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Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 788

City Council confirms the update of the city of Chemnitz's school network planning

At its meeting yesterday, the City Council approved the update of the City of Chemnitz's school network planning for primary schools, special schools, secondary schools, grammar schools, special schools and second-chance schools on the basis of Section 23a of the Education Act for the Free State of Saxony (SächsSchulG).

The 2024 school network plan presents the current status of the 2022/2023 school year and the long-term development up to the 2032/2033 school year. It provides the conceptual framework for municipal decisions, but in particular provides guidance for medium and long-term investments.

The school network planning thus aims to create a balanced network of general education schools in the city of Chemnitz with a high standard of education.
The educational opportunities of pupils in the individual school types are to be optimally promoted and ensured so that an adequate, high-quality schooling programme is available for every pupil within a reasonable distance.

According to the population forecast, the population of the city of Chemnitz is expected to be in a corridor between 227,500 (lower limit variant) and 242,500 (upper limit variant) inhabitants in 2035. This does not take into account the influx of Ukrainian war refugees.
The numbers of children actually born and living in Chemnitz are decisive for school network planning.


Primary schools
The city of Chemnitz is divided into nine school districts. Each municipal primary school is assigned to a school district. Pupils of primary school age must attend a primary school in the school district in which their main place of residence is located. This also applies to pupils with a migration background. The exception to this is attendance at an independent primary school. Increased immigration is accompanied by rising pupil numbers, particularly in school districts II, III, IV, V, VIII and IX. Based on current events, it must be assumed that this trend will continue.

It is evident that the number of potential new school entrants will fall in the coming years. A decline is particularly noticeable in the 2029/2030 school year. As at 30 June 2023, there were 2,371 children living in Chemnitz who were due to start school in the 2024/2025 school year. In the 2029/2030 school year, however, only 1,724 children will be required to attend school. This represents a decrease of 27.3 per cent (647 pupils). The decline is lower in school districts IV, V and VIII than in the other school districts.

In the city of Chemnitz, a total of 40 primary schools were run by local authorities in the 2022/2023 school year. In addition, there are two special schools, the Chemnitz Cooperation School (with primary and secondary school sections) and the Chemnitz School Model, primary and secondary school. Another school, the "Südlicher Sonnenberg" primary school, was established on 1 August 2023.

There are also eight independent primary schools.

  • Location plan of the municipal primary schools in the city of Chemnitz
    Based on the long-term target planning and the described implementation measures (in accordance with SächsSchulnetzVO, § 7), the location plan shows which types of school and educational programmes should be available at which school location for each of the following ten school years. The plan is
    • the merger of the Altendorf primary school with the E.-G-Flemming primary school at the Albert-Schweitzer-Straße 61 site
    • Change of location and thus change from school district IV to V for the Chemnitz cooperation school from the originally planned location Heinrich-Schütz-Straße (Planitzwiese) to the location Brauhausstraße 16 and
    • Relocation of the Annenschule GS to the mobile classrooms at the J.-A.-Comenius-GS school site at Comeniusstraße 1

Secondary schools and grammar schools
There are no school district ties for secondary general schools. There is free choice of school, i.e. secondary schools and grammar schools can be attended in the city of Chemnitz as well as in all other districts. No conclusions can be drawn about attendance at a particular school on the basis of residence. In particular, the gradual integration of pupils with a migration background into regular classes and thus into the existing class groups means that the existing regular classes are sometimes overloaded. The future additional demand for classes has been included in the capacity planning.

  • Secondary schools

The city of Chemnitz has 14 municipal secondary schools. Due to rising pupil numbers, the minimum number of available classes will be reached in the 2027/2028 school year. In the long term, there is a projected surplus of nine classes in grade 5 in the 2028/2029 school year and twelve classes in the 2032/2033 school year.


In the 2018 school network plan of the city of Chemnitz, too few places were identified in the secondary school sector. The new construction of the "Am Hartmannplatz" secondary school for the 2023/2024 school year, the new school building with capacity expansion at the Marianne Brandt Secondary School Chemnitz (formerly Annenschule secondary school) and the installation of mobile classrooms have compensated for this shortfall.
Free capacity in Chemnitz secondary schools is useful for optimising school organisation and thus improving the quality of everyday learning. Filling classes to capacity should be avoided.
There are no plans to make changes to the existing secondary school network in the city of Chemnitz. However, in view of the predicted population decline and the measures already implemented in the 2018 school network plan as well as the associated creation of capacity, changes to the existing secondary school network cannot be ruled out.

Chemnitz also has six privately run secondary schools.

  • Grammar schools in the city of Chemnitz

The city of Chemnitz has seven grammar schools. In the medium term, it is assumed that there will be a capacity shortfall of one to three year 5 classes throughout the city. In the long term, the number of pupils in year 5 will decrease. Due to the permeability of the school system, it is possible to switch between school types, which is why capacity shortfalls only occur in some cases in higher grades.
By the 2026/2027 school year, all municipal reserves in the grammar schools will have been used up. Due to the increase in pupil numbers since the 2023/2024 school year, there will initially be a capacity shortfall of four classes from the 2027/2028 school year. However, the shortfall increases to ten classes in the 2028/2029 school year and then remains constant at seven to eight classes. In order to counteract this shortfall, which has existed since 2018, the extension buildings at J. Kepler Gymnasium and for K.-S.-Rottluff Gymnasium were already decided in the long-term implementation measures in the 2020 school network planning. These extensions will initially ensure that the existing four-grade capacity can be maintained. The existing capacity shortfall in the grammar school area from the 2027/2028 school year can be made up by utilising the school building at Wielandstraße 4.

There are also six privately-run grammar schools in Chemnitz.


Special schools
It is not possible to make direct deductions from the inflows and outflows per district for the special schools. Schooling is based on the special needs focus defined in the assessment process. Potential pupils are also reflected in the pupil numbers at special schools and are increasingly taking up capacity.

Inclusion is understood to mean participation and equal opportunities. This is to be achieved in the school sector by supporting pupils with and without special educational needs to achieve an educational qualification in line with their potential and preparing them specifically for professional and working life.
Pupils should have access to high-quality and free education at primary and secondary schools on an equal footing with others in the community in which they live. Accordingly, they must not be excluded from attending a primary or secondary school because of their disability.

Parents have the right to choose the location of special schools. This means that pupils with special educational needs can be taught at a special school or at a mainstream school on an inclusive basis. The decision lies with the parents, provided that certain requirements are met. The prerequisite for this is that, among other things, the organisational, personnel and material requirements correspond to the individual support needs of the pupil at the respective school.
pupil at the respective school. The decision on admission is always made by the school management.
There is no obligation to attend a special school. The best interests of the child are always decisive when choosing the most suitable place of support, because only then can inclusion grow and be successful.

Chemnitz schools have been tackling the issue of inclusion for many years and have made it possible in numerous cases. The prerequisite for this is the material and personnel conditions of the respective schools. The individual case must always be considered and the best interests of the child must be prioritised when deciding on schooling.
On the basis of the Inclusion Allocation Ordinance from 2019, the City of Chemnitz, as a public authority, receives annual allocations for pupils who are taught inclusively in general and vocational schools.

In the city of Chemnitz, there are ten municipal special schools and the Chemnitz State School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a special needs centre with a focus on vision, as well as several independent special schools.


Special schools (§ 63d SächsSchulG)

The city of Chemnitz has two special schools (in accordance with Section 63d SächsSchulG), the Chemnitz school model with primary and secondary schools and the Chemnitz co-operation school.

  • Chemnitz school model, primary and secondary school

Due to the open-city implementation of the Chemnitz school model, it is not assigned to a school district in the primary school section. In the medium and long term, the demand in grade 1 can be secured in the primary school sector.
For the secondary school section of the Chemnitz school model, there will be a capacity shortfall of one class in grade 5 in the medium term.

  • Chemnitz co-operation school

In contrast to the Chemnitz school model, the primary school part of the Chemnitz cooperation school is linked to a school district. Since the 2021/2022 school year, the Chemnitz Cooperation School has been growing on a sliding scale from grades 1 and 5. Due to this growth, the forecast figures deviate significantly from the actual enrolment figures in some cases. According to the actual enrolment figures, it is assumed that two classes per grade level will be formed at the Chemnitz cooperation school in the secondary school sector in the future.

Secondary schools

The City of Chemnitz is also responsible for two secondary schools. These include an evening secondary school and an evening grammar school


Background
As a district-free city, the City of Chemnitz is the school authority for general education schools, secondary schools and vocational schools. The obligatory task is to provide the school infrastructure with regard to external school matters in line with requirements. This includes, in particular, the creation of the necessary spatial and material conditions as well as the appointment of non-teaching staff.

The Free State of Saxony, on the other hand, is responsible on the one hand for school design and thus for the content, organisation and planning of the school system within the framework of internal school matters. On the other hand, it is responsible for school supervision. This includes the official and technical supervision of schools as well as the supervision of the tasks incumbent on the school authorities.