Also, what neighborhoods are family friendly and close to these schools?
Thank you!
My husband was offered a job in Lausuanne beginning in August. We have a 6 year old and none of us speak french. Are there any public schools in Lausuanne that teach in english? If not, what private schools would be recommended.
A 6 year old will learn French very quickly; just send him to a public school. There are no state schools which teach in English because the official language of the Canton of Vaud is French. They have special classes to integrate kids and he'll speak French in a year or so.
Thank you!
I saw you are from Boone!
NC native here - you will find switzerland not nearly as cold as Boone can be in the winter and warmer than a Boone summer. However the skiing, as you know, will beat Beech Mountain or Sugar.
Have fun -
Your 6 year old will do fine in the local school and will be speaking French by christmas. We are up in the German speaking part and my 11 year old was speaking german after 6 months, younger kids are much much quicker.
It is great to hear from a native NC! Thanks for your input! Molly
Hi -
We are also moving to / around Lausanne with a 6 yr old in the summer so I have had similar questions to yourself. We are looking at both public and private options. Some private (and either bi-lingual or English speaking schools):
La Cote
GEMS
International school of Lausanne
Ecolint de Geneve
College du Leman
International Cottage
Other schools we are looking at are either French or Suisse.
Good Luck!
Bear in mind that children don't start primary school in Switzerland until the year in which they turn 7, at the earliest -- i.e. most kids are 6 or 7 when they start school in August. Prior to that they will have had two (rarely, one) years of kindergarten, which has almost no "educational" component (as you would know it -- although it does teach valuable skills in concentrating, working in groups, and other preparatory skills for school).
So your children seeking school places will start in the first year of primary school, and are very well placed to learn French (or whichever language they're taught in) very rapidly. As others have said, your kids will be conversing in French by Christmas if they attend public school, and completely fluent within 1-2 years. Bi-/multilingualism is an unbelievably valuable attribute, and they'll get it FREE, gratuit and for nichts here in Switzerland. Honestly, at that age and unless you're certain you'll be here for only a short period, I'd put them into public school (the location of which will be determined by your local school board, but it will in most cases be within walking distance of your home -- and yes, kids do walk to school here, from the age of 4).
some useful information on schooling in Lausanne: http://lausanne.ch/en/thematiques/sc...arrivants.html
and here:
http://lausanne.ch/en/thematiques/sc...arrivants.html
Thank you for the info! Molly
We are looking into International Cottage and International school of Lausuanne too! Maybe we will end up at the same school .
Good luck on your search as well. I will private message you if I learn anything that I think would be helpful. Molly
Hello Mollyr,
I am happy to read that there are other families moving to Lausanne. We will be moving as well this summer end of July/August and we plan to register our our twin boys 7.5 y.o. into a Public School, although they do not speak French yet. We are also trying to understand which neighbourhoods are family friendly and close to good Public School. We are coming from Canada so the quality of schools are determined by the neighbourhoods. It would be great if we could connect once we are in Lausanne and create an English speaking moms group Thank you!
Not true, here it's 6, and they start in September.
(my elder daughter started at 5, as she was born in November, and the cut-off is 31 December here)
Tom
Hello Mazza,
I am happy to see that there are other families looking for Public schools in Lausanne. We will be moving as well this summer end of July/August and we plan to register our our twin boys 7.5 y.o. into a Public School, although they do not speak French yet. our boys are currently in Grade 2 and I hope they can be paced into Grade 3 when we come. We would prefer the public school since we want them to integrate into the community faster and learn french. We are also trying to understand which neighbourhoods are family friendly and close to good Public School. We are coming from Canada so the quality of schools are determined by the neighbourhoods. I have tried to look at School boards to understand which area they belong too, but have not been too successful Mazza, if you find other information on Public Schools, could you please send me an e-mail. I would really appreciate it. It would be also great if we could connect once we are in Lausanne and create an English speaking moms group Thank you!
I was talking about school in Switzerland.
As was I.
Tom
School has been mandatory here in Canton Vaud from age 4 for a year or more due to HARMOs. Canton Vaud implemented HARMOs last year, and other cantons are also implementing HARMOs now and in near future. Soon it will the norm everywhere in CH for those Cantons (most) adhering to HARMOs. Also, per this initiative, the cut off date is being harmonsed to age 4 by 30 June.
No child starts primary school at four years of age. Read my post carefully, and you'll see that I referred clearly to primary school. Kindergarten (from age 4) is not primary school.
Under HARMOs there is no distinction anymore on kindergarten vs. primary school. All children must be in HARMOs level 1 school at age 4. It is referred to as obligatory schooling. While of course there is play and socialisazation at that age for obvious reasons, they are introducing more educational aspects to this level, at least around here. The romand cantons have developed their plan of study (plan d'etudes) for the respective HarmoS levels, and for level 1 and 2, things like counting numbers, simple addition, identification of written words, learning to write, and basic introduction of geograpy and history are included for example. It is quite different from the historical 'play only' curricula of previous swiss kindergartens, which still exist in the german speaking cantons, but are nearly a thing of the past as Harmos gets implemented in swiss romande.
Source, please? The EDK's own website (in German, also in French, probably Italian too) clearly shows that Kindergarten and school are still separate, with different focuses: e.g. "Die von den Kindern bis Ende des 4. Schuljahres (nach zwei Jahren obligatorischem Kindergarten und 2 Schuljahren) in vier Fächern zu erreichenden Grundkompetenzen werden über die nationalen Bildungsziele (Bildungsstandards) festgelegt" (note reference to two years of obligatory Kindergarten and two school years).
I know there's a graphic somewhere that shows the full school "career" broken into Kindergarten, primary and (all the various) secondary years, but can't find it right now.
Of course, none of this changes the point that I would send my 6-year-old to public school in Lausanne, even with no French background, to answer the OP's question ...
Canton Vaud website, which shows the first two years are now part of the primary schooling http://www.vd.ch/autorites/departeme...t-sous-harmos/
Geneve website, which shows the first year, level 1 of harmoS is part of the elementary schooling.