Can you ask Cambridge which Swiss schools have the highest success rate of applications?
Getting into Cambridge is tough! Many private (and possibly state?) schools in the UK run extra-curricular 'Oxbridge' programmes, during Year 12 and 13, to specifically prepare students for applications and interviews.
I always regret (and pestered my parents) for not putting me in private school. I remember students (who were really not that bright) entering the public system for certain credits, and they were ages beyond us in though process and problem solving abilities. My personal thought is you can't put a price on a better education, especially at a young age when learning is so much easier. Good for your daughter for aiming for Cambridge at her age. I was in my late 20s before I realized I needed to get a high-end institute degree.
Slightly more unusual approach but I toss it in in case it hadn't occurred to you - could she board in the UK? Obviously this is very dependent on the child concerned, but for the same as you pay for the private/ international schools here you can fund a top-notch private UK boarding school.
That way, you can choose one that would suit her academic and extra-curricular activities, and they would actively groom her for entry to top UK universities.
Flights from here to the UK are very cheap, and you/her could easily pop back and forth for holidays and long weekends. Lots of other kids at UK boarding schools are also there due to parents working overseas or serving in the military, so she wouldn't be alone with that.
A few comments to add.
Personally I am not a great fan of public schools in VD, there is quite a lot to improve in my opinion and while there can be a good school and a good teacher, there can also be a bad school and bad teacher just 5km down the road, ie. great variations. Vaud also has the highest repetition rate of any CH canton, which indicates something in my view.
Keep in mind if entering the public system from private in Vaud, your child will need to be tested and streamed at that age. While I know that some children go well and go into the VSB stream (university), the statistics clearly show that the vast majority test into the lowest stream, ie. VSO, something like 50%. It seems you have a bright child, but please make sure she is well prepared for this testing, or getting a swiss matura may well be impossible in the public school. Last I knew, German was one of the 3 main subjects tested in this entry, does she have German? Fully lacking German at the highschool level while trying to do Swiss matura may indeed prove impossible or very prohibiting.
As for schools, please search the forum for some previous comments on Champittet, it is not a route I would recommend based on a number of factors. I understand ISL is quite difficult to enter, with long waiting lists, so please investigate in advance. You may also consider some of the private schools around Vevey, ie. not too far from Lausanne. I understant St. Georges has a good reputation and follows the British curriculm, which may indeed help if attending a UK school, as others have said.
Here's the tests that a child would have to take if they wanted to join 7th, 8th or 9th grade in Vaud, having previously been in a private school or homeschooled.
http://vd.educanet2.ch/liens/evaluat...ion/index.html
('consultation par degré' on the right will get you through to the actual tests for each year group - they are for French, Maths and German)
This will give you a really clear idea of the level she would need to join the university-streamed public school classes.
Runningdeer - do you mean that 50% of kids (ie, francophones) coming from private schools test at VSO level, or that 50% of non-French speaking incoming kids end up in VSO? Bit of a damning indictment of the private schools otherwise!
exactly at the opposite in the spectrum, Chemmie. I have been to the privvies - and I have to say that it taught me very efficiently that every grade has a price, that cheating will be always condoned if supported by a big name or a charming smile, that learning doesn't need to have a method (not to mention the drug abuse I saw, given the money circulating). I have to thanks my fairy god-mother if I managed to have a life after.
I am not chastising the private system, there are excellent ones; but so there are excellent publics. I am trying to say that the divide good/bad schools doesn't follow the divide Public/private. You have to do your homework in both cases, picking a private schools is not the perfect solution.
In particular in Switzerland, where some Private institutes are "expat schools", serving the travellings of the world, and others are here to help kids in trouble in the native system to overcome a temporary difficulty to enter college.
I would like to thank all of you for your input and very targeted information.
I will try to put her into public system - the exams, while stressful, will provide me with an idea on where she stands...
Funny enough, I did not had any problems getting her into ISG - but huge problems re. ISL (viz a waiting list).
Will visit Champittet too...
Thnx!