we have just moved into Baden area and I have a 4 year old son who i think will go to kindergarden 1. before doing anything else, i wanted to understand the difference between a 'hort' and a daycare. the day care centers seem to have waiting lists as well as they do not have pick and drop facility from the school. i have no idea about the school timings though i have read in the forum and elsewhere that children are sent home during lunch breaks. does anyone know more about 'hort' or of a day care near baden which will keep my son during the lunch timings and after school hours?

Our Hort is only for Kindergarten, and younger school children (up to twelve years old).

It's run by the authorities and looks after children before school, during lunch breaks and until six in the evening.

Ask the Kindergarten if there is a Hort.

Yes, hort is run by the municipality and again as for Tom1234 just for Kindergarten, and younger school children (up to twelve years old). How much you pay* the Hort depends (for me at least) on two things:

- salary (you pay, up to a max, according to how much you earn)
- time spent there (e.g. 100% would be 06h45 to 18h00 (minus school or kindergarten time), I think for lunch + rest of the day (12h00 to 18h00) I pay 80%)

Hort is (here at least - YMMV) only for when both parents work. The kids make their own way between Hort and the school/kindergarten (as is the Swiss way).

My daughter absolutely loves Hort (even more than KG). Gets to play nice games, make things (arts and crafts etc). Just have to go not too early, because she gets in a mood if she's in the middle of a game and it's time to go!

* is tax deductible

p.s. ask the Geminde school board / education about Hort. From what I remember, Hort must now be provided (beforehand - for Kt Zurich at least - Gemeinde did not have to provide Hort, but since the decision to make KG compulsory, then Hort must be available). for *working families*. BTW the KG we were allocated was based on the fact that it was closer to the Hort than a KG much closer to us.

My understanding is that 'Hort' is before-and-after school care. It's for school aged children, and it runs outside of school hours (perhaps also offers a vacation care programme).

Hort staff do not have the same 'teaching' qualifications as kindergarten or primary school - they are 'childcare' workers plus untrained assistants, not 'teachers'....

Some childcare centres offer a long-day-care programme for younger kids, and a Hort or a long-day-care, some offer a Hort plus Kindergarten as an 'all in one' offer. The teachers may work the 'school' hours and other staff do the 'before and after school' hours.

The new rules requiring kids to do 2 years of 'Official' Kindergarten only started in 2010. That's seen a change in the offerings, and in the way the different services market their programmes.

Privately run long-day-care that offers a Kindergarten programme will generally be very expensive. Government-run Kindergarten (almost free) plus government-subsidised Hort (means-tested fee structure) will certainly be cheaper than a private centre.

As others have said, your local school will certainly know the Hort programmes that are associated with their school - we even have an 'outdoors' programme in our area and the lady who runs the afternoon programme once a week picks the kids up from our Kindergarten with a horse and Buggy!

Thanks all for the responses - definitely helpful. Do all kindergardens have a hort or is it only some? and like the private daycare centers do the horts also have a long waiting list? like all of you have suggested, we will be going to the kindergarden and checking with them too regarding this facility in the coming week. this is the deciding factor for us to finalize on the area where we will be taking up permanent accommodation. Thanks again!

I have a 4 year old son who i think will go to kindergarden 1.

Hi..
Check out if he is eligible for KG yet as he is only 4. KG starts at the age of 5..

The ages for kindergarten are in the table on this page: (canton Zurich)

http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/content/.../eintritt.html

Thanks Swisspea for the link. My son will start kindergarden in August and until then we have arrangements for a full time daycare.

In my town, there are 3 horts. There are more than 3 KGs though. In fact my daughter was not put in the closest KG (which is 200-300 metres from us) which surprised me. I asked and they explained that the KG attributed to us was better for the hort (shorter walk, other children in same situation).

BTW I confirm that hort can also be pre-school - the earliest that our Hort accepts children is at 06h45 IIRC.

WRT qualifications of the staff, the director and two other people else have the relevant qualifications, plus there are three 'learning/qualifying' young girls (all female staff at the hort).

As for the age of starting hort, to start in late August, the child must be 4 by the end of April or May (I believe), details in Swisspea's link no doubt.

Interesting post! Just wondering what a hort is called in the French-speaking region. Thanks.

eireann - in French, hort is "accueil extrascolaire or AES