Moving to Berlin with school-aged children

[Ausmama1]

Hi,
We are almost definitely moving to Berlin in summer 2017.

Our children will be 7.5, nearly 5.5 and 2.5.
The older two have been going to a Montessori Primary School. They are bilingual English/Swiss German. They understand some high German but would definitely need extra help at school.

Can anyone give me advice on schools and areas to live in in Berlin, or surrounding areas with good public transport to Berlin? (we also have a dog).

From googling, I am firstly going round in circles and secondly, I'm getting so many different opinions on local German schools versus international versus state bilingual....

It seems we have missed application dates for schools , whether local or international. Does anyone know if this will make things extremely complicated for us?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi, I live in Germany with my DH and children. Unfortunately I don't think I have much advise though. We are incredibly rural and my children went to Kindergarten first, we didn't even apply for a school placement as it was just a given he would go to the local grundschule. What I do know though, when it comes to children the Germans will make sure they are sorted. My DS only spoke English when we arrived and the school were more than happy to provide a translator for him is required, however after 3 months in Kindergarten the school were happy with his level of German, so your DC my well be OK.

All I can say is, as soon as you get here, get to the Rathaus and get registered, and your health insurance, nothing will happen until you do that. Also re your dog, you will need to register it and pay the dog tax for them. If you have specific a breed you might want to check it is not one of the banned breeds, I can check that for you if want.

If you have any other questions I can try and help. Good luck

Thanks a lot, Sugarplumfairy28!!