There are options for learning English outside of school which would compliment the local school offerings.
At the local school he will learn Swiss-German and Swiss-High German and Swinglish. You can always change, as we did for one of ours, if the local system does not go well. The other way round is much more difficult. What does he think?
Not sure where you are based but our school has English from 2. Class. In addition, any kids that are native English speakers are coached for the Cambridge exams (see my comment about the crap British teacher earlier in the thread - but I’m sure they’re not all like that). Might be worth just checking this out with your local schools.
ETA - I heard that if British kids educated abroad want to go to a UK uni they have to have a Cambridge English cert for at least some UK unis.
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Do you not speak English at home?
I doubt he’ll become fluent in German at international school and certainly won’t pick up Swiss German which I think is really important for later.
I think most uk universities require overseas students who did their schooling outside the uk to have a Cambridge English certificate irrespective of nationality.
It’s usually first certificate or higher.
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I never paid for anything in KiGa or Primary school. My kid had a class trip this week including mountain lift, toboggan and other paid activities. We haven’t pay anything. They have a budget for a number of trips per year paid by the school. And of course I never paid for the learning material (books etc).
Skicamps and Ferienlager are something different. I’m talking about mandatory camps during school time.
Gymi are not obligatory schools, that’s why you have to pay.
In Gymi in the beginning of the year you start receiving bills for the textbooks from each teacher. And on the 3rd year you should buy your kid an expensive laptop with touch screen or less expensive laptop + tablet. But at least there are fewer bills for the learning materials on paper.
I know of children who went to gymi from normal public school, who don’t speak English, nor German (or Swiss German) at home but are very accomplished in English and one I know reads all her books in English.
Some lessons at Gymi are also conducted in English.
If you speak English at home, you probably don’t need to worry about that too much. You also might find that the International school students, and teachers don’t have English as their first language.
English lessons in school are totally overrated. Our kids learned very good English almost on their own. One of the few benefits of hanging online and in video games a lot.
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I hoped, that they used some modern approach to teach kids the language, but no. Same boring “pen, pencil, ruler, pencil case” words in the beginning.
Overrated by who? I haven’t met anyone, who expected their kid to learn English or French on the high level at school.
Phil 
Well if he is primarily going to get his education and possibly occupational training in Switzerland, then a very good command of the local language is priority.
And furthermore both my kids hand English classes in the local schools, follow by take the Cambridge exams at C2 all included in the normal school day.
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The school is bilingual meaning that half the classes are taught in English and the other half in German. The idea is then to build fluency in both languages.
For me, the language issues are not that critical. As others have said, the most important difference between local and international will be social. If he has gone to local kindergarten, there will be a big change on going to international school and he will probably lose contact with his present friends and local kids. However you will know your local situation, maybe this is a big deal or maybe not. For us it was a huge plus that the kids walked or biked to the local primary school without parents.
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Yes, the social aspect is one thing.
As for the walk, he currently walks on his own to KG while I take the younger to school on bike.
Unfortunately, the public school he’s been allocated to is a bit furhter away and crosses two busy roads, so I’m not sure I feel comfortable with him making that on his own.
This could be my older one. (although she does read in German and French too, the only language in which she doesn’t read more than a short text is her native one 
)
They ask them to read various French writers in original for the French classes too; and my daughter’s greatest advantage was the the fact that she had a private tutor between the 3rd and the 6th grade. Nothing intensive, just one hour per week. She learned English at school and on her own, from us, from our friends etc. She’ll probably study maths or engineering in uni, but she could go towards philology too. From my POV the Swiss education system is excellent, if you go through specific steps.
@Phill, private or public - they’re both OK, choose whatever fits your family and finances. It’s basically like choosing from different types of apples. (I can’t find a better analogy right now)
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In the excellent education system kids don’t need private tutors.
In Switzerland demand for private tutors has little to do with deficiencies in the system and much more to do with fashion. I coached a variety of students over the years, very few of them actually needed it.
Even the bestestest public system can’t keep up with expats’ exotic demands.
Oh come on, there are tons of gymi/uni students offering ‘nachhilfe’ to primary or secondary kids and they aren’t exclusively foreigners. Same goes for gymi prep courses and help in Maths and languages. If you think it’s only expat kids going the extra mile you clearly haven’t had any recent experience with schools.