thanks
Can someone please help me to find out what public schools there are in vaud? there doesnt seem to be any websites! just phone numbers.. I need to rent a house near a school which has some decent attendance hours as I need to work! hubby will be 40 mins away so we need childcare or decent (dare I say normal?) school times and it seems on this forum that each school sets different times? I have a 9 year old (year 4 english) and an 11 year old (secondary 1 just started) .. does anyone know if the older child needs to go back to primary for these conversion classes? please help! much appreciate any advice at all!
Hi weegie
Nightmare trying to research this, isn't it! Short answer - there isn't a website, or Ofsted reports, or league tables or anything like that.
This may be a good starting point; it's a map showing the locations of all/ most/ many schools (not sure if it's all of them, certainly the ones in the towns around me are all there).
Select 'Public Buildings' down the left side, then tick 'schools'.
As far as timetables, I think Vaud has block time, which means each child would be doing roughly the same hours. My son (8 yr old, would have gone into Yr 4 UK this year and has just gone into 3rd grade here) has set hours each day: 8.30am-11.30 or 12, depending on his intensive French class, then 2pm-3.30pm. Wed afternoons, there's no school. My 4 yr old has the same time slots, but only does 4 mornings and 2 afternoons.
Not all schools have lunch club facilities, and where they do exist there will almost certainly be a waiting list. Priority is given to single and working parents. For example, my son's school, which takes kids from 4-15 and must have at least 600 kids, has a lunch club with places for 35 kids. Applications could be sent in from 1 May for this year and they obviously filled all places really quickly because I heard on the playground this morning that So-and-so, a single, working parent, is now tearing her hair out because she can't get a place and starts a new job in Sept. Sorry, I know this isn't very positive news, but it's how it is along the Lake Riviera.
Depending on the sort of housing you're looking for, and where you're looking, it may be difficult to try and choose a school, then find a house to match. I guess you've looked on some of the property websites ( www.immostreet.ch , etc) so you'll have an idea of what's around (almost nothing) for your budget (hopefully high!). You've probably discovered by now that there's no school selection here, the kids just go to the one in the district where they live. This is a plus in a way, as yours will be old enough to walk alone so no school runs!
I'm afraid I don't know what they'd do with your eldest. A new American family in our village has a 10 yr old who would normally be going into 5th grade (which is the first yr of secondary), but she's gone into 4th grade, as the school advised her parents that the combination of the jump in workload AND French would be a lot for her. Yours is a year older, though, so it would be quite a backward jump. It very much depends on the provision of 'welcome classes' where you'd be living. Wherever it is, though, there will be SOME provision, whether it's a separate class or an in-school intensive French group (my son has this; he's in the normal grade for his age and has intensive French one-on-one or in a tiny group 3 times a week, all done at the same school).
Do check on school places before agreeing to housing - just because there's a school in the village/ town, it doesn't mean there are places. They seem to be very strict on class numbers here and like to cap out at 24 kids, so any overflow will be bussed to a neighbouring town. It's unusual, but it does happen.
Hope this hasn't painted too grey a picture. On the plus side, my son's really happy at school despite not speaking French yet, his teachers last year and this year have been very welcoming with none of that 'oh, it'll be such a bother' attitude, he's having excellent language tuition free of charge, and the academic standard in comparable things like maths is a lot higher than I was expecting, given that he started 'proper' school in the UK at age 4 whereas here it's 6. They must really knock on academically in those early years!
Whereabouts are you looking to work/ live/ school?
kodokan
Oh THANKYOU!
Actually I am desperate.. I have divorced and to be allowed to leave the country with the kids I have to provide information on where they will be at school, where we will live etc.. 5 hours spent today searching and phoning people and I have found nearly nothing.. it seems many people ring up all the time so its not possible to see the school before you have an address.. chicken and egg situation or what! I really appreciate all your help.. so much..
am coming out on 16th for a job interview and seeing a school in nyon on 17th.. apparently there are many foreign kids in the 9 schools around rolle and the lady whilst very helpful spoke very fast french so I got some of it.. seems very friendly..
No problem, I've only been here since March so am new enough to remember what an anxious stage it was trying to work out what was best for the kids.
Yes, that's normal - we followed what seems to be the normal process of 'narrow down a list of housing-choose one-have a quick squint at the school before signing the lease'. It's really the best you can do; housing is very limited in the whole Nyon-Morges area (exactly where we were looking) and what there is goes quickly. If possible, get relocation assistance included in your moving package, as they'll do all the leg work with finding properties, making appointments and doing the paperwork.
We found this house in Préverenges, then asked to pop round and look at the school before finally deciding. The school was happy for us to do so, but slightly bemused as to why we'd asked and what we wanted to see - it's not at all the norm here, where people have to go to the local school anyway!
We've been lucky, the school's been marvellous. I've also heard good things about the schools in St Sulpice and St Prex (all primary schools). Don't know about secondary or schools in Rolle or Nyon, I'm afraid, but they're both 'Expat Central' towns, so I would expect all the schools are completely geared up to incoming foreigners.
It's quite difficult to make judgements based on a brief school visit anyway, as the teachers seem to have more personal responsibility here than in the UK. It's unlikely that you'd get to meet the actual teacher your kids would have, which of course can make all the difference to their initial experiences. Allocation is down to good luck, although statistically you should be fine as we've only had good ones. My son's teacher last year would do every lesson in French and then precis it into English for him, explain the work and so on. His teacher this year also speaks good English, but I've asked her to cut back on that in a couple of weeks once he's settled, as he'll always take the path of least resistance and not bother trying!
My daughter has two job-share teachers, both English-speaking (one v good, the other has enough for the basics). They have completely welcomed her into the class, translate the stories being read and so on. At no point have I felt like I'm being a 'bother' with my English-speaking kids.
I've found everyone extremely friendly and helpful - English has a definite prestige value here, and when combined with efforts to speak French is very well received. My little one started enfantine yesterday (kindergarten) and I was practically mugged by 3 lots of parents who heard me speaking to her in English and was keen to get to know us for the benefit of English contact for them and their kids. Fortunately there were enough other parents around for me to work on my French! (I'm at that 'can communicate, but get a lot of the verb tenses wrong' stage.)
Anyway, hope this is a little more positive for you. Yes, housing is hard to track down and expensive, but once you've secured somewhere, there's every chance that whatever school you end up with anywhere in that area will be just fine.
Good luck for your interview.
kodokan
Wow.. you must be online today! I am so grateful.. Its just proving impossible to get the information online.. and I need to prove in court it's a nice place to be!
Anyway .. we will probably do exactly as you did.. narrow down the area and move.. is it really difficult to find housing? I am planning to work full time asap after mving.. in fact I wont probably come out if I dont find something.. spoke to the education lady in nyon and in rolle today and she said kids of 9 and 11 go to "cantine" for lunch and dont need to come home so I could work.. niki
Hi
if you look at http://www.web-vd.ch/vd_dgeo/etablissements/
click on area ,then on school,.there is a link to a map at the bottom of the page showing the position of the school. good luck
Thanks for the link. I really need school information though not locations.. locations is a helpful start. .doesnt anyone have kids at public school on this forum? (she says in a desperate about to break into tears way).. I have to provide a school "brochure" or information to the court..
please anyone reading this please send me any info or links to school sites.. or at least confirm there is absolutely nothing.. which is bizarre given Switzerland's advanced in everything else..
Ahhh, right. It's the lack of federal control that's the issue, I think - each canton sets its own education system and standard, each school within that has a lot of freedom, and each teacher seems to liberally interpret what's required!
Here's the best I can come up with as official stuff for courts:
http://www.vd.ch/fr/themes/formation...e-obligatoire/
It's the equivalent to the National Curriculum for Vaud. All in French, naturally, but the links down the side outline in painfully precise detail exactly what is studied at each level, what the goals are, what's needed to progress to the next level, how they deal with French as a second language for incomers, etc.
Are you up to speed with the school structure? Roughly, CIN is from 4-6 (would be Yrs Reception and 1 in UK), CYP 1 is 6-8 (UK Yrs 2 and 3), CYP 2 is 8-10 (UK Yrs 4-5). Then there's a transition cycle, CYT, which is a halfway house between primary and secondary, from ages 10-12 (UK Yrs 6 and 7). During this two yr period, the child is evaluated and their grades then determine where they go for 'proper' secondary for the next 3 years, which can one of 3 paths: Options, General, or Baccalaureat.
Not sure what happens after that, as it's still a long way off for my kids - I'm quite pleased I've managed to work it out as far ahead as above! The cut-off date for each year group is the 30th June, ie, my son, who was 8 in Feb, has just gone back to school in CYP 2, as he was 8 before 30th June. If he had a birthday in July, he would still be in CYP 1, in the second yr of that 2 yr cycle. (Hope this makes sense.)
And if it's any help, the main secondary in Morges has the following website:
http://php.educanet2.ch/beausobre/index.php
This school definitely does the Bac stream above (like grammar school, academic in a 'classics' sort of way); not sure if it also does the other two ability streams.
Does this help at all? Shout again if not!
kodokan
Remind me to buy you a drink (or several) when I arrive or cook dinner? I am coming out for my own job interview on 16th, and have managed to secure a visit to the secondary school in rolle.. I think! but no primary schools.. I so appreciate all your help and have no idea why you are up so late! I am pulling together all the day's research to take to my solicitor tomorrow..
oh thank you! (a sincere and very heartfelt thank you!)
Hubby's on a business trip - this forum, and one or two others I use, are a bit like an evening social life for me once the kids are in bed!
Really must go to sleep now though...
Good luck for your visit tomorrow, hope you have enough paperwork to be going on with.
kodokan
Just thought I would post this to here in case anyone else is desperate for info too.. then they will at least benefit from my hours of research and all the advice I got on here.. cagi helps international organisations employees and managed to help out with the following info - they are really great, have a good website and can help with geneva as well as vaud areas.. very helpful man on phone! Hope this helps someone else one day! :-)
Dear Niki,
Following our conversation of this morning, here are some links which could be useful regarding schooling in Canton de Vaud :
Department of youth formation and culture :
http://www.vd.ch/fr/organisation/dep...lture/contact/
Association of student's parents in Vaud :
List of schools in Vaud :
http://www.web-vd.ch/vd_dgeo/etablissements/
Unfortunatly none of these website is available in English, I therefore invite you to get in touch with them by email or phone.
I hope this can be useful !
Kind regards, and have a good day,
Sebastien Cappelletti
Assistant logement
Webmaster
Promotion touristique
Centre d'Accueil - Genève Internationale
Villa "La Pastorale"
Route de Ferney 106
Case postale 103
1211 Genève 20
(t) 022 546 14 00
(f) 022 546 14 19
This thread has been ever so helpful !!!! i have been looking for information for weeks. Thank you so much. I am moving to montreux in August 2012 with my partner and 11 year old son. We are looking for a public school that will help my son, who speaks very basic french. It is a big move, we have no jobs and no where to live at present. but i am sure we will be fine !!!!!
Well,...
you will not be able to get a rental contract without a job nor a residence permit.
Why not first sorting out the job business? Living in CH is horribly expensive anyway...
Shell, I just do not know how to say this, but it is just not as easy as all that. Will you have residence/work permits? You can't just walk into Switzerland and magic jobs up, and accommodation in the Montreux area is enormously expensive and very rare.
For you step-son, age 11 is about the worst possible time to come and join the public school system here, as it is the time of selection towards vocational or academic education. Without French and German as a second language (which is absolutely compulsory), he will automatically end up in vocational streams, even if he is very bright in sciences, maths, etc. Younger children do really fine in local schools, but for age 10 and upwards, it is a nightmare- hence the number of bilingual/international schools springing up to cater for them. Are you making sure your son is having intensive French lessons at the moment? Which country will you be coming from? The school system here is totally different to the UK, where students are taught on individual timetables with a huge selection of choices for GCSE's and a very reduced number of specialised subjects Post 16.
I take no joy in telling you this I can assure you. Bonne chance.
Coming to public schooling at 11 might not be so catastrophic if the child can outsource any language help possible.It still means good few years of catching up,a voccational professional orientation later on with probably longer way to uni,if desired,most probably 10th support grade to find fitting apprenticeship,repeating a grade or two,etc..but it can be a success story.
However,it wouldn't be schooling that would keep my mind busy if I was moving to a foreign country. I am missing something? No jobs?
ive looked into what you said, im really not worried at all. My partner is going first, will be sharing a room, whilst he finds work. I have an established cleaning business in england and will be re starting one there. My son will be having intensive french lesson, i myself am a school teacher. So really dont worry yourselves over it. I was just saying thanks for the info x x
this is what I call optimism...
I love your optimism, if it doesnt work out send me a private mail and maybe we work something out.
I just think if you really want something you will achieve it, that is how I have done things my whole life and it has worked so far. You should stop being so negative and judgemental, and try and help people on here, gva I've looked at your other posts and u seem to roll your eyes a lot!!!!
It's great that you are so positive. However, to be fair, you need to be aware that the Swiss system is very different to the UK one, both for schools, and for work. You need to be aware that to start a business you need a proper work permit, and the permission of your local K/Canton. You can't just come over and set up a business here.
And for schools, you need to be aware that the system is VERY different, and that age 11 is not an easy time to come over without a very good grasp of the language, both oral and in writing. I've taught in the UK for a very long time- and here there are HUGE differences. The main one at your son's age if that he will be taught as part of a whole class- the whole class is setted, NOT the individual. Not like in the UK where a child can be, say, in Set 1 for maths and science, but, say, Set 3 in French,, etc. In Switzerland he will be placed in a class where the general Level will be like a Set 1, or 2, or 3,etc- and this will be based on ALL his subjects - including French and German as a second language. NO choice- not like in the UK where you can choose subjects and drop others, where you can opt out of a foreign language, etc. So even if your child is brilliant at sciences and maths, say, he will still be placed in a low group if his French is not up to the level, and if his foreign language is non-existent or poor. You say your son 'will' be having intensive lessons - but I'd advise you to start now.
There is no lunch cantine or supervision, and usually a half day off on Wednesday.
Telling you on this is not a judgement or high-brow raising - it is only fair that you know, and you did ask the question. Bonne chance.