Primary school

According to the motto: “Show me how you do it!” the 1st and 2nd school years are age-mixed and the standard form at a Berlin primary school.

This means that most children will stay in the initial phase of school education for two years in order to learn the content according to the framework curriculum and to achieve the goals of the instruction.

More time to study

Any child who needs more time can also stay in the initial phase for a third school year. The third year does not count towards the general compulsory school attendance. The children thereby do not have any disadvantages and are not considered to be repeaters.

Faster learners

Children who may learn faster because of their special talents move up to the 3rd grade after just one year. The advantage of this flexibility works two ways: each child learns at their own pace and does not have to change their entire learning group.

Regardless of whether they study for two or three years during the initial phase of school education, your child will always stay with a few friends and trusted resource persons.

• Understand the alphabetical structure of writing
• Learn writing on an individual level,
• Experience the communicative function of writing,
• Become motivated to read and write.

Your child learns to write according to rules and thus acquires confidence in spelling (e.g., when working with class and basic vocabulary). In class your child learns with motivational support from the teacher to increasingly orient their own writing to the correct spelling.

As your child progresses in learning to read, alphabetical spelling will be complemented with orthographic strategies. Through targeted, individual learning opportunities, your child will acquire solid spelling skills.

After the beginning school phase, the process of learning spelling continues for your child with expanded vocabulary and with reference to more differentiated orthographic knowledge.

The open design of the day, the so-called rhythmization, has become established in many primary schools. Every school can structure its everyday school life according to its needs. This means that there are various ways to organise the daily routine in the all-day primary school:

• Sliding start
• Teaching blocks instead of 45-minute lessons
• Open final phases
• Active breaks
• Beginning and end of the week

Speaking several languages is an important element in school education and also increases future professional opportunities.

That is why foreign language instruction is started in the 3rd grade in Berlin. Pupils can choose between English or French as their 1st foreign language. Instruction takes place for two hours per week, in some schools even as a voluntary working group in the initial phase of school education. In the 4th – 6th grades there is one hour more of instruction per week.

Special language offerings in primary school

Learning tasks (homework) should support and consolidate the learning processes begun during instruction. But they can also serve as preparation for instruction. In general, the exercises for consolidating and applying what has been learned have already been worked on in school.

The schools decide on the scope of the learning tasks in their school conference (committee made up of teachers and parents’ representatives). The learning tasks should help the students to independently practice and consolidate what they have learned and should be able to be solved independently by the students.

Of course parents can help their children, but the children should solve the tasks independently, because if you don’t make mistakes, you don’t learn. The tasks are not educationally justifiable nor permitted as a punishment or disciplinary measure.

A healthy, high-quality lunch is an important building block for a successful school day. At the same time, shared meals provide a hands-on opportunity to teach school children about the connections between nutrition, health and environmental protection.

Here you can download the Information letter on free lunches at elementary schools

Free of charge

As of August 1, 2019, all elementary school students (1st through 6th grade) are eligible for lunch without cost-sharing. In order for your child to take advantage of this offer, you must sign a contract with the school’s caterer for the delivery of a free lunch. This is necessary, despite the fact that it is free of charge, so that the school or the caterer can plan well.

Food with quality

Caterers are required to implement the quality standards of the German Nutrition Society and are tested and evaluated by lunch committees – consisting of students, parents and teachers – before you can be selected as a provider.