Bavaria used to have a fixed cut-off date for starting school. For the 2019/20 school year it introduced a corridor. Parents of children who turn six between 1 July and 30 September decide whether their child starts school now or one year later.
In the first year, 14,171 of the 32,216 children in this group were not enrolled. That is about 44 percent. A Munich kindergarten head explained the thinking: “Ich sage immer, die Kinder sollen lieber überreif in die Schule gehen.” I always say children should rather go to school overripe.