I have two toddlers: girl is 3 and the boy is 5.5 years. My wife is a Teaching Assistant in a Primary School in London and I am interviewing for jobs in Switzerland with a possible salary of around 100,000 CHF per year.
I might move to Switzerland in 6 months time. I read that in some german-speaking areas Kindergarten (4-6 years) is not compulsory so I am researching which areas in Canton Zurich the Kindergarten is not compulsory. Kindergarten seems to be very expensive. I did a search in this Forum and the Internet but could not find any answers for my question so I was wondering if someone here will know?
The idea, if it works, was for me to work full-time and have my wife staying at home full-time (since for her it will be difficult to get a job initially as a Teacher Assistant) with both toddlers in a area in german-speaking Switzerland (around Zurich) where kindergarten is not compulsory. My boy who is 5.5 will go to Primary school when he completes 6 years so this will be FREE. Then my girl who is 3 will at home for 3 years with my wife until she is 6.
We prefer to keep them both at home until they are 6 years old, to save money on Kindergarten, and then send them straight to FREE Primary School when they both 6 years old. Part of the money I would save for not sending them to Kindergarten I prefer to give it to my wife as a form of salary since she will be sacrificing her career for 3 years.
So the questions again are:
1- Which areas in german-speaking Switzerland the Kindergarten is not compulsory, so we can keep both kids at home until they are 6 years old ready for FREE Primary School?
2- For those parents who went or are going through this education phase (Kindergarten 4-6 years and Primary from 6 years) I would like to hear your comments about this idea/plan, since I have no idea if this will work in Switzerland.
1-Do you know roughly how much is after school care per day?
2-For example, I guess after school care is from 15:00 until 18:00?
3-My daughter is 3 and she will be 4 years old in Oct 2021, will she go to Kindergarten in Jan 2022? or can she start straight after completing 4 years old, which is in Oct 2021?
No, the above is not correct. Both years of Kindergarten are compulsory and free in canton Zurich. The rest is correct. Also 3 years of secondary school is compulsory which comes after 6 years of primary school. However, at age 16 the child can voluntarily drop from the mandatory school.
After school care (also called Hort): We pay ~800 CHF for 4 days/week, from 12:00 until 18:00. Transport is included. They have lunch, and a snack around 16:00.
But it could be taxing on the kid, especially if he doesn't speak German. There will be too many changes, IMO.
you also need to be aware that for most public local schools (including the Kindergarten from age 4.5+) they walk to/from school and it will be very close by, and they come home for around 1.5 hours at lunch, unless you pay extra for 'mittagstisch' (lunch programme).
Personally, I would consider that your wife can be present with the children as they adapt to the local school and language/s.... and adapt to the lunch time coming home etc (cooked lunch is assumed at home)... 'Mittagstitsch' and 'Hort' can be quite hit-and-miss as the staff are usually not teaching staff, and the kids are thrown together from different classes, ages etc, and possibly also different schools... Use the extra time for exploring the local area, hanging otu at the park, some carefully selected extracurricular or just hanging together as a family. Especially in the winter time!
Wednesday afternoon is normally school-free. This is when most kids do extracurricular sport. In the winter time some even head to skiing lessons!
The entry year for KG will depend on the month that she turns four. Entry is usually only in August, the beginning of the school year, there is no mid-year entry...
You can check the info on the links above.. 'eintritt'.
There are also quite a few threads in the Education section of EF about the education system - which you might want to read - your questions come up on a regular basis.
As others have mentioned, the school days during the two year Kindergarten in many places in Zürich is not for anything approaching a whole day and often does not include lunch. (This continues to be true throughout primary school).
Also - all school kids in Switzerland have Wednesday afternoons free - this means that there is no school after the kids are dismissed for lunch.
Here is an example of the schedule in Zürich according to the Tagesschule model (by the way, the name Tagesschule does not mean that kids are in school for whole days). Your first kindergarten child will have less school and the model shown here. Also, this only applies to some Zürich city schools. Each community will have their own model.
It is often possible (and often not guraenteed that a spot will be avaialbe) to pay extra and have your child in various before-school, after-school and lunch programs called Hort. Hort generally costs much less than pre-school and the prices will also vary by community.
Good luck. The system is kind of complicated here.
He should go to Hort to get better at German, otherwise it will make the school tough. I put my child to aftercare (and morning) in order to improve the language and so I could work. As a newcomer he will also find new local friends through Hort. I'd put the little one to daycare as well, so they aren't isolated from local kids. Unless they are fluent already in Swiss German which does not seem so.
OP - while the gesture towards your wife is generous and I totally support it, her finding some job will be better for her in the longer scheme of things, as well as her retirement should you guys stay. She will also find new social network that way, independent of you and your children. Daycares provide network, you and your wife will meet new people through that and she could find some career help that way.
So, Primary School children continue to come home for Lunch for around 1.5 hours, like in Kindergarten?
Primary School seems to be for 6 years (until children are 12 years old) so how do people work then? I guess most people pay for their children to stay in school for lunch.
At our local primary school, I have seen a lady picking up a bunch of kids and taking them back to her place for lunch (a lunchtime baby sitter of sorts). Once kids are old enough they take themselves home for lunch and back again if parents are working.