Dear ones, Berlin is special in many respects and the clocks often tick differently here than in the rest of the federal states. Today we’re talking about the fact that the change of school to secondary school only takes place after the sixth grade. I myself grew up in Bavaria, where primary school went and still goes up to the fourth grade and then, depending on the teacher’s recommendation, you could go to grammar school, secondary school or lower secondary school.
In Berlin, as already mentioned, primary school usually goes up to sixth grade. As a rule, this is because there are also a few children who transfer to grammar school after the fourth grade in so-called fast learner classes. These children stay together there until the Abitur (after 12 years of schooling), so they do not mix with the children who then move to grammar school in year seven.
Because my two older children weren’t candidates for the fast-track classes, we had to make the switch after sixth grade. There are two options in Berlin: Gymnasium or Oberschule. The difference is that at a grammar school you graduate after 12 years, at a secondary school after 13 years, so the children have more time at the secondary school and some of them don’t stay until they graduate, but leave after tenth grade with the intermediate school-leaving certificate (MSA), for example.
Change of school: Which school will it be?
My older daughter (Year 9) is at a secondary school and is very happy there. My son, who is now in sixth grade, wants to go to a grammar school, i.e. not the same school as his sister. Children have to apply for grammar school with the average grade from the second half of year five and the first half of year six. So it’s really a case of NC and specifying a first, second and third preference – and the fact that unfortunately it’s often not the school of choice after all (unless you have a 1.0 average, which is not the case for us :-))
This means that information evenings for secondary schools are currently taking place all over Berlin, that people are calculating what the grade point average will be, that you have to choose strategically – and that it feels so different to me back then (I simply went to the grammar school that I could cycle to and that my siblings went to).
As unusual as I used to think it was for Berlin children to stay at primary school until sixth grade, I think it’s a good thing now. After the fourth grade, the children are still very small and the change to a school with so many older children is challenging. What’s more, I think it’s questionable to divide the children according to ability after the fourth grade. What if a child simply hits the ground running a little later?
In fact, I would have found it too early for my kids to switch after fourth grade, but with my sixth-grader I now realise that it’s time for a new environment and new stimuli. And yet I’m trembling a little at the changeover. Up until now, everything has been quite sheltered, the homework and tasks manageable – that will definitely change. The pressure to perform is increasing and I often wonder how my son will manage it all alongside all the sports training in the afternoon.
As so often, it was Lisa who encouraged me here. The changeover didn’t go completely smoothly for her boys and they did the fifth grade twice at their own request (but that was mainly due to the confounded early enrolment), but the change also brought opportunities. The fact that every subject is taught by a different teacher at the secondary school means that there is no longer quite as much pressure on the relationship between class teacher and pupil. In addition, the teachers at secondary schools are a completely different breed and there are also more male teachers, which is particularly important for pubescent boys…
Our son was very clear from the start which school he wanted to go to. In terms of grades, it will probably be more of a nail-biter than a sure-fire success, but we want to give it a go. And maybe you have to keep reassuring yourself: Very few things in life cannot be changed. If something doesn’t work, you just have to find a new way (Lisa’s sons also changed schools again in Year 7, which was really good for them).
But it’s also clear: children grow with their tasks and I think we’ve all experienced a child suddenly outgrowing themselves, even though we hadn’t expected it… So keep your fingers crossed that the grades are good enough and that we really do end up at the school of our choice! And I’ll stick to my guns: so much pressure at such a young age somehow feels pretty weird…
