A girl kneels on the floor and draws in a colouring book

School enrolment examination

School enrolment examination

In Waldeck-Frankenberg, around 1,500 children are examined each school year, with numbers on the rise since 2015/2016. The pre-school health checks are carried out in accordance with the Hessian School Act, which stipulates that all children of school age must undergo a health check before entering the school system. These examinations take place at the Specialist Health Service in Korbach and in Frankenberg. They include hearing and vision tests, measurements of height and weight, colour vision and spatial vision tests, blood pressure checks, a thorough physical examination including an inspection of the ears, nose and throat, and an assessment of dental health. In addition, a pre-school assessment of abilities and learning prerequisites is carried out in order to identify or clarify any special educational needs and to initiate appropriate measures.

To this end, the standardised SOPESS procedure (Social-Paediatric Developmental Screening for School Entry Examinations) is used in Hesse, which enables an initial assessment of a child’s developmental status prior to starting school. SOPESS provides a screening tool for the cost-effective assessment of all children in a school-entry cohort. It is used to identify developmental and behavioural deficits, enabling children to be referred for further, more specialised diagnostic assessment where necessary. Where necessary, children can then benefit from appropriate support measures or therapies and/or so-called preparatory courses (language courses) before starting school.

Skills that are considered specific or non-specific predictors for the acquisition of reading, writing and arithmetic are assessed during the school enrolment examination. The early detection of developmental risks is an important prerequisite for preventing negative school experiences due to learning and behavioural disorders.


How does the school enrolment examination work?

All children who have reached the age of six by 1 July of a given year will be required to start school that summer. These children must undergo a school medical examination before starting school. As the entire age cohort is examined, this is intended, in particular, to help mitigate the effects of social inequality on children’s health.

For this examination, your child will be invited to the Health Specialist Service, either in Frankenberg or Korbach, depending on where you live. As there is only a limited number of available appointments, we would ask you to attend the proposed appointment or – if this is not possible – to cancel as early as possible so that we can offer the slot to another child and arrange an alternative appointment with you. If your German language skills are limited, it would be helpful if the family could bring along someone they trust to act as an interpreter.

Please note: This examination is not required if a school entry examination has already been carried out, for example in another federal state.

  • What do I need to bring with me?

    In order for the school enrolment examination to run smoothly, some documents are required, which should be brought directly to the appointment:

    • yellow child health check-up booklet
    • Vaccination certificate
    • (if available) further medical documents, therapy reports from speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc.
    • The completed medical history form (which will be sent to you with your invitation, or you can download it here)



  • How does the examination proceed?

    The examination takes about one and a half hours and is divided into two parts:

    1. The first part consists, amongst other things, of a structured assessment of the patient’s medical history and vaccination status, tests to assess concentration, understanding of quantities and hand-eye coordination, as well as a hearing and vision test. Height, weight and blood pressure are measured. This part is carried out by medical assistants.
    2. The second part consists of, among other things, a language test, logical thinking and reasoning tasks, fine and gross motor tests and auditory and visual perception tasks. A physical examination follows. This part is carried out by the school doctor. This is followed by a consultation tailored to your child. Questions can be discussed here such as:
    • Which school is better for my child?
    • Is it advisable to defer the child to kindergarten or to attend the pre-school class?
    • Is there any entitlement to special educational needs?
    • Which targeted support is useful for my child?
    • Or also: Everything is fine!

    Children who are to start school early are not invited until May or June before they are scheduled to start school. Most preschool children, after a short settling-in period, have a lot of fun showing what they can already do.

  • Dates for the pre-school medical examination

    Anyone wishing to make or postpone an appointment for a school enrolment examination can send an e-mail to the health department in Korbach or Frankenberg.