School enrollment and compulsory education

According to the school law of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, all children from the age of 6 and all young people who live, train or work in North Rhine-Westphalia are required to attend school.

In special cases, children who are not yet required to attend school can be enrolled early and children who are required to attend school can be deferred for one year.

After leaving a general school, all young people are required to attend vocational school until they reach the age of majority or all trainees until the end of the existing training contract.

When does a child start school?

Compulsory schooling begins on August 1 of the same calendar year for children who reach the age of six by September 30(Section 35 of the NRW School Act).

Younger children who are deemed fit for school by their parents can be enrolled early upon application. The application can be submitted to the nearest elementary school or any other elementary school.

How is information provided about the child's compulsory schooling?

The school administration office informs the legal guardians of children who are due to start school in good time in writing about enrolments at elementary school.

For the enrollment process for the 2027–2028 school year, parents and legal guardians of children who will be of school age will receive a letter with all the necessary information in early September. Enrollment in a elementary school in the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer is possible from October 5, 2026, through October 16, 2026.

At which elementary school can I enroll my child?

Parents or guardians may enroll their child in a public elementary school of their choice, subject to available capacity. However, a child is only entitled to admission to the public elementary school closest to their home. Admission to a school located farther away is possible only if there are still openings available.

If you would like to enroll your child at St. Hubertus Elementary School, please review the following information:

At its meeting on July 16, 2026, the City Council of the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer decided to reduce the number of classes at St. Hubertus Elementary School to two per grade. In consultation with the school administration, this reduction will take effect as early as the upcoming 2027–2028 school year and will therefore have an immediate impact on the enrollment process.

As a result, St. Hubertus Elementary School can admit fewer children. If there is an excess of applications (i.e., more applications than the school’s enrollment capacity), the school will conduct an admissions process in accordance with school regulations. In this process, priority is given to children residing in the municipality, and other criteria are also considered in the admission decision, such as siblings and the distance to school.

Parents and guardians will receive detailed information about the specific criteria in the aforementioned information letter regarding school enrollment.

Admission is granted based on the number of available spots; applications exceeding capacity will be declined accordingly. If your child cannot be admitted to St. Hubertus Elementary School, the parents concerned will be notified in a timely manner so they can enroll their child at another elementary school.

When registering at the Overberg / St. Norbert primary school network, the school management decides at which location the child will attend school.

If children who are about to reach school age were inadvertently not registered and their legal guardians have not received any notification, they are asked to contact the School Administration Office of the Pilgrimage Town of Kevelaer by September 25, 2026.

Registration via the "Schulbewerbung.de" online portal

The registration process for the 2027–2028 school year is conducted through the online portal “Schulbewerbung.de.” With Schulbewerbung.de, you can easily submit your application for a school spot for your child online. In the cover letter, parents or guardians will receive the necessary login information—the so-called “start code slip”—to access the data stored on Schulbewerbung.de.

Secure access to your data with the BundID account

Creating an account at schulbewerbung.de goes hand in hand with the online service "BundID". You need a BundID account to log in to schulbewerbung.de. You can create an account free of charge at https://id.bund.de. BundID is a central citizen account and can be used for an increasing number of services at public authorities.

Instructions on how to create an account on Schulbewerbung.de as well as the upstream account creation for BundID can be found on this page in the "More information" section. You will also find a manual with instructions for the application here.

Important:

After the digital application at the elementary school in Schulbewerbung.de, the personal application interview at the school is still required.

To find out more about the schools in Kevelaer, parents or guardians of school-age children can find out more about the respective elementary school on the homepage of the elementary school and the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer.