Greetings to all forum members. This is my fist post on this forum. I have benefited immensely from all previous postings.
We are in the process of finalizing which school to send our 3 year old daughter to this coming fall. We are moving from Singapore to Lausanne and have narrowed our search to one of the following schools:
1. ISL
2. Haut-Lac
3. Champetit
4. GEMS
5. La Chatagnerie
We feel that Haut-Lac and ISL meet our requirements best as we are looking for a bilingual education with an emphasis on English. Any inputs from parents, alumni and others who have made such a choice would be really useful.
Depending upon how long you are staying here, you should also seriously consider the local state schools. At the age your daughter is at, it will not affect her long term education if she were in the Swiss system and moved to another national or international system in a couple of years or so (if you moved out of the country).
But having come across children at my church who attended ISL, I would say that either their French language acquisition was very poor or ISL does not offer a truly bilingual education... as they could not communicate in French.
Now this is a small sample of children from one or two families, so I'm prepared for someone else to chip in with their two pence and a different opinion.
As for the state school system, we are unsure of how long we will live in Switzerland and since neither of us speak French, we are concerned about how we will get involved in her education even if we do stay long-term. We certainly want her to be proficient in French and both my wife and I plan to study French to a working level of proficiency. So it seems like ISL might not achieve that objective.
I think ISL is an international baccalaureate school, not a bilingual school. The curriculum is delivered in English. Students have to study a second language from Kindergarten to Grade 12- but the aim of IB is not bilingualism.The IB curriculum is demanding, skills based, creative and globally recognised. It can work for families staying in a country for the long term or short term.
Your choice depends on what you want for your child in the future. If you plan to settle in Switzerland and for your child to go to Swiss university, then local is the way to go. If you plan as a family to live elsewhere and for your child to have a range of options outside Switzerland as a young adult, then ISL will be better overall.
Both systems have their strengths and weaknesses. It all depends on your long term plans as a family.
I am a father of two children and understand you dilema of choices. As far as I know, it's only haut-Lac which meet your wish for a bilingual school.
There is also a little bilingual school in Morges (Eng-Fr) called Lake Leman International School which you may want to check out. Moser in Nyon is bilingual (english german).
It is really tough making your decision when there is so much choice available and many parents I meet feel the same way. The first thing I would say is there is no "right answer" when it comes to the best school. The challenge is finding a school which works for your child, and gives them a love of learning that will hopefully carry on throughout their school life.
The list of schools you have given are all very different from each other, so perhaps the first step is to make a short list and then visit the schools you feel fit best with your needs (if you haven't already). I also agree with the posts that it would be a good idea to consider the local system too. Non-native speaking children get lots of support and at such a young age immersion can be a really successful way of learning a new language. It will help them/you have local friends and to integrate into your community.
If you have already decided that you want an international school, language of instruction is often the most important factor. ISL and GEMS are in English, with French taught alongside as a second language. Haut Lac, Champettit and La Chat have instruction in both French and English. The character of the schools are very different, along with their ethos and although on paper the language and curriculum seem really important often as a parent it is the intuitive feeling we get from visiting the school and talking to the head and teachers that makes our final decision.
You did not mention Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande which is a bi-lingual school you may want to consider, with more emphasis on the French than the English.
There are other smaller, local private schools you may want to consider depending on where you live. A complete list can be found here: www.avdep.ch
If you want to PM me with any specific qs I would be happy to help.