I'm looking for a english-german pre school/nursery for my four and half hear old son. We are moving to Alstetten (Zurich) in October. I'm interested in sending him part time, as i've heard the fees are very high in switzerland! I dont mind travelling 15mins by tram/transport.
I'm also looking into german only speaking preschools/nurseries but would ideally like to send him to a bilingual nursery as he will be so confused not knowing what anyone is saying to him!
I think compulsory education starts aged 4 in Zurich (anyone..?), so depending on his birthday part-time may not be an option, and he would have to be in a real state/ private school rather than a nursery.
If you search for threads about schooling on here - or just scan down a couple of screens in this Family Board - you will find lots of reassuring stories that he will be just fine in a German-only environment; he may not speak for some months but will be understanding most of what is going on in a matter of weeks.
But kindergarten starts at 4 or 5-ish depending on birth date, and may now be compulsory in Zurich? I'm not too up-to-date, but I would seriously look into it if I were you. The relevant info can only come from your townhall, many have web pages with the best information and links. We contacted ours in advance to know exactly where we would stand.
Are you still looking for a bilingual kindergarten ? Longer term, are you hoping to integrate him into the local swiss system in the local languages ?
Zurich canton offers swiss-german from Kindergarten, high German I think normally from year 2, English is added as well at that point, and then French from year 4 or thereabouts. It's a truly multi-lingual educational system...
There are heaps of bilingual offerings, for a price. There is a minimum attendance requirement to meet the 'kindergarten' attendance hours for the Cantonal requirements, and then there are all the extras...
It really depends what your longer term goal is. At four years old if you want him to be able to integrate, and your home language is 100% english, I would be more biased to sending them to the local kindergarten. Especially if you can't afford international schooling in the longer term...
yes we are looking to stay long term and i'm still looking for a bilingual kindergarten.
i'd like to send him to a bilingual kindergarten for a year (it will be easier for him to pick up the language this way) and he can go to a state school from 6 years (he will hopefully know basic german by then).
Can you suggest any kindergartens swisspea? Also when does kindergarten start in the morning and finish? I hope it's not a full school day 9am - 3pm?
The public kindergarten is usually from 08:10 to 12:00 in first year, in our part of Zurich, but this varies, some kids start school at 07:30. In the second year they go back some afternoons.
Private ones probably start from even earlier if you need it, like a creche, and afternoons for working parents.
Hi there, I dont know of any bilingual Kindi's but I just wanted to offer an opinion on your local swiss one, we have been here since last December and I put my two children ( 4 and 3)into an English playgroup in Oerlikon
I was scared how they would react to being thrown into the language and to be honest I wanted to be able to communicate with the teacher too!
They both got on well there but they didnt really make any friends (we dont live in Oerlikon)and neither of them knew any of the children that played in the local park next to our flats, they would play by themselves too intimated to play with the others that spoke 'germanly' I could tell my daughter was desperate to make friends but just didnt have the confidence.
Now my daughter has started her local kindergarten and a new world has opened up to her, after only 3 weeks she knows most of the children at the park outside our flat and often asks to go down and play with them, she still cant speak with them but they manage and she has become so much more confident and less intimidated by the language. I too have made friends with a few of the mums - its difficult but well worth it to feel part of the community.
It can be very intimidating over here trying to make new friends finding out how the system works and trying not to stick out like a saw thumb, I haven't made 'friends' as such but they smile when they see me at the local shop and try and chat at pick up time,I dunno just makes you and your family feel a little accepted into the community.
I bet also they would be at least one other English speaking child at your local Kindi, my daughter has 2 others in her class.
I know of a daycare/speilgrippe in Alstetten we were going to send my daughter there before we found the one in Oerlikon, its not bilingual but there were a few English kids and the teacher spoke good English, kibiz-zuerich.ch if I recall it was about 80chf for 9 till 2pm
thats just my opinion, I know how worried I was about sending mine to German schools so I understand your need to ease into it gently. We are in canton zurich and its compulsory for us if they are 4 before the April of the school year starting in August.
Good luck and I hope you find what your looking for.
It's very natural to worry that he won't be happy in local KG as he won't understand, but it really won't be easier for him to pick up the language this way. Sure, it'll be easier for him to talk to 'some' of the other kids in the early weeks - I imagine the ones from German homes won't speak English at this age anyway.
In regular KG, if he starts at 4, he will be absolutely fluent by starting school at 6, which will make things like learning to read much, much easier. And he will already know the other kids in his class, or on the playground. He will have local friends who live in the same appt/ street, and feel wholly settled into his community.
My daughter went from from no French whatsover to complete fluency during KG. She didn't speak for some months, but it was clear that she was understanding pretty much everything in class within a matter of weeks - there's so much repetition, pointing and so on, and it's really clear what people mean even in another language. It's also extremely likely that the teacher will speak at least enough English for communication, and that several of his classmates will have some English or be native speakers.
She is now in first grade and is just like the others - no need for special remedial French lessons, where she is taken from the class each day, like my son had to do when we arrived. She just does exactly what the other kids do, and is sitting with her friends that from her point of view she has known all her life that she can remember, not coming in as an outsider with basic language skills trying to break into established social groups.
It will be briefly difficult for him either at 4, or at 6. I suggest 4 is a better, less self-conscious age to cope with it.
And you'll have saved a ton of money in the meantime!
Nah - not even school from age 6 does hours like that!
Best of luck with finding whatever type of school will make everyone happiest.
Hi... one option that might suit you is a place called Hands on Kids in Effretikon. They have a range of programs and our son spent a year there learning German and following the English curriculum before moving into a Swiss school.
Our other younger son still goes to Hands on Kids and loves it very much, as his brother did. The best thing is the school really prepared the kids for speaking German.
At my eldest son's school his teacher commented on how well he could communicate and understand everyone and now we even find he has to 'catch' himself and remind himself to speak english with us. He speaks German with everone else!