Can children start school in Germany without speaking German in 2026?

Complete the local address registration and contact the school authority, assigned neighbourhood school, or newcomer coordination office specified by the municipality.

Bring passports, registration confirmation, birth records where requested, vaccination evidence, and previous school reports. Translated records can help staff place an older child in the right year and understand completed subjects.

The school or authority may assess German, age, literacy, and prior education. This is not a general intelligence test. Ask for the placement reasoning and the next review point.

In Berlin, district coordination offices place many newly arrived pupils. Children from age eight commonly enter a Willkommensklasse, a welcome class focused on German and school routines, while younger children often begin directly in the first school phase with support.

Names vary: welcome class, preparation class, intensive class, or Deutsch als Zweitsprache, meaning German as a second language.

Some children learn German in a separate group for much of the week. Others join a regular class and leave for language support. Art, sport, music, mathematics, or projects may provide earlier contact with regular classmates.

Ask how the school measures progress, when regular-subject participation expands, and whether subject teaching continues while German develops. A teenager should not lose mathematics, science, or prior-language learning for an undefined period.

Germany separates pupils into different secondary routes at stages set by each state. For an older newcomer, limited German can affect grades and recommendations even when subject knowledge is strong.

Request clear information about school type, graduation options, transfers, vocational routes, and whether language development is considered in assessment.

Parent letters, digital portals, conferences, and permission forms may be in German. Ask the school about language mediation instead of relying on the child to interpret sensitive educational decisions.

Libraries, sports clubs, holiday programmes, and an after-school Hort, meaning supervised school-age childcare, can provide repeated social German beyond lessons.