Start of the reformed school entry examination

Children are screened for school readiness for the first time in the penultimate year of kindergarten.

Auf dem Bild stehen sechs Personen nebeneinander vor einem großen Bildschirm in einem Sitzungssaal. — Foto (Landratsamt Hof): (v.l.) Landrat Dr. Oliver Bär, Dr. Dorothee Ganser (Schulärztin), Annika Gau (Schulärztin), Claudia Nickl (Fachkraft für Sozialmedizin), Oberbürgermeisterin Eva Döhla, Claudia Köppel (kommissarische Leiterin des Gesundheitsamtes)

The public health department for the city and district of Hof announces:

For several years now, the Public Health Service in Bavaria has been working on a major reform of school entry examinations for children. Now the new model of the reformed school entry examination (rSEU) is also being launched at the Hof health authority, in which children are examined for the first time in the penultimate year of kindergarten with regard to their school readiness.

Starting next week, the oldest children who will be required to attend school in 2026 will be examined first. From the fall, all children who have not yet been assessed will be invited as usual.

More time for support

Until now, the school entry examination has taken place a few months before the start of school. The aim of the new, earlier examination is to give children more time for possible support or therapy if delayed development or health impairments are identified. The aim is to make optimum use of children's developmental windows in order to avoid learning difficulties later on. "Every window of opportunity that can be pushed forward is a gain for the children's development," explains Dr. Dorothee Ganser, school doctor at the public health department.

To this end, more comprehensive and at the same time more meaningful test procedures have been developed or adopted from federal states where they have already proven their worth. For example, a social medicine specialist first carries out a height and weight screening, playful tests of vision and hearing, speech and language skills and simple comprehension exercises, which are considered a prerequisite for learning at school. In addition, the status of the U-examinations and immunization status are checked and parent questionnaires are handed out.

If a child has no abnormalities in the screening, they can start school. Further medical examinations by a pediatrician or specialist or a repeat school medical examination in the following year are only necessary if the test procedure reveals abnormal findings, if the U8 or U9 examinations are missing, depending on age, or if the parents expressly request this.

Parents receive a letter

So if parents whose children are not due to start school until 2026 are already receiving a letter from the public health department to register for the school check-up, there is no mistake. Your child should already be examined according to the new procedure. After completing the school entry examination, parents will receive a notification form to present to the school. The school entry examination is mandatory by law.

In the Hofer Land region, around 1,400 children are examined each school year, and abnormalities are detected in 10 to 20% of children. The reformed school entry examination aims to improve equal opportunities at the start of school and is not carried out to determine school readiness.

District Administrator Dr. Oliver Bär and Mayor Eva Döhla thanked the employees of the health department and emphasized the importance of joint support for children in the city and district of Hof.