I am hoping to get some information on Swiss schools prior to a summer trip and was hoping someone here may be able to help? I am traveling specifically to Zurich. If any one can help me with some of the questions below I would be very appreciative.

1. Do Swiss schools offer public bussing or do parents have to drive their children each day? Maybe they walk.

2. How many students would you expect to have in a class or a school? Do they have elementary school children in separate buildings from older students?

3. I heard that children go home for lunch. Is that true? Do the schools offer any lunch?

4. Are children with mild learning difficulties offered any specific help/support?

5. How do they educate children who do not speak German?

Thank you again.

hi there
herewith the answers i have up to now...
i'm from south africa so the system was a real new deal for me. my son will go to kindergarten in august for the 1st time so i found out as much as i could. i've been here from march 2008
from the start you have to realise that each kanton has different rules and ways so find out where you'll be to be able to answer your questions. my answers are aargau based

1. Do Swiss schools offer public bussing or do parents have to drive their children each day? Maybe they walk.

children are encouraged to walk to school if possible from the start, when they turn 5. they are taught to cross the road and which route to take and in general each town has at least a primary school. they are also encouraged to take public transport if necessary and from grade 1 to go by bike. dropping of your kids is generally not approved of. these tots walk to school wind, rain, hail, snow with their little reflector bands around their bodies when its still dark out, its amazing!!!!!!

2. How many students would you expect to have in a class or a school? Do they have elementary school children in separate buildings from older students?

kindergarten, primary and secondary school are usually in separate buildings and the children are kept apart. their is a limit of 25 kids in a class.

3. I heard that children go home for lunch. Is that true? Do the schools offer any lunch?

yes, weird hey! offering lunch is a new thing, but some schools double up with the old age home or somesuch and offer mittagtisch. that's why its so difficult for mothers to work, you need to be home for lunch. i believe in the cities the thinking is different and more mittagtisch is available...

4. Are children with mild learning difficulties offered any specific help/support?

my cousin is a highschool teacher here and according to her the learning difficulties is not handled very well. but i have no personal opinion on this...

5. How do they educate children who do not speak German?

you have the choice of international schools. but if you choose a state school the kids have german classes at least 4 times a week. remember, and this i didn't know before i came, german is a foreign language to most swiss german people and they need to learn it as well. although the foreign kids learn german they are largely still taught in swiss german in primary school, so the confusion level is HUGE. the policy is that only german should be spoken at school but this is not the practice.

hope this helps and i don't get flamed to much, it will help me as well to know what i interpreted incorrectly. the school system as such is amazing and i can't wait to learn more about what he actually does. and to learn swiss german from him...

enjoy the weekend
SD

Thank you so much. That was very helpful. It is a wonderful start.

What part of Switerland is the area you were speaking of? Aargua? By the way, your English was great.

Wendi

And it still is

The first couple of questions have been well answered by so I'll just answer the remaining ones:

4. Are children with mild learning difficulties offered any specific help/support?

It varies from Kanton (=state in USA???) to Kanton, depending on budgets and so on. As well as special schools, there are speical classes within the normal schools that deal with slow learners, speaking difficulties etc... Over all I'd say it is OK, but not in top position.

5. How do they educate children who do not speak German?

In addition to international schools (which are fee paying) the normal public schools have special classes for childern who do not speak the local language when they first attend school. In the kindergarten, they normally have a special teacher to help the kids get up to speed - this is usually for the first few months. Most 5 year olds seem to get up to speed very quickly!


Just for information, the last time we had a parent-teacher meeting, the school documentation was available in 7 languages!!!

Regards,

Jim.

thanks for the complements, i'm just too lazy to use caps...
yes we're in aargau
good luck...
SD

Hi,
here is my experience so far.
Since moving here about 7 months ago my youngest daughter has been diagnosed with learning difficulties.We have just started getting some support 2 weeks ago, although she was assessed before x'mas, there was a waiting list. As we are anglophones it was difficult finding someone to give some support who could speak English.

Our children did not speak any French before arriving, they have been given intensive French lessons 3 times a week by the school, we were also given the choice of putting them in a different school with a special class for foreigners" classe d accueil".

There are 20 children in my youngest s class and 24 in the eldest s .

For most of the year they have not been evaluated ie given marks for tests etc.

In our town we do have school buses, morning, lunchtime and after school.

We also have a well organised social centre which is part of the communal authorities and next door to the school. Children can be dropped off there from 7am, they go their at lunchtime for a 3 course meal and there is after school care till 6 pm with clubs etc afterwards,. It is also open on Wednesday pm when schools close. They also run summer camps and ski camps and weekends for the kids. This sort of facility is quite rare tho I think. I did a lot of research about what was available in the region. It was imperative I found childcare, lunches etc as I am working. Many places offered nothing except a list of people who could look after children and give lunch in their homes. These however are quite difficult to find in some areas.In larger cities there are school canteens especially at secondary school level.

Have you settled already?

Any way, good luck and go out , have fun, there is plenty of thing to do, for free many of them, enjoy the weekend , they help you to survive the week days!

Think inside the box, Welcome to Switzerland!