Hi! We are planning to move to Bern with our 5 and 2 year olds. To help them transition from the UK and introduce them to German whilst keeping English, we are thinking of the Montessori Schule Bern. Does anyone have experience with this school? We don't know if we'll be staying in Bern longer term or moving to Lausanne in about a year, so it would make sense for us not to have the children in the public system to start with.
I don't think the Montessori school takes children under four years old and five years old is still Kindergarten age in Bern. If you want your children to keep up their English I would suggest considering sending both to ESP https://www.esp-bern.ch/ together with the local Kindergarten for the older child.
Montessori 'school' starts with Kindergarten from age 3.
But personally I would not recommend committing to Montessori for only one year - it's a 3 year curriculum (age 3-6 years in one class) and quite likely they may not accept your 5 year old anyway, unless they went to Montessori school before...
Thank you for your replies. I will definitely keep the Playgroup in mind.
We are also thinking about this Kindergarten for the eldest and the Vorkindergarten for the smaller child to limit the stress of not understanding and not being understood. If the Montessori method works for them, we'd probably keep them in a Montessori school even if we moved. Do you have any feedback regarding this school/nursery?
There are a few different Montessori schools in Bern - I would check them out and definitely ask to see the classrooms if possible. With covid it has been more difficult to visit schools.
Yes, I know some of the staff - they are authentically Montessori trained and passionate about the work that they do.
Thank you, this is really helpful!