We are contemplating a move to Zurich with our 2 boys from the UK, but not really sure for how long. So thought, that bilingual school would be the best option for us. Spent hours on the internet and forum researching. So far I came across TAZ Horgen bilingual, Obersee, Lakeside and Terra Nova schools. All of them sound great, from what I can see on their websites. Does anyone have experience with the above schools? Any input would be highly appreciated.
Thanks!
Howerver, most likely I will keep my son in that daycare until 3 y.o. Then we will transfter to one of the bilingual schools in the areas. Regarding TAZ. I can tell you the following. I had an appointment last week at the school. I met the principal, saw the classrooms, the campus.... etc. I must say that I was nicely surprised! THis is a real school where children go until the 6th grade. And of course, the biligual curriculum is great. The way it works is that one week kids are tought in English and the next week they are tought in German. And so the curriculum moves on from week to week.
So, overall, TAZ looks like a nice school. Plus the location is great, it is right in Horgen.
In the end, our final choice will be between ZIS (Zurich International School) or TAZ. What I understand so far, ZIS is only English and German lessons is once or twice a week. Plus the kids that go to that school do not stay long in Switzerland. The parents come here for couple of years contact and then leave. So, children do not stay long in that school and they don't make long time friends. However, in TAZ children are from families that live in Switzerland and go together from grade to grade. That is a very important matter because children make friends.
Anyways, if someone has any additional comment either about ZIS or TAZ, please write. I would love to hear your opinion. THank you!
I also found out, that there are Montessori billingual schools in Zurich. Definitely interesting, if anyone cares to share any info...
They have high german and english at the same ratio - in the primary school how they manage it is to have half the class assigned for 1 or 2 weeks to one teacher, doing all subject areas in that language, and then swap over. But, in Montessori children have individual 'work plans' so they will create a learning plan for your child that matches their language skill/requirements but they keep the subject areas relevant too - total immersion and most of the staff are native speakers in the language they teach.
Our kids were already in Montessori in Australia so when we moved it was the 'soft' option for us - it's a non-competitive environment and we worked closely with our children's teachers to convey our desires for our kids learning...
For my daughter, who came here at 9 and whom we are planning to send back to Australia for high school (she will board or live with her grandparents)...it wasn't a massive priority to learn German, but she had done a bit of French already and has also picked that up (the kids do french a couple of times a week from around grade 1-2 and more formally from grade 4-5)....
For our son, who came at age 6, we emphasised that we wanted him to be immersed in the German, and that is what has happened - and his German is really good...
80-90% of the kids have a German or Swiss parent, so the turnover has definitely not been as high as other 'international' schools...most kids have multiple languages at home...
There's also a new Montessori school opening in Adliswil called 'house of kids' and we will have there a 0-3 programme with 22 places for children under 3, a preschool (3-6 year olds including Kanton Zurich required preschool programe) and they are adding a primary school - it will be bilingual and so far the English staff are all fully trained Montessori plus university teaching or related degrees, and english native-speakers...
You are welcome to PM me if you want more info about Montessori - I am trained to work at the 0-3 level (pre-kindergarten, early childhood) and my husband is trained as a primary (elementary) school teacher and Montessori also...
And which school do you work for, then?
Welcome to the forum, btw.
I don't work for a school and only interacted with that school as a parent. I keep in touch with other parents (who became friends) from the school, and I'm sorry to say that I hear nothing has changed there since our children left.
My neighbours' children attend the International School in Zug, but their youngest has started at the local Swiss primary school in an attempt to integrate in the long term - his other children are too entrenched in the IB PYP to switch over. Once you start down the private road, it is exceedingly difficult to change - and if your employer was covering these costs, you're left high and dry should they stop. My niece and nephew both recently graduated with the IB from International Schools only to find that the IB is not accepted by many Universities (in contrast, a poor grade German abi or Swiss matura is).
In face of this, our children now also attend the local Swiss state school, and my observation is that they receive at least as good an education as that which is offered privately and I save the 47,000 CHF annually in the process - a colleague reminds me that you can get a lot of educational travel for that money. The Swiss have been extremely welcoming, the class sizes are 18, with 3 years mixed into one class - all children helping each other, it is 300m away, they come home for lunch, and have made local friends to play with - everyone is happy with the decision. The state schools run gymi exam preparation courses (for free).
TAZ does not prepare children for moving onto a Gymnasium. You pay 23500 CHF per child, and are then left to your own devices to organize external additional private teaching for the gymi exam preparation. They claim a high percentage of their students managed to get into Gymis in 2009; all of those students who did so arranged their own additional external private tutors for the previous 6M at their own expense. Ask them about staff turnover, student turnover, details about the early exit clauses in their contracts, whether Oetli (headmaster) runs the show, or is the Franklin family (ex-army Bod who has pulled his wife and children onto the payroll)? Ask them what their safety precautions are for school excursions (leaving young girls alone at night in a youth hostel, doors unlocked, no supervision - teachers went for a drink), their emergency notification list, and what EXACTLY they will do to give individual attention to children?
It's also worth noting that school fees are not tax deductible (at least Kanton Zurich).
So I'd like to give you my perspective, from the "other" side, as a "kid" (I'm studying mechanical engineering now at ETH Zurich) who did the Swiss system, but saw what it was like in the international system (my brother and cousins went to international schools).
At a highschool level, I found the Swiss system to be quite good and give a very solid foundation, although sometimes they have a somewhat....archaic way of teaching ("traditional" they would say ^__~) and are not very flexible. I remember my brother doing a lot of subjects that were similar to mine, but more interactive and dynamic, for example in philosophy class I had to study texts by plato etc. and interpret them, whereas my brother would give presentations for his ToK (Theory of Knowledge) class, where he would have to analyze a current event for it's social and philosophical implications.
However, in a lot of subjects they were rather behind and classes weren't as serious, particularly math and sciences: my brother's math classes seemed to have more "why math is important in life" than actual math, and I remember in one test, students would receive points for making an "original drawing of a problem-solving process", which quite frankly is somewhat ridiculous... (I would agree with a point for drawing the concept correctly, but the teacher was actually giving points based on how "original" and nice the drawing was...)
The teachers also pay a lot more attention to the individual kid, which is a double-edged sword. The advantage is of course kids get more help and guidance, the big disadvantage is that they tend to get used to not being independent. By the time I was in highschool, I studied because I wanted to study; I stopped showing my parents my grades (in fact, they were really surprised that I almost failed one year), and started just studying more when I saw I needed to, whereas my brother and most of his friends (from what I saw) did their homework because they had someone watching over their shoulder. The problem is that a lot of these kids lack self-discipline once they get to university, and very often aren't really sure what they even want to do since they've never thought about it. This is imho the biggest disadvantage of international schools (similar to the problem of home-schooling).
School cancelors will have a list of universities' requierements.
EDIT: to previous poster. ToK only covers a part of the philosophy program, the skills tested are not totally the same.
Think of us when you enjoy your fish and chips or you buy your next packet of self raising flour won't you?
Hope things go smoothly for you all.
Bye then.
For economic reasons, we would prefer to take them to local schools but we have noticed that English is not properly covered, are we right?
thanks all.
Our kids are in a bilingual montessori school, not because it's bilingual...but because it's Montessori....