Hi there,
We are planning to move to Bern and i am a bit worried about my son kindergarten time.
He is now going to krippe and he refuse to sepak using the dialect, even though krippe's staff told us he understand what they are telling him. This is very frustrating for us and dunno what to do.
Anyway, what steps do we have to follow in order to have him enrolled for the next year's Kindergarten? He will be 4 in September this year.
Are there any specific regulations for Canton of Bern?
Many thanks for any idea!
Are you looking for a local school or English speaking? There is the International School of Berne and the British School. Both have kindergarten programs.
My son is 4.5 and the same. He's in a bilingual school. If we had an equivalent German-only school, I'd send him (his childcare fees are tied to my employment so we have limited options)...
Don't worry. Let him be. When he is ready, he will speak the language. My son's been in Switzerland since he was 8 months old, and in swiss speaking childcare since 16 months, so it's not as if he doesn't understand - he's just showing a strong preference for English.
I've seen kids in the opposite - German dominant kids who perfectly understand english but won't speak it, and at the same time, kids who can separate and speak 4 languages by age 3. Kids are all different.
I would counsel against opting out of the local language system at this age - I'd recommend persisting and just sending him along and let the school sort it out - just be open to their suggestions, smile sweetly and encourage your child to enjoy his time at school.
Around age 4.5 kids become very aware of the two languages operating alongside each other - at that age they start to consciously match up the words "My teachers uses this word, but my mum uses this word" "My teacher speaks German, my mum speaks English"...
When they get to age 6, they explore language in a completely different way. Once they start to read, that opens a whole new world, and our two older kids (upper primary school) have two very different experiences of language, but are both very capable - and not only English/German, they also do French, a little Italian, Spanish...and we went to Amsterdam a few weeks ago and they started to 'tune in' to dutch.
The enrolment process should be via the local school system in Bern. Have you found a place to live yet ? You will be trying to get a kindergarten place in the local school - are you sure he meets the age guidelines for compulsory kindergarten (do they even do compulsory KG in Bern?)...
Thanks for your answer.
No, actually we are not English native speakers. We have sent him to a local krippe, local dialect speaking , so no bilingual.
Even though would have been easier for me to send him to a English school(because he could practice it with me) we cant afford such school because they have big fees and our employer don't pay anything.
However, for me is very frustrating because yesterday evening the krippe's staff already suggested us that they would not keep him anymore. Of course, this is not fair. So, i foreseen that if he doesnt start to talk then he will get off to a bad start in his school life.
Hi,
Is there someone living in Bern who had to deal with kindergartens?
Actually, we try to understand how could we enroll our kid(4.5yrs old) in a kindergarten and keep him busy also the whole afternoon, because we both work.
Currently he goes to kita and is quite convenient since we can pick him up after 1700 hrs.
Any idea or suggestion will be highly appreciated.
Thanks,
If your child is born between May 1st 2007 and May 31st 2009 you have to enroll it in kindergarten. In Bern this enrollment will be hold on January 31st, between 16.30 and 18.30 at the nearest primary school or kindergarten. There they will provide you with information about child care. You find more details here (in German):
http://www.bern.ch/leben_in_bern/bil...arten_2013.pdf
Yes, thank you for the info.
What i still cant find is the thing about what the kid will do after 1200PM, when the kindergarten is closed.
Is there any after-school care in the same building or i have to search for a kita nearby?
Thank you very much,
There is. It's called "Tagesschule" and you will get information directly at the enrollement.
In my son's kita, after 12pm children from the associated kindergarten join in and stay until 17 or 18:00. So there is a possibility for kindergarten children to be taken care of until the evening.
I found a preschool one
http://www.vorschule-kinderinsel.ch/index-de.php that we just put our 3 year old one.
Where we are in Zurich they have something called a hort, which I understand to be after school care run by the state (not free of charge) for those whose parents work, i.e. somewhere the kids who don't go home for lunch can eat their packed lunch and be supervised in the afternoon. Sometimes it is purpose built right next door to or as an integral part of the kindergarten/school, sometimes not (often in the case of older communities/buildings).
In our community, at lunch time all the kindergarten kids who don't go home are walked to the hort by an adult (they have to walk ca. 10. minutes across a moderately busy road).
Here's the link to info in Zurich city
http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/content/...ung_horte.html
maybe there is something similar in Bern? I assumed it was a swiss-wide concept, but may be wrong!
Edit to add more info in English: http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/content/...betreuung.html