Schools in Ticino

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hi all! My Italian partner has secured a job in Lugano so we will be moving from Belgium with our son who is 3 years old. I wanted to get some recommendations for schools for his age in this area? We would be looking at putting him in a local school as the move is viewed to be longterm. I have read that the children usually come home at lunchtime and no food is provided at school, is this the norm? Any tips or further information/experiences would be warmly welcomed.

2
Some schools provide lunch (mainly Lugano), others not (where we live outside Lugano).

Your child will go to the local school, you can only choose the school by moving to the area.

At three, he can start kindergarten. It' used to be obligatory at three, now it is optional until four.

Tom

3
Thank you for the info!

4
Need more, let me know.

My kids did it, also entering at age three as English speakers, both are now native Italian speakers (elder daughter emigrated to AUS with hubby and still speaks Italian at home, younger daughter went to US for 4 1/2 years and still speaks Italian as mother tongue)

When I moved to Lugano in '90, I got by on French (English back then was NOT an option)

Tom

5
Hi Tom, that is lovely! My little one currently speaks English and French because he's at the local French school, Italian with his dad but his default language is always English.

I speak English and French, I can understand Italian and get by but I would need to work to get to fluency.

With the schools are you limited to a certain geographical radius? So as you say once we move and know where we are living, we just have to contact the nearest local school and get him enrolled there? I wondered if there are certain areas where the schools are better or if they are all the same standard as that could influence where we decide to move to.

6
Once you are registered, they will contact you, no need to enroll.

Tom

7
Wow that's very efficient. Ok great I'll tick that off my list. Thank you.

8
Unless you choose a private school. Then you have several choices. Where I live the local school is a bit a crap so my kid goes to a private school in Lugano.

9
Maybe you could give the OP some tips on where not to live so that her son doesn't end up in a "crap" local school.

We live in a village outside of Lugano and the young kids are picked up by school bus to go to the school in the next village. This is not that common in Switzerland.

There is a facebook group for English speakers in/near Lugano. You might want to have a look there for more specific info.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/expatlugano/about/

10
Thank you this was really helpful. Ideally I'd like to be near enough to school to drop him off myself.

11
Did you find out it wasn't good after your child started there? This is what I was getting at, I wondered if there are certain areas where the schools are better or if they are all the same standard as that could influence where we decide to move to.

12
I didn’t want my kid growing up with a regional accent. . So send them to an Italian school.

Sorry I don’t want to disclose too much on a public forum.

Everyone has different opinions on schools anyway. And I can’t say I’m exactly over the moon about the current school anyway.

13
I would move to Lugano if I was you and then move again after you know the region better if you want to be outside.

14
Consider that locals don't choose where to live based on schools, some middle schools (11-15) may have worse reputation because of a perceived higher number of problematic pupils, but impact on quality is not demonstrated and kids with a good home environment should not be particularly affected, just watch out for bullying. For kindergarten and elementary school, I've never heard of the concept of one school being better than another one.

Standards and resources should be the same everywhere AFAIK.