I wondered what oppinions are out there about the International school of central switzerland, IS of Zug and Lucern, the 4 forest school and may be any other schools in and around Zug/Cham area.
We have two boys: 3 and 1, they grow up bi-lingual (or no-lingual as the older one struggles a lot and visits now a Russian-only nursery to improve at least on of his languages).
I would like to enroll the older kid in a year or two for a day or two so he catches up on his English (after he caught up on his Russian). So he should combing Russian and English nurseries/Kindergardens for as long as possible (until he is 7?)
We are Russian-Kiwi family and we've relocated from London to Zug. Hence we are looking for something more "British", or continental in its curriculum. IB is good, though so so far away for us
I think I am particularly interested in very personal, subjective opinions from parents who may be ended up trying out more then one school...
Hi... I've just posted a similar thread on Stepping Stones vs ISZL.
Stepping Stones is a very nice small school in Baar that runs preschool up to kindergarten. The pupil to teacher ratio is good and they do lots of great activities. It is English only... no German. I like their approach generally - it is high touch experience for the kids and they get a lot of 1:1 time if/when it's needed.
However, it may be more structured than my child needs and I'm evaluating other options.
I am not that familiar with the IB programme but it seems like it might be more suitable for my child and so we are going to visit them to see. I'm more than happy to PM or talk offline if you want to get into a detailed conversation. I do think that you have to visit the schools yourself and go with a prepared list of questions regarding activities, discipline approach, class numbers, food etc.
With a 3 year old you don't necessarily have to start with a school that takes them from Kindergarten through primary and high school. There are a few exceptional bi-lingual Kindergarten in the Kanton. I can recommend and Stepping Stones and Kid's World who seem to turn out well above average kids and prepare them for a school start in either local, selective or international schools.
A Swiss Matrura is accepted by British and Australian Universities and I see no need to do an IB. My niece just completed an IB in Australia and they give a different ranking from the local tertiary entrance score, so she is not competing equally with locals for university places.
My son who is much older goes to International School of Central Switzerland, but he started when he was around 7. They have a great Pre-K program. ISOCS is not bilingual but German is taught, and integration in the local community is encouraged and fostered. One of our Russian Families works with a teacher in the school from Russia to provide her children with private language lessons. There are 2 Russian language schools in Zug. They meet one day a week on Wed I think.
I like our school because of the small class sizes and the individual attention each child gets. We do get families coming from the much larger schools and they are happy with the switch. I know of one family who left for four forest. They are mostly happy with it, but the son is not and still mentions his old school. The schools offer trial days so I would suggest to try them out.