be this) is it strictly prescribed which type of paper goes with which subject?

Probably not much help, seeing as I started Grundschule nearly 25 years ago but we had to provide our own exercise books. The line types mattered a lot - different ones for different subjects. We also had to buy art things and a recorder I think.

No that is helpful, you've confirmed what I suspected .

Just have to decide now whether to buy a random assortment of stuff cheaply from Aldi, and hope some of it will be useful, or wait until we are instructed as to what exactly we need.

You should get a list of material to get from the school and I wouldn't risk getting anything much before then except maybe felt tip pens, glue stick, scissors. Is she going into 1. Klasse? In which case you really have to get the large cone shaped Schultuete filled with toys and sweets as well.

My dd is also starting Grundschule in August (2. Klasse though) and I will get the list tomorrow as term finishes in that area this Friday. I spoke to the teacher on the phone earlier and she also gave me some advice on PE kit and other stuff she will need. The no uniform business is throwing me a little at the moment and I may have to buy some more clothes over the summer.
Which area are you moving to? (Nosy)

Probably not hugely helpful to you as we're in Austria but we have to buy all the school stationery here, and are given very precise instructions about what exercises books to get - lines or squares, what colour cover, etc. I stocked up at Aldi last summer, only to discover that two of the DC were going to have their exercise books bought by the teacher! They still needed the Schnellhefter and one or two other bits and pieces that I bought, however, and my oldest has got through quite a few of the exercise books and huge selection of covers that I stocked up on - still have lots left, though.

In Austria at least, I've found that the exercise books stocked by Aldi are more useful the older the child. The DC needed more "specialised" exercise books in the 1. Klasse, when they were learning to write, and maths books with bigger squares. They haven't used many A4 exercise books at primary school either, although DD1 uses more at secondary school. We haven't needed exercises books with a correction margin until the 3. Klasse. But it all varies not just from school to school but from teacher to teacher...

I would probably stock up on a random selection of items as they'll probably be needed sooner or later - as long as you don't mind possibly having to hold on to them for a while.

Having said that, I wouldn't go overboard on the exercise books for the 1. Klasse - Aldi has them on offer once or twice a year here, so you have plenty of time to stock up for later years once you know what kind of books she'll need. I've just checked the DDs' lists for the 1. Klasse and none of the different types of exercise book we had to buy (DD1 needed five types, DD2 needed a different five types) are stocked by Aldi.

I just knew this would be a total minefield. I think I will hold off until they tell us exactly what to get.

How do you get The List? Will they send it out to everyone, or do you have to ask for it? We are going on holiday until just before school starts, so I will probably be racing round like a mad thing when we get back buying exercise books. Hadn't even thought about PE kit! But presumably t shirt and leggings and trainers will suffice.

DD is going into 1 Klasse, but there will be a two form entry and we don't know which one she is in yet, or who her teacher will be.

We have already bought glue, pencils and scissors because DD did a Schnuppertag and needed them for that.

Also, tell me more about the Schultuete. I have seen them in the shops - I fill them with toys and sweets and she takes it to school on the first day, is that right? Does she share out the contents with her friends, or keep it to herself? Do they all open them together, or bring them home unopened and rip into them after school?

JewelFairies we are in the Rhein-Main area, we moved here last year (but have been "overseas" for a few years before that).

Can you contact the school just in case you have been missed off the mailing list? I'm surprised you don't know the class allocation yet (disclaimer, my own German school experience is quite some time ago and I've spend the past 20 odd years in the UK, so what do I know...).

From what I know the Schultuete goes in with the child on the first day but they don't open it until they get home. I got dd a smaller sibling one when she started school at 4 in the UK . Do you know any other parents with children in the school to ask what the local custom is?

As for text books, I was told today I won't have to order any and they are bought by the school, then parents are expected to contribute. I forgot to ask how much but probably 20-30ish Euro? (Hopeful...)

Kika just to back up what Linzer says - we are in GErmany (Bavaria though) and we have to be absolutely exactly what is on the school list - if you buy the wrong type of pencil/ paintbrush/ exercise book you will have to re-buy the right one (down to buying one with a margin when it shouldn't have, or a paper folder when it should be plastic etc.) at least that is how it is at our school. There are different lines and squares for each class, so if you go into a stationary shop ask for a 1er Klasse Maths Heft and you will get one with bigger squares than the one for Year 2 - but you won't know whether your teacher wants you to buy an A5 maths exercise book or an A4 (or both), with or without margins, etc. etc.

DD's school supplies for 1er Klasse 3 years ago were over €80 although some things can be re-used (paint brushes, the basic paint box, the mini black board, scissors, rulers, some pencils etc.) so the following years of Grundschule supplies are a little bit cheaper.

We are still waiting for DS1's list - he starts school in Sept. There is a new teaching plan for years 1-2 out and this has caused the teachers huge set backs in deciding quite which exercise books etc. to put on the list apparently... I am not totally clear whether the new plan is nationwide or just Bavaria - we had DD's list by the end of June before she started, but DS1's will be sent out in the post as it was not ready in time for the hugely long and pointless parents evening for new school starters last night.

Contact the school - you need the stationary list, and they need to tell you the protocol for the first day of school, which is a very elaborate performance and your DD won't want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ours take the Schuletute on the first day but take it home to open, take it back stuffed with newspaper on day 2 for a photo! Contents are very much just for school starter, younger siblings generally get a low key mini one. Make sure what you put in it isn't too heavy as DD may have to carry it around a lot!

'buy not be

agree with the others, ask the school for The List.

depending on where you are, you will also need to buy the text books (niedersachsen for example).

Here in Berlin The Material List was sent out along with the official confirmation of the school place, but I think some schools don't do that until the first week of school or the day of the Einschulung.

The stationery booklets usually have numbers on the front, so you'll be told 3x no. 27, 6x no.10 etc. We also had to buy a specific number of plastic coloured folders to go round the booklets - a different colour for each subject. If you already have The List when Aldi do their annual school materials week, all well and good, because the Aldi stuff is inevitably good value. The problem is if you don't have The List, there's too much risk that you'll buy the wrong things and then they're wasted.

It is imperative that you buy the largest size of Schultüte for the child being eingeschult. The smaller Schultüten are only for siblings or intended as 'supplemental' Schultüten from grandparents etc. In Berlin the Einschulung (at a Grundschule) is always on a Saturday, so there's a ceremony and the kids then troop off to do a 45-min lesson when they learn a song, which they then perform to the proud parents, then everyone goes home and they get to open the Schultüte which they had been carrying around since the morning. The whole thing is finished by 1pm, so people go off and have a meal out or a family celebration. It's A Very Big Thing.

Don't forget to label everything - yes, every single bloody pencil. And they'll still get lost by the Herbstferien!

Once the kids get a bit bigger (9 or 10) you can give them 40 euros and send them off to do the materials shopping themselves a week before term starts.

In Berlin you have to buy the textbooks too - there's a strict upper limit of 100 euros per child per year, with exemptions for lower-income families.

"I'm surprised you don't know the class allocation yet" I think every school gets to choose how this is handled, but both at junior and senior school (in Berlin) we didn't find out the class allocation or teacher until the Einschulung. All the names were read out, the kids went up on stage, and then the entire class marched out together.

DS started in the Grundschule 3 years ago in NRW-and still remembers his 2 years very fondly after a year in the Scottish system! We got a list from the school at the meeting we attended (probably a couple of weeks before the holidays) and also ordered 4 text/work books at the same meeting (think they were @50 Euros altogether). I had to go to hospital at the end of the holidays so non German speaking DH took DS and list to the local bookshop/stationary shop round the corner from the school and gave them the list. They were incredibly helpful and made sure he had everything he needed. Not nearly as cheap as Aldi but it was all good quality and lasted pretty much for the year and meant he had the same as most of the kids in his class. I actually found it very helpful to know just what you need. Label EVERYTHING though, we ordered stickers for each pencil etc! He also needed white non-marking trainers for sport (Hausmeister was very fierce and the black soled plimsolls would not do even though they said non-marking (in English) on them I had to re-buy!) but just generic shorts/t-shirt etc. hope all goes well-I felt very nostalgic for our school and considered it miles easier than buying school uniform etc last year!

Lol at cross post of labelling every pencil! It really is imperative although my label never stayed on the rubbers (and they all got lost!)
We got given class allocations before the holidays too. It was mainly based upon making sure that the kids who got the school bus were in the same class but wasn't too problematic. We also met teachers at the meeting-I think we then had a separate one for the kids in the Ganztagschule. We loved the school-can you tell how much I miss it? Not sorry though that I don't have to think about Gymnasium entry etc now! Can't believe he would have been going into the fourth class!

Oh, and buying everything exactly as it's stated on the list is NOTHING, but NOTHING compared to the hell that is the twice-yearly parents' evening. We once ended up having a one-hour discussion on whether the second-graders' scissors should be sharp ('they need to learn to cut properly with proper equipment') or blunt ('they're only little and there's too much danger of them injuring others'). A nightmare. And never let yourself be voted in as parent rep...

Sounds like I'm far off the expected contribution I will have to make for dd to go into 2. Klasse... Better save up over the summer. I've also put labels on my shopping list. Not sure who is more nervous/excited by our move, dd or I.

I am feeling a bit terrified now! And €80 for school supplies! I thought the Ranzen was bad enough - still reeling a bit at what they cost.
But thank you so much everyone for all the information, really, really helpful.

I will try and ask one of the other mums at Kindergarten it they have The List yet, or any other useful information which might have passed me by- I don't know many of them, but there is one who has kindly listened to my halting, faltering German a few times and has been quite friendly.

I will order labels forthwith! And make sure I get white trainers

I've got the list through this morning. Looks like they are pretty keen on Schnellhefter! I have to get red, blue, yellow, white, orange, green and purple ones Dd will love it!

"I have to get red, blue, yellow, white, orange, green and purple ones"

Ah, yes, that will be for each subject. The Aldi pack is really good value and so cheap that we found it was actually worth buying, but the problem was that it didn't cover every colour needed and had some that weren't needed at all (so I now have a fairly extensive collection of unused Schnellhefter form over the years). And some subjects like maths and German needed four Schnellhefter of a colour, while other subjects like music only needed one. So we had to go to the stationer's anyway and buy extra. It depends how keen you are really to save money.

We have an utterly dopey situation here. DD is going into Gymnasium (7th grade because it's Berlin) and we got sent the book list 6 weeks ago when we got the official confirmation. Normally I order the books during the holidays and pick them up the week before school starts, but this time I wanted to be efficient so ordered everything online from the cheapest sellers and had them all a fortnight ago. Then we get a mail from the school saying that they had sent 'the wrong list' by mistake and we should just not buy the books at all - but no hint as to which books were right and which were wrong. I phone the Sekretariat who knows nothing about the whole thing and says 'of course the list is right'. So there's complete chaos. I can't send the books back because the online sellers don't want to know, and now I've spent almost 100 euros on books that might not be used. By comparison, the average materials list was Pipifax - the materials list at Gymnasium seems to be 'bring a pen. And some paper. And some sort of sports stuff'.

In France we get an extremely precise list of stationery that parents must supply for their DC. The brand and reference number of exercise books must be precisely adhered to.

I'm loving it! Would happily start Grundschule again if I had the chance I also really enjoyed Gymnasium and the Abitur [pathetic emoticon]. I'm stupidly excited for dd because I think she will respond well to the very structured school day (and being home by lunchtime!).

Aphra That sounds infuriating and I'd definitely complain to the school - and refuse to pay if they want money for the 'correct' books at the start of the school year! Guess that's why some schools now order the books in themselves and then ask for the money later.

Just got a letter about an Elternabend, so hopefully will be able to find out everything then.

I suppose on the whole I'd rather spend money on stationery than uniform .

Aphra how very annoying.

We've had two letters with extra paperwork to fill in and we won't even be at the address until August . I hope the paperwork can wait until school starts.

My son starts in mid september (B-W) we went last week for an afternoon with all the kindergarten kids going up this year, this was when they allocated the kids to classes. they said they would send a letter in a few weeks with the list of what to buy so am just waiting till it comes before I get anything. I think our Grundschule seems a little bit more relaxed than others on here, but it is a pretty small village school, so maybe that is why. The Opa bought the Ranzen in January in a sale for €30 (big woop!!!) so that was lucky. Am a bit nervous about the cost of it all as am recently a single parent to 2 small kids and on Hertz 4 (thank you drunk ex) and my son also has his birthday beginning of september so not only have i got school supplies to buy but also birthday presents and a party to pay for (eeekk) but I am sure it will all work out :)

Dd starts 20th August (NRW) so I guess that's why they've sent all the bumf already. Sorry to hear of your changed circumstances monkeywrench. I'm sure it will all work out for the best.

We start in early September. Haven't had to fill in any paperwork at all yet - though DD has had a few letters sent to her via the Kindergarten. We are in a small place too, and I think (hope) the Grundschule is similarly relaxed.
Hope it all works out for you Monkeywrench, we have to buy birthday presents in September too, but not for the school starter, so it won't be too much of a present-fest!

What are other people planning on putting in the Schultuete? I don't want DD to have something massively less exciting than all her school-mates, as I assume they will discuss it.

I was thinking colouring pencils, pens, (English) story book, tube of smarties, hair bobbles. Is that the sort of thing others will have?