hi, i am very glad to find quite a lot of information on this board...
my husband will do a 1 year sabbatical in ETH. We will live near ETH.
My trouble is finding the school for my son(will be 3rd grade) and my daughter(4 years old). My son is pretty sensitive, and I can't just put him in germany-speaking school for a year. So I guess international school is our only option. My daughter is pretty open and less self-conscious, but there is no FREE public school for her age, right?
Besides expensive tuition for them, I checked Zurich Internation School, Intercom, etc, looks like they are both far awary from where we will live.. like 30 minutes train.... Is that pretty normal in Zurich? Can we handle it every day?
Any suggestion, recommedation is welcome! Thanks.
Have you considered Montessori - there are several bilingual Montessori schools - maybe a bit closer to where you are planning to live, but I am biased because I am a Montessori teacher
For the four-year-old there are a few English or bilingual preschools that might suit her...
For year 3 that's more tricky...and unless your accommodation is 'fixed' it might make more sense for you to live with the children nearer your preferred school, and your husband do the commute - although, then again, if he already works long hours maybe you want to see more of him so live close to work.. tricky!
Welcome to the forum!
There is some useful info here . Public education is free in Zurich.
thanks for your reply! My daughter is currently in Montessori preschool in US. It is definitely an option for us. But I couldn't find the Montessori elementary school in Zurich from the web. Do you know any good ones?
thanks... i am checking...
so my 4 years old daughter can go to public preschool free?
yes, our accommodation is fixed since it is sort-of on-campus furnished house.. and we already signed up for it...
i guess 30 minutes train-ride will still be hard though...
30 minutes is doable. Many kids use the train system as do school excursions led by teachers.
The public transport system is very reliable, safe and works like clock work. Some would argue that a car is not required most of the time. The train company offers Mobility ie vehicle rental sharing at train stations .
From known points, this tool tells you how long it takes from door to door, inclusive of time taken to walk to nearest stations / bus stops. Another tools that is useful is the mapping site .
Montessori Tags .
Keyword search ( will expire soon - you have to do this by yourself - type in Montessori under the search Tab )
Plenty of info for you to read up including search links given via PM .
thanks. it definitely cleared some of my misunderstandings...
I looked web for more information, i thought that only 7 years and up can go to public school free of charge... now I seriously considering to put my 4 years old daughter to public school if it is free... :-)
as for my 3rd grade son, I can't made the mind yet... Montessori might be an option, considering the long commute to international school...
Speaking of cost, international school cost about 27000, and Montessori elementary school will be about 20000. Is that pretty much the correct expectation?
Yes, that's my asssessment as well - there are three Montessori schools in Zurich that have 'elementary' (in Zurich they call it 'Primarschule') -
There are two well-established Montessori schools in Zurich - with bilingual programmes. It's worth checking them both out - dinsle is on the Seefeld/Hottingen side of the lake, and Rietberg is near Enge/Wollishofen.
PM me if you want more details. And yes, the fees are generally lower than the most expensive 'International' Schools.
My children go to the ZIS lower school. It very welcoming, so your 3rd grader who is bit on the sensitive side would find it very comforting.
I also have a two year old who I'm trying to figure out what to do with next year. I check out a montessori school in Thalwil. Parkside Montessori. It was very nice but you have to be careful because the swiss school have very different breaks then the international schools. The hours of the day are also different. This montessori school had such a long day. 8.45 - 4.30. And only 2 weeks off at Christmas and summer. It makes it tricky if you have children at different schools.
So I am going to put my little guy in the ZIS ECC. That's the pre-school/pre-K campus in Kilchberg. Which an option for you would to send your kids to ZIS and there is a shuttle that will take your older one to the lower school campus from the Kilchberg campus. So you would only have to get them to Kilchberg. Which would be a lot closer to Zurich.
Just some ideas. Good luck with the search!
thanks for your input! I noticed if ZIS, pre-school and lower school are located in different place.How long will be the shuttle? How about afternoon dismissal? How long is your commute? Thank you so much!
My daughter started at the local kindergarten this year and absolutely loves it, as do we. It's the best decision we ever made. She's pretty fluent in Swiss German, so independent and it really makes us feel like we are part of our local community. She plays with kids from her class in the afternoons and I love walking around the street and being able to say hello to other people living in the same area. And as a cultural experience it can't be beaten. There are so many traditions that we'd never heard about in which the kids take part.
And once your daughter goes to the local kindergarten you'll hear about other activities (music, sport etc) that are offered for local kids.
We're not in the city centre, but know that friends who are have had a similar experience to ours when their kids have gone to the local kindergarten or school. So I say, go for it for your daughter!
Kate
thanks! I will definitely check and get more information about local school, since I was told it is very close to where we will live.
My 4 years daughter knew NOTHING about Germany, neither do we.. will there be any problems? I cannot read the school flyers at all...
You mean German language ?
Make some friends off this forum - I am sure they can help you out ( s end them scanned versions of flyers for example or use this subforum ) or use Google Translate - even better, take up a German course for foreigners.
yes, i mean german language...
i couldn't find how to Edit the post after I submit...