Continuing to attend a Grundschule despite moving

Just a quickie !

If my kid is already enrolled / attending our local Grundschule, what happens if we move out of the school's catchment area ?

Do we have to take him out of the old school and put him into the new local school ? I presume he would be allowed to stay at the existing school, but does the Gesetzbuch have a little surprise in store for me ?

As ever, Thanks.

BOR

You are supposed to send him to the school in your new area. You MIGHT be able to get dispensation to only change schools at the end of the current term/semester, as to disturb him in the middle of a current term/semester could be unfair to his educational progress.

If you want to keep him longer term at the new school you need:

• Permission from the old school to keep him
• Permission from the new school to let him stay at the old school
• Permission from the local Gemeinde or school authority (in your new location) for him to be educated outside of their geography
• Confirmation from yourself that you will not claim additional costs for schooling in the new location (e.g. travel expenses)

If you have good reasons for keeping him at the old place, for example if it better suits his educational needs, or he is coming to some important exams, they don't often withhold permission.

Thanks, YL.

P.S. It is called a "Gastschülerantrag".

Funny, from what I was told you child can finish out the year in the old school, even if he has only attended one day there before you move. A Gastschulantrag is only necessary at the start of the year or if you want to switch in the middle of the year but have not moved out of the area.

Well possible, it's been a while since I had to deal with the situation.

Thanks, all.

I had hoped it would simply be up to me to decide. I liked the idea of some continuity - same friends, same teachers etc, rather than a new environment.

Regards,
BOR

We moved outside of the school catchment area last year. We did not want to move our child from her old school. From what I understood then, you had to move the child to the new catchment area school unless there was a very good reason you couldn't. For example, our reason was that we had a Hort Platz (after school care) at the first school and could not get one at the new catchment area school. This is a very acceptable reason not to change schools if you move zones. Don't know if it is relevant for you, but might help others.