Hi,

As I mentioned in a different post we are a Greek / Italian family moving to Zurich sometime this winter. We are thinking about sending our daughter at the Italian-Swiss School in Zurich in September when she will be a bit more than 3 years old.

http://www.scuolaitaliana.ch/it/home/id=11

My husband has already contacted them and there shouldn't be any problem in enrolling our daughter there given that she already has Italian nationality.

In practice it is the public Italian school located in Zurich. This is an advantage since we can avoid the high cost of the private preschools or internationals schools. Also in the future the children can continue with the same school system if we wish to move to Italy or Greece.

My question is if any of you have any experience with the mentioned school and what is your opinion.

and why wouldn't you consider the local German schools, so that she learns well the language of the country she lives in?

Maybe she already did, and it is something she has already discussed with her husband, we don't know. Nonetheless, it's not what she is asking in her post.

It's a bilingual school, so she will learn German as well as maintain one of her mother tongues. The curriculum looks good, bilingual schools can be a very good solution and the fees are low, but I don't personally know that school.

If you choose it, my humble advice would be to try to involve her in out-of-school activities in German/Swiss German too. Some kids in a bilingual school environment pick up the more "foreign" language a little slowly, depending on their personality and their friends at the school. Some extra activities where speaking Italian is not an option would be helpful if you are planning to stay more than a couple of years in Switzerland.

Thanks tantrum for the tip. The problem is that neither my husband nor I speak German so I guess it will be more difficult to involve her in purely german speaking activities. However I will keep your advice in mind.

Originally we were thinking about the swiss school but for the preschool there is a waiting list of at least 2 years - as also discovered at the EF - and the private ones are very expensive (something like 2,500chf per month). Additionally it is a good chance to keep in touch with one her two mother tongues.

I had a look quickly at the site but looks like the price is circa 2000 CHF a month and it is not clear for how long in the day...

If price is one of your drivers then I'd be careful since the krippes are typically about 2500 for 5 days/week/whole day (730-1830 or 7-19).

Other than that, being italian myself, I must say it sounds pretty cool and even think I will investigate more for my kids.

It is relatively new (end 2008) so maybe will be hard to find comments on it.

Lastly: if you are planning to stay mid-long term, it may be beneficial for you to think about local stuff in german as it will also push you and your husband to learn the language and make your integration possible/easier versus only navigating "expat world"

Ciao,
K

Relevant: Unsolicited Opinions.

Ciao Kri! My husband has contacted them by phone and they confirmed that the fee is ~2,000chf per year. Also the schedule is from 8 to 13.00 for preschools. This would be ok for me since I'm currently not working - we're also expecting the second child so I will not be working for some time.... In any case I think there is a possibility to keep the kids till later in the evening but with an extra charge.

Check also the link below - my Italian is not so good but I think I have understood correctly....

http://www.scuolaitaliana.ch/images/stories/modulo%20di%20iscrizione%20primaria%20e%20infanzia %202011-12.pdf

Please let me know if you find out something yourself!

Regarding the German language I know....Although German really "sounds like Greek to me" we will both make an effort to learn some basics.

ok feel pretty stupid now...

in reality it does not mention whether fees are yearly on monthly but re-reading the text, it does indeed sound like yearly fees

So yes, much cheaper than krippe.

However, one would need to calculate in case you need full day care plus holidays. I will call them next week and ask the prices of the other things as I am now really interested

Only not sure if they allow enrolling through the year...

More next week and sorry for having wasted your time due to my wrong reading...

Ciao
K

Don't worry kri! You didn't waste my time anyway....

I don't think that they accept during the year. I'm not sure but I think they told my husband that you need to do the application in March in order to be accepted in September.However, it is better to check.

Also, it would be interesting to know how much is the 'extra cost'.

Waiting for your news!

minoan

Our daughter has been in the italian school for about a year now. She loves it. The teachers are good, they organise lots of activities and the school is very flexible. Teaching is 50-50 German/Italian. However, as many of the children already speak italian this is the more dominant language. Our daughter is only slowly picking up (high) German, but this is probably also due to the fact that we don't speak any German at home...

I would definitely recommend the school. We are sending our son there next year too

If you want more details, you can send me a PM

Good luck!

Thanks Angela! I will contact you if I need something.Btw, we recently rented a house just to be in a resonable distance from this school.

We will enroll our daughter (2,5years old) for the coming winter. However, I'm a bit concerned cause she doesn't speak italian although she understands it pretty well. I speak to her in Greek and since we are still living in Greece the dominant language is Greek. I hope this won't be a problem since she is still rather young. I will consult also the school in regards to the issue.

Personally, I don't think this will be an issue as many of the children are multi-lingual and the teachers very patient. My daughter spoke no German as she enrolled and the German teacher often ended up speaking to her in English to ensure she understood

In any case, the environment is geared up for children with different language skills and in every class levels vary

Good luck!