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.

Letters are currently being sent out for the 2026/2027 school year. The letter will list the nearest elementary school and the registration dates.

As part of the application process, the online portal "Schulbewerbung.de" can be used for the first time this year. With Schulbewerbung.de, the application for a school place for your child can be processed easily and digitally.

In the letter, the parents/guardians receive the necessary access data, the so-called start code slip, in order to be able to access the data stored in 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.