Public schooling in Geneva

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
After having checked a very helpful link above, I still have a couple of personal questions which I would like to raise here.

My children are aged 13 and 9 years old. My oldest boy did:

- his first year of education in Germany (German primary school),

- his second year in England (a Church of England Primary School),

- his third year again in Germany (German primary school),

- his next three years of education (4th-6th grades) in Ireland (National School),

- and is successfully doing his 7th grade at a German Gymnase now.

He got the highest marks in Ireland and has only good and very good marks for almost all of the subjects at the best Gymnase of our city here in Germany.

Both of the boys speak fluently three languages, however, they do not speak any French yet. Whereas I do not see a problem with the youngest child, who is in the 3rd grade now, as he will still have three years ahead to learn French in a public primary school of Geneva. I am a bit concerned about my first child, who will switch from the German 7th grade to the Genevoise 7th grade in the middle of the year (apparently in March). He has been studying French for 1 year and 3 months now, however, he only understands the basics.

Would you mind to help me with my following questions?

- In Ireland: the Primary School starts when the kids are 7 years of age and goes until the end of the 6th grade. The 7th grade would be the first year in an Irish college (or Gymnase in Germany). Is this the same in public gymnase's of Geneva?

- Will my son have to take exams, if he switched from the 7th grade of a German gymnase to be admitted into a public gymase genevoise?

- Are there any additional language courses in public gymnase's of Geneva, that would allow my son to further develop his French skills?

- Will my son have a probation period in his 7th grade, or do they take into account the fact, that he firstly needs to develop his language, before his results can be shown?

The problem that we face here is not his intelligence, but the language - which is of a temporary nature. He visited 2 very good gymase's in Germany and both told us that he is definitely a perfect fit for a gymnase. Moreover, he easily coped with English and Irish curriculum in two other countries (England and Ireland) although he did not speak any English before.

I would highly appreciate your support in this for me important matter.

If you know any good public gymase's in Geneva, please, let me know about them, too. We will have to look for properties to rent in the region where they are based.

2
I rarely recommend anyone put their children in private school. But with your son already having done school in English and German and at 13, it could well be too much for him as things are getting tougher academically for him already.

There is a German school in Geneva that you might consider. TBH, I don't know anything about it. I only know it exists as I once met a German lady who teaches there. But maybe it's something you could look into.

They teach classes in German but also having classes for "learning" French and English.

http://www.dsgenf.ch/fr/schule/

3
Hello and thank you for your support! The problem that I see here is, that we probably will not be able to afford a private school. The fees are over 11k per year, which would mean around 1k per month. Besides that, how will he be able to go to a University in Geneva later, if he gets his education in German...

Besides, are there any other English or German private schools in Geneva that charge less?

4
With the help of the very helpful link placed at the beginning of the forum, I was able to identify the following stages:

Primary school education: 6 years

Lower secondary education: 3 years

Upper secondary education: 3-4 years

Tertiary education: ..... (university / university of applied science, etc.)

Since my son is in the 7th grade, he would be in the first year (our of three) of the lower secondary education.

My question would be: what public schools in Geneva do offer lower secondary education? Does a college, or a gymnase/lyceé offer lower secondary education places, or do they first start with upper secondary education? If so, what school would I have to send my son to?

It would be also good to get to know , whether there is a ranking, or at least good reputation schools in Geneva..

Thanks again for your support!

5
Except Ticino, where are 5 and 4, respectively.

Tom

6
- schools that offer lower secondary education are called "cycle d'orientation" or CO. here is a link (didn't find the english version) describing what a CO is (look at botom brochure d'informations) for canton Geneva: http://www.ge.ch/cycle_orientation/ . Usually, schools with the official designation as "cycle d'orientation" are public.

- in canton Geneva, the gymnase is called "collège" or lycée and starts with upper secondary education . To my knowledge, there is no ranking of gymnases/lycées/collèges here. The ones that send the highest number of students to university are not necessarily the best.

- note that with a matura/maturité/baccalauréat from a public gymnase/collège/lycée students may study at any university in Switzerland, provided they fullfill the requirements, so your son won't have to study at Geneva university.

7
It's also worth noting that although in theory at CO level and again after 15 when a pupil either starts an apprenticeships, passes the required exams to get into a collège or Culture Générale (which are similar to sixth-form colleges and aim to prepare pupils towards some apprenticeships,office work, IT and medico-social work) they're normally supposed to go to the nearest one to their home..... but in practice this isn't always the case due to lack of space, so the youngster might have to travel across town to wherever there is room.

That isn't as scary as it sounds by the way, the public transport system is very well organised and (despite what others on the forum will claim) Geneva is a safe city to grow up in!

Bit more info on the whole education system here; http://www.ge.ch/themes/themes_ecoles.asp#T02

in french I'm afraid.

8
Thank you for this information.

I am sorry my French is not very good, and I checked the following leaflet that I found under the suggested link:

http://www.ge.ch/co/doc/brochure_co.pdf

On the page 38 "Les adresses des collèges" can be found. Does this mean that the appropriate school for my son (7th international grade / lower secondary level) would be a collège?

9
- To me they use here "collèges" for "cycle d'orientation", in any case it's not the lycée/gymnase. So yes, your son could well be in one of those.

I'd recommand that you contact the direction de l'instruction publique and if you can, go to meet them and explain your situation.

10
Thank you. I am not in Switzerland at the moment.. Is there a possibility to contact an English- or German speaking person at the suggested office? There seems to be no information in English for schooling in Geneva...

11
He's 13? Then no, until he's 15/16 he'd be at a Cycle d'Orientation. Some of the pupils are slightly older than 15 as there's a possibility that children have repeated previous years.

That's the end of the compulsory schooling here, after that they go onto apprenticeships, college or Culture Generale..... or generally slobbing about scrounging off their parents.

Getting into a college isn't a forgone conclusion, it will depend on their year's average marks and passing an exam in some cases. Same for most apprenticeships, there's an exam and the need to find an apprenticeship 'master'. Apprenticeships are eagerly sort-after here, there's no shame in doing one (as in, your. Hold isn't considered a bit thick because they've not gone to university), and there's fierce competition for some of the more popular ones.... even shop assistants do them, very unlike the english view of such things!

I think you need to discuss your concerns with the HR department in whichever company you/your OH is going to, the state school system isn't that easy to explain and with no french at all your older son (at the very least) might need some help.

12
Hi and thank you for your support. So you are saying that a collège it is definitely not?! If so, could you name me a couple of Cycle D'Orientation schools which I might consider for my son?

13
Why would there be?

Tom

14
I understand that this is the French-speaking part of Switzerland, but for some countries you can find the required information in English or other languages a). created from expats, or b). from the state (like you would find it in Germany).

15
English is not a Swiss language.

Even should you find English info, it is invariably described as informational and not legally valid.

Tom

16
The list of Cycle d'orientation centres can be found here

There's not a lot to consider: the state will assign you one depending on your address (but not necessarily the one closest to your home!).

17
Tom's right about information in english, Switzerland is already obliged by its own laws to provide pretty much everything in four languages (french, german, italian and romancsh), why would they bother with a fifth?

You can find stuff if you hunt on the interweb enough, and telephoning the institutions themselves will often turn up someone who's prepared to speak to you in english... but it won't be official and it's their personal interpretation of what's written down.

Try using the search function here (top right of the page) and add key words rather than phrases.... so 'Geneva, school, cycle' or 'public school, Geneva, age', as I'm sure this topic has been discussed on the forum before.

Anyway, I've found this;

http://www.expatarrivals.com/switzer...ools-in-geneva

which explains the basics in english.

And this;

http://www.ge.ch/co/etablissements/

which is a map showing where all the COs are, but remember that which one your son attends will depend very much on where you've managed to find somewhere to live (your next battle) and which one has a place for him.... the state ultimately decided, you don't.

Seriously, speak to the HR department at work!

18
FI; Collège in Geneva is the next educational step up from the Cycle d'Orientation, so equivalent to what you're refering to as a lycée or gymnase.

19
He can go to Uni in the German speaking part of Switzerland, or in Germany, or Austria, or the UK or Ireland. I don't think Uni is the problem.

20
This is really great! Thank you for your links, this is exactly what I was looking for!

Does anyone have experience with Cycle d'orientation schools? In Germany the children have a primary school = 4 years + a lycée/gymnase = 8 years which means that my son is already visiting a gymnase (7 grade).

Will a cycle d'orientation be academically a step down for him, or are they at an equal level? What I mean is: I understand that a gymnase is only starting with the grade 10 in Geneva, but how is the quality of a cycle d'orientation school - can it be compared to a German or French gymnase at that level (since you do earlier to gymanse's in those countries)?