School questions about Zumikon

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hi,

We live at the moment near Bern, but are planning to move to Kanton Zürich during the summer of 2019. We are considering Zollikon and Zumikon, and have seen nice apartments in both of them. The one we really like is in Zumikon. However, I have a couple of concerns:

Question #1:

Searching around I found some concerning news items about the schools in Zumikon, regarding problems between parents and the school in past years about bullying and related to the "mixed age groups" plan (ADL), which has in the meantime been cancelled. Here are some of the items I found, for reference:

https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/schweiz...story/14923830

https://www.nzz.ch/streit-um-altersd...ueck-ld.112587

https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/altersdur...ann-ld.1437813

Since one of my kids will be going to primary school (6th class), I am concerned about moving into an unfriendly environment.

Question #2:

My other kid will go to Secondary school, which, as I understand, is served from the Sekundarschule in Zollikon. Here my question is about how practical/easy is it for the kids to get to school. So far my kids walk to school, but in Zumikon they would need to take a train and a bus to get to school.

Does anyone have direct experience with the primary school in Zumikon, the secondary school in Zollikon, and with some of these issues? Am I right in being worried about this?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

2
I have been involved in parent-teacher meetings in Zumikon primary and my impression was not so much that the school had any particular problems but that there is massive pressure from academic parents to get their kids into Gimmi (lycée), as the article is saying. Around Zumikon and Zollikerberg, many parents do not regard Sek A (Secondaire) as acceptable outcome for their children and not least thanks to private tuition, Gymnasium entrance rates are nearly double compared to other parts of Zürich. On the upside, your children will be joining a school where parents are very vocal!

3
Q1:

I recall the mixed classes program was cancelled not because of bad results, but because some parents couldn't get their heads around it. Basically any discussions about school you see in the golden coast is related to 1st world problems.

Q2.

The bus company is very accommodating with the secondary school, they run extra buses that have good connections with the train so that children can be on time for their classes, and also back home.

Also, it's not only they children from Zumikon but also those from Zollikerberg that have to go by bus to school.

In general I think it's positive that both communities share the funding of a single school, because it allows them access to optimise resources.