Can anyone help? I'm moving to Zug and am baffled by the education system.. I have 7yr old and 11 year old.. will they attend the same public school for their ages and what are the hours in school? Does my 7 year old only attend for the morning and what about my 11 year old.
At what age does a child move up to Secondary school?
Also, Is 50kchf enough to live on per year, for a family?
Don't want an International school, think public schools are just as good.
Many thanks

Please check out the Sticky Threads at the top of the various Forum sections. If you dig through the information you might find some of the stuff you need. Everything varies from place to place here and I'm still baffled by the education system (is it actually a system?) here after over forty years.
There is a lot of info about cost of living in the Daily Life forum, where your question also belongs.

Come to think of it, this Forum fits into Switzerland quite well. Loads of rules (which folk don't stick too) and everything varies, including the patience limit of moderators.

Welcome to the Forum.

7 year old would be in the 2nd class and the 11 yr old would have to decide between Realschule and Sekundarschule. Both would be in some sort of intergration's school unless they speak german. More information in German is here: http://www.stadtschulenzug.ch/de/

50k in Zug with a family is way under the normal Swiss limits! Avg. apartment figure about 3k/ month (and that is cheap!) for a 4.5 room apartment. There are numerous threads if you do a search on cost of living/ will x amount of salary be enough to live on in Switzerland that will help with cost of living here.

Welcome Meesh. I'm afraid your budget is very low for Switzerland. Your 7 year old will have no problem integrating, but 11 is not an easy age for the transition due to the school system- a bit like the 11+ in the UK, when kids are streamed into seconday modern type of school, and grammar school (different, but the analogy is there). A child has to have a good command of the local language, in all 4 skills (writing and speaking, reading and listening comp) to go into the 'grammar' stream. Which is why most ex-pats here put their kids in International school if they arrive, say approx, after age 8.

Each area has its own organisation and hours, etc, so hopefully someone will be able to tell you about Zug. At 7 school should be full-time, but most areas have Wednesday afternoon off, and there is NO supervision at lunchtime=all kids go home for lunch. Not easy for working mums, especially without a family/neighbour network. Most jobs will allow you 1h30 to 2h for lunch but start and finish will be later.

Thanks for that info... Im getting really confuse about the whole thing... was wondering whether the move is suitable and also the wage that Im offered! I'm on my own with the kids, so really need to figure out finances/school hours etc!

The real killer is going to be accommodation. The salary you quote is well below the national average, and flats in Zug are very expensive. You won't pay a lot of income tax, but the fact remains that just renting a flat is likely to eat up half of your annual income.

You really need to have a very good reason for relocating from the UK to Switzerland on your own with kids on a salary like that - hope it works out, whatever the reason is

Depending on which part of the kanton you move to there is before school, lunch and after school care of kids. I believe in Cham the cost of care is dependent on the parents income.

This may be important criteria when looking into where to live. As others have said rent is rather high but there are some areas which are more affordable.

Take a look at www.homegate.ch to get a better idea of the rents. Health insurance is also another significant cost.

Good luck

many thanks for all of your info. Im starting to wonder whether I will be able to afford to live there!
Was so looking forward to the move and the prospect of living in such a wonderful country.. but so many hidden costs!
Also found it difficult to find any info on websites that actually wants to share financial costs or even give me a list of public schools!
If 50kchf is a such low wage , why would a school offer that.. surely they would know cost of living!!!

Sorry I should of read more about no small children. Your going to have it tough here and your 11 year old not speaking german will have it really tough. His age puts him right where they are going to split the children into the upper, middle and lower schools... you need to really check on what this means!! lowest to me is the pits, I call it child labor.. middle is not much but they get a little better job positions. Children start apprenticeships into professions some at 14 and think I have even seen 13. They get paid really low wages, big plus for companies and after training they never can move up unless going back into another apprenticeship again.

You haven't even asked about daily life. food costs, transportation costs, insurance costs, automobile costs and alot of rules and things that are done here. With children going home for lunch and so on. It was designed to keep the mother at home away from the man's world. Now with working women it's tough when the kids need to come home at 11:30 till 1:30 then back at 3:00. Housing here well where I'm at is unblievable.. 1400 for a 2 1/2 room 1600 for a 3 1/2 but its higher in other parts.. alot higher! An then there comes all of the moving, deposits, hidden costs, furniture, bedding, clothing... all higher priced than you could imagine. What is your profession and age as you haven't said, but 50,000 is really hardly getting by living here.

That is actually not true. The Swiss system provides many chances for higher education when you are older. The fact they start working at 14 or 15 means they are getting an excellent vocational training, along with school days and they can always enrol in a vocational school which leads to a diploma or a "Berufsmatura", they have special supportive schools for kids coming from "realschule". No way is a one-time decision about school career at the age of 12 a dead end.

Sorry I should give you some pluses or we all should: The country is wonderful and really some amazing sites, lakes, mountains, plus there is a never ending list of things to see or do. Your wages are low but doable if you try. The children will get or you'll get a monthy income from the County per child and that will help, plus you can ask for aid and help if you have to. The insurance is good better than alot of places. The transportation is excellent and often. This is not a bad place to live and all places are different. It's a very clean Country and if you like to walk, hike, run, swim, ski, snowboard, anything is possible here. And there are places to do it, nicely designed and available. It's always nice to take a day up in the Alps sitting in the Sun or drinking something and relaxing in a wonderful Lodge somewhere. It's a big move and sometimes a person learns, you take some bad but also alot of good with you as you go through life. Sometimes a person just has to do it once and see! You'll make it no matter what you decide.

Switzerland has 26 cantons and 2'551 towns and villages with different rents, schools, options for childcare etc. That's why Swiss don't just settle in a canton or a town for low taxes. You have to take in consideration the whole packet, not just the money you spare.

I have to disagree with this. The apprenticeship system is well regarded in Switzerland, as are manual trades - it's a world apart from many other countries, where all the emphasis is on academic subjects and manual jobs are undervalued.

And yes, they can move up. My daughter did an apprenticeship then, in her third year, doubled that with a Maturité professionnelle and is now in the final year of a degree course. One of the good things about the Swiss education system is that there are plenty of opportunities to pass from one programme to another if you have the desire and skills to do so.

Edit: just saw that McGregor's daughter had already said pretty much the same thing in much fewer words - sorry !

I should of explained that better, while they are in Apprenticeship's they get paid a little, think like 900 a month. but on the other hand as an example, I walk into the VW dealer he has 3 mechanics.. and 7 apprenticeship kids one looks 13-14.. I think at 120.-160, an hour I should have a mechanic not a child. Next is yes they can keep going to school. But most have had their spirit broken and don't want to keep going to school. But my Ex wife has two kids one 29 still in Art school, the other 27 and still learning for two more years to be a primary teacher.. they both got apprenticeships yea but they didn't like them. And yes I do know some here that are 33 and still in school. They could of been Doctors at that age..

[QUOTE=Sliced;1476142]I should of explained that better, while they are in Apprenticeship's they get paid a little, think like 900 a month. but on the other hand as an example, I walk into the VW dealer he has 3 mechanics.. and 7 apprenticeship kids one looks 13-14.. I think at 120.-160, an hour I should have a mechanic not a child. Next is yes they can keep going to school. But most have had their spirit broken and don't want to keep going to school. But my Ex wife has two kids one 29 still in Art school, the other 27 and still learning for two more years to be a primary teacher.. they both got apprenticeships yea but they didn't like them. And yes I do know some here that are 33 and still in school. They could of been Doctors at that age..[/QUOTE

You are wrong again. Students must have fullfilled the compulsory school years before they can start an apprenticeship which means they are around 16 when they start. You seem to think that any employer can hire apprentices as he likes. Definitely wrong. There is a strong legislation about this and they have to follow the curriuculum for the professional part of the apprenticeship. Apprentices are not paid much indeed, but they are still learning. Do universities nowadays pay their students for learning? The fact that the children of your ex wife changed after their apprenticeships just shows that you don't have to stick with your profession for the rest of the life. As others said in Switzerland you have plenty of options. You can find these informations on the homepages of the cantons. I strongly advice you to read them, or academically spoken: Do your research before publishing.

This ratio seems wrong. Are you sure that some of this "apprenticeships" are not actually already mechanics who have finished their training (there are people who are well into their twenties, but still look like they are 16)? As apprenticeships need a lot of attention at the beginning and everything they do has to be checked by someone else. Generally I think the ratio is hardly ever higher than 50:50 (You should also note that an apprenticeship in his 4th year has already a fair share of experience and knowledge).

Also I do not think that apprenticeships bring a company profit. It is true that they do not earn much. But the employer has to fund their education, too, which should not be underestimated. (School fees, additional School fees whenever the School decides to buy a new piece of equipment, fees for additional courses, etc.). And they are not as productive as an experienced, fully trained employee.

Its a tough decision...

Some more links where you may be able to gather information.. Fachstelle Migration for Zug help newcomers with questions about living in Zug.

http://www.zug.ch/behoerden/org-mit-...elle-migration

I have also attached a document that the FSM has published on Schooling in Zug. Perhaps you can give them a call.

Take a look at the 6th link in the first section of the document. It may provide more information on school care.

Those kids at the dealer are having their 'schnupper', meaning a trial at a profession that us usually 2 weeks long and not paid. This way they can get a taste of the job, and if they dont like it they can try something else. If they like the job, then they could apply to be a lehrling- then it's up to the company if they want them on board or not.

Taxes in Zug are low compared to the rest of the country.

On the salary you mention, I am guessing you will net around 3500 - 4000 p.m. (I stand to be corrected).

With 2 kids you are likely to need at least a 3.5 - 4.5 room apartment - I just had a look on homegate.ch and saw very little in Zug for under SFr2000 p.m.

Krankenkasse (health insurance) will be between SFr250 - 500 p.m.

Then factor in things like energy / water costs; commute costs; food shopping; internet connection.

Our weekly shop (2 adults, 1 kid) normally comes in at SFr150-200 - I'm sure we could economise by buying less meat for example but it would be quite a challenge to get down to say SFr100.

In short, you'll be watching the pennies on that salary.

Cheers,
Nick