Kindergarten or preschools are not compulsory in Germany. School life starts at the age of six in primary schools.
From there the school system is quite complex. Primary school teachers propose the type of secondary school for the student depending on their skills and capacity.
Special needs education is provided in special schools as well as in primary schools and in secondary education (inclusion).
Parents must decide and apply for a certain type of school.
The school system has been changing during the last 20 years. In the past students used to be subdivided into three different types of schools "Hauptschule", "Realschule" and "Gymnasium".
Originally, newly established comprehensive schools ought to replace the "old" system, but it was politically impossible to achieve this.
Actually it is a bipartite secondary education system with Gymnasium (grammar school) on one hand and comprehensive school, secondary school and Realschule and Hauptschule (being phased out) on the other.