Schools and Gymnasium entry in Bayern

Primary school in Bayern lasts four years, and children usually move on in Grade 5. Gymnasium is the academic pathway that leads to the Abitur. Alongside it, Bayern has other secondary school types with different leaving qualifications.

Most children transfer with an Übertrittszeugnis, a transfer report from the primary school. It confirms Gymnasium suitability when the average in German, maths and Heimat- und Sachunterricht (primary general studies) is 2.33 or better. In German grades, lower numbers are better.

If the average is weaker, suitability can still be established. Your child takes part in a three-day Probeunterricht (trial teaching) in German and maths, and needs at least a 3 in one subject and a 4 in the other.

Two details are worth knowing. Children must normally still be under 12 on 30 September of the year they start. And a separate provision may help children with a non-German first language who joined a German primary school after Grade 1, so ask your primary school, because it is not automatic.

This page describes the ordinary move from primary school. Later transfers into Gymnasium, and specialist schools with their own profiles, can have different requirements.