Please help me understand Swiss schooling system!! :)

Ok. So after reading over a bit about Swiss education I naturally have some questions

So I understand now that after Primary school there are all sorts of options for Secondary school, and not all directly lead to University.

We are planning on moving to Switzerland this year. Our child will be 5 by this winter.

We will enroll her in a French Speaking Private school or possibly French Speaking International School (so she learns the local language). She will probably be in Swiss state school while we find an opening at one of the above.

What I am wondering is, how can we make sure that the education of the school she will be enrolled in has a curriculum that is both Swiss and or internationally recognized?

If it is not internationally recognized, and just Swiss, will that be a problem if we move back to the US or to the UK? How have any of you dealt with this? What kinds of things would have to be done to bridge whatever gap there is?

Lastly, what kinds of tests should I be making sure she is taking to prepare her for pre-high school or High school?

The school I am looking at says that she would take the regular Canton exams at the end of her Primary school along with the rest of the children in the Canton. Does this sound like she would be prepared to either go on into Swiss pre High school or High school (public or private) if she passes?

Anything else I need to know to make sure she will be able to go onto high school and then University in either Switzerland or UK/US?

Go on then, I'll pitch in and help since I'm on the same time zone.

Which canton - the education systems differ, as they're not federal. That said, Harmos is supposed to pulling them closer together. As you've surmised, Harmos is an ongoing project to take the mishmash of cantonal education systems, with their different content, age at which they start, cut-off birthday date at which they start, age at which they stream, do they do one or two secondary streams, etc etc etc, and to align them so that people moving 20 miles up the road don't find that their child is utterly at sea in the new school, in a completely different grade and having no idea how to conjugate the conditional or multiply fractions when the rest of the class did that two grades ago.

At almost 5, she'll go into the first year of enfantine (KG), which may or may not be compulsory depending on your canton. She will probably do 4 mornings and 1-2 afternoons a week, with Wednesdays completely off and home for lunch for at least 2 hours each day.

I'm not sure there IS a French-speaking International school in the French-speaking part of Switzerland..? If you want her to learn the language, the local school will be just fine, or private school if you prefer, perhaps for the increased hours or wraparound childcare. Be aware that the local view of private schools in Switzerland is that they're for children who aren't coping academically or socially in the local system, although of course there may be valid childcare reasons for choosing one.

As for the rest of it... she's 4. Chill. There's REALLY no point fretting about what she'll do in over a decade's time, as you don't seem sure where you'll be living then!

If it helps, I've just moved my English kids from 3.5 years in the local Swiss system to the US, at ages 8 and 12. They are just fine; my 12 year old's just finished 6th grade with As and Bs despite not having written a word in English since he was 8, and my 8 yr old is making rapid strides in reading and writing in English despite being barely unable to sound out c-a-t when we arrived 6 months ago (she was about a year behind the others then but is now perhaps 3 months behind according to her teacher, a difference that'll vanish by Christmas).

I know that the US is all about the grades and the transcripts, but it was really no bother turning up with my kids with no academic records and no education in English for the last few years. The school just shrugged, put them in their chronological year groups, and figured it out from there; I think my daughter's been getting a bit of extra one-on-one reading support, but otherwise they've just slotted in.

The only gap bridging I did was to try and teach my daughter the basics of reading in English, and making sure my son knew about things he hadn't even started in Math in Switzerland but were key in the US, like fractions.

If you stay in Switzerland, you'll have no problems at all. A 4 yr old will be utterly fluent long before she needs to be streamed for secondary education, so she'll either be bright enough to be considered for the university stream, or she won't; you can worry about and research extra support if necessary once she's around 9 or 10.

She won't be streamed based just on exam results, by the way. Again, it's canton specific, but the norm is some combination of her GPA in key subjects like French, German and Math, along with her overall classroom behaviours in things like independent working, self-discipline, etc. If you want, though, you'll probably find examples of the cantonal test past papers online; Vaud definitely has these. That'll show you the sort of expected level.

Have a look at haut-lac in vevey ( they also have a campus in St.Legier) it is one of the few bilingual international schools ... Www.haut-lac.ch

It is a cis accredited and an IB school.

Margaret Oertig, who wrote Beyond Chocolate , has a new book out on the Swiss local schools called Going Local . The publisher is Bergli and I got a copy at Payot in Lausanne. She covers the Swiss local schools in general but also with a lot of information on the cantonal variations.

It is good for you to think about curriculum and what degree it will lead too, as it is often an overlooked issue and some parents find themselves stuck, too late to change direction. Choosing the curriculum will often depend on where you want to be longterm, or where your child will be around the age of 18. While some aspects of schooling in the early years is interchagable, at the higher levels it often is not. Some international schools offer different streams, so you get to choose which way to go at the appropriate time. Having a look at the private or international schools will give you an idea.

There is the swiss maturity, which swiss private schools gear to, and some other private/international schools. Then there is the French system, the British system, the American system, and finally the IB. Search a bit around the forum and the web to learn about the differences. Some universities recognise the IB, while I understand others do not or do not give it high regards. If wanting to study british A-levels this will likely be difficult here, but not impossible.

The IB is well recognised in top USA and UK universities. I personally know ex students who, having completed the IB programme, have gone on to Ovford, Cambridge, Yale and Harvard for example.

Agreed, RunningDeer, but for a child as young as the OP's, it may be difficult to predict where the family will be living 10 years later, or where the child may want to attend university. I think the best plan is to make the decision for a young child based on short term considerations and then pay attention to the points when it gets harder to change your mind, and re-evaluate your decision ahead of them.

For example, the IB diploma (which is very widely recognized though some universities require a specific minimum score) is a two-year program and a student could theoretically transfer into an international school just in time to start it, although that assumes strong English skills. Starting an international school in year 9 would give a student two years to hone academic English skills before starting that program.

Alternatively, as has been discussed many times in various threads, it is best for students who are not fluent in the language of instruction to enter the Swiss local system in time to adjust and prepare for the secondary streaming decisions that take place in year 6 (depending on canton).

International school with education in Switzerland:

http://www.ibo.org/school/search/ind...d_schools=Find

I guess one has to clic one's way onto each school's website to find out where the program is taught in French. I am pretty sure that there is one campus in Geneva with French as teaching language. Things can change so I don't dare to be definite. Good luck looking it up!

There a book about this that I saw t'other day:

http://www.bergli.ch/100/con_liste.a...StartPageNext=

Going Local - your guide to Swiss schooling

There is also a combi program offered at some of the public schools: Swiss Matura+ IB. Not sure how well it works, but at least in theory it provides lots of flexibility for university admission anywhere in the world.

In general, if the employer is not footing the bill, tuition at an international school is such an extreme financial burden for most families that I am surprised anyone would choose this path if they didn't have to. We just finished paying for 2 teenage kids (60k per year), and it required sacrifices and discipline. For a fraction of the cost of the tuition we can travel, pay for any programs the kids want, etc.