horgen

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Hello there. I may be moving to Zurich in the near future, though not for sure, and I'm finding this website super helpful. I've followed a lot of the conversations about neighbourhoods and schools, as I have a 4 and a 6 year-old. It seems like Horgen is a quite a sweet place. Can anyone give me the upside and downside of such a place? I'm looking for the most family-friendly location, with the possibility of my children going to state school. Many thanks...

2
Big answer necessary there. Welcome to the Forum. Just come. Location is ultimately not that important: it's a small country.

There are loads of threads discussing where to live and why, but if you have no idea of the place it's pretty academic. Have a pooter on the Search function.

Leap!

3
Hi there, we moved from the UK last November and have two children 8 and 4, we live on the other side of the lake to Horgan in a place called Meilen, which we found crossing the car ferry from Horgan. My son started state school just after Christmas and is loving it. But like the tag before it really doesn't matter where you live, the villages around Zurich are really nice. Good luck with the move

4
Horgen is a lovely place to live. I have friends who live there and they love it. If you are interested in an international school, there is one right around the corner in Waedenswil. That said, all of the villages around the lake are lovely, can't think of one that I wouldn't recommend.

5
I got the idea of horgen from one of the threads (dont ask where -- Ive read hundreds). It seems like the answer to most questions is, depends where you live, which is why I'm asking questions about specific locations. Are the state primary schools in Meilen (or Horgen for that matter) particularly friendly to foreigners? My two sons are UK-born and currently attend a local schoo but don't speak other languages yet. If we move to CH, it will be for at least 5 years.

6
Welcome to Switzerland and wish you best of luck for moving and stuff.

My 4+ years old daughter goes to school in Horgen and I live in just the next town which is 5 mins by bus. You'll really like it as there is a big expat community in Thalwil - Horgen (although there is great expat community everywhere around Zurich). I am an Indian and I have lot of friends (moms of other kids in school and people around) including English, Italian, Swiss and from everywhere else.

Horgen itself is very beautiful place to live. Find more information about it at www.horgen.ch . Though it is in German but you can see the infrastructure and other information.

Welcome once again.

7
Welcome

Most Villages and towns provide help for the Children to learn German but you cant beat the kids learning it through playing with German speaking kids. I have heard some stories with bullying when mixed with certain other Nationality’s but this is rear. All areas have a school sectary and you can approach them when you are looking to move into an area to ask what they will provide. Small villages obviously have smaller German learning classes compared with towns. Tax is also a consideration when choosing where to live plus access to work via public transport.

Good luck

DC

8
what do you think of the state schools in horgen? do many of the expats go to the local schools in that area? would like my children to integrate in the community as much as possible, as they do here.

9
Hi hankag

I think the main state school in Horgen for young children is called Baumgaertli

Web site:

http://baumgaertli.schule-horgen.ch/baumgaertli/

Apparently many of the children in the school have foreign parents and the school is considered good, however all teaching is in High German. As far as I understand it, for those expat children in the school whose German isn't so good they have a special teacher who gives extra (?) lessons for them to do with the German language.

You can see some pictures of the area near the school at:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/295035/tags/Horgen

The school is shown in

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2207689

If your 6 year old son doesn't speak German I'm not sure that he can join the school??? At least for a few years you may have to send him to a bilingual School like TAZ

ref: http://www.taz-horgen.ch/index.cfm?id=1

For younger children, like your 4 year son, there are several Kindergartens in Horgen where they will pick up Swiss German in no time. Also there is a special speech therapists Kindergarten for children who don't have good enough German language to go to next school (i.e. Baumgaertli). The 2 Kindergartens I have in mind, are right next to one another in Horgen.

However you will also have to consider what happens when (and if) you and you family return to the UK (in +5 years?). Namely your son's English language reading and writing skills may be behind. So to ensure their English skills keep up Busy Bees (near Horgen in a place called Oberrieden) is good.

ref: www.busybees.ch

Hope that helps (excuse any mistakes I may have made, Horgen Education possibilities isn't my specialist subject )

10
you are a superstar! thanks so much.

11
You're welcome.

Also do look at

http://baumgaertli.schule-horgen.ch/

Machine translated into English

http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Den%26sa%3DG

" Welcome to the Baumgärtli!

Our school is at the centre of Horgen. Around 110 children from 14 countries bring a lot of life in the old building (built in 1854). Today is four classes of elementary, a German-language class for at home. An external Kindergarten (Stapferheim) and speech therapists-Kindergarten (Eisenhof) with a body for speech therapy are also among our school. Since 1999, we are a semi-public school."

I just noticed that within the Web site there is a map of where the school is, which also shows the 2 nearby kindergartens I mentioned.

These are :

Kindergarten Stapferheim

http://www.horgen.ch/de/bildung/bild...&schule_id=628

Kindergareden Eisenhof which can cater for more intensive speech teaching

http://www.horgen.ch/de/bildung/bild...&schule_id=634

" Sprachheilkindergarten Eisenhof" hence "speech therapists-Kindergarten"

The direct link is to the map frame is:

http://baumgaertli.schule-horgen.ch/...ien/wir/wo.htm

Also the photo of the school at:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/2207689

is shown on a map using Google Maps. You can zoom and pan about.

12
I have just noticed that Baumgaertli school in Horgen has changed its Web site address (since around June 2009), so some of the previous URL links that I provided in this thread are now broken.

Therefore use the new web site address for this school at:

http://www.baumgaertli.com/

13
I live in Horgen and can say it is a very nice town. There are two train stations so you never are far from one when you need to go to the city. The city is close by as well.

The town itself is very quiet, even as a 20s male it still is quite peaceful. I enjoy it because I dont have to deal with city hassles and I can still get to the city easily. There is a good sportscenter, swimming pool, "beach", and I think an international school in town