In general, your child’s compulsory education begins when he or she celebrates his or her sixth birthday. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Brandenburg, all children who reach the age of six by 30th of September are obliged to attend school from 1st of August of the same calendar year. Compulsory schooling is not only for children of German nationality. The general obligation to attend school also applies to foreign children.