hello there,

I;m a little confused about at what age exactly I can enroll my children in public swiss schools. In London, the cut-off dates are March 1 and September 1 but I doubt it's the same in Zurich.

I have a 6 year-old who will be seven in February and a 4 year-old who will be 5 at the end of december. I want to enroll them in January 2009. can you tell me what classes they will be allowed to enter and for how long each day? I'll live either near horgen or on the other side of the lake, depending on where i find a house.

many thanks in advance for any help.

KINDERGARTEN for this year 2008, enrolment for August 2008 (K1), cutoff is children born before 1 May 2004. (i.e. 4 plus years old).
Kindergarten is for 2 years here, greyish mandatory.

For Primary School, it is the same "date", 30 April YYYY.
I think.

This is for Kanton ZURICH.
Not sure if other Kantons are same. (should be similar).

HAT

PS: YOur 6 year old = Primary 2 (but maybe they put him in P1)
Your 4 yr old = . Sorry he enters next year 2009.

You may have to specially apply now at the school, it is a little "late".
My village-school sent the forms to us, like in early Feb for my son (entering k1). He begins K1 on 20 Aug 2008.

More information about the cutoff dates and their flexibility can be found in this thread:
Advice is needed: how to get a child to year 2 of Swiss Kindergarten?

HAT is right about 30.4 being the standard cutoff.

/ All relevant information can be found here in German. It's best to get the relevant information in advance and then to contact the authorities as much in advance as possible.

Thank you for the information. So as I understand it, as of January 1 my four-year old will be able to go to kidergarden while my 6 year-old can go to primary 1 or 2. I probably won't be able to rent and move in to our house until december, so there's no way for me to know which community to apply to. does anyone know how much advance notice the local school needs? should i plan on private education until September 2009 or are schools generally flexible about admitting students in the middle of the year at short notice? thank you again...

School begins here in August, not January.

Your 4-yr old will most likely be able to join K1 in Aug 2009 (sorry i miscalculated, he is born in Dec 2004?)

Your 6-yr old will most likely be able to join Primary 1 in Aug 2008 (but it is a little late for registration).

I don't think you can call anything Swiss "flexible". Not least the schools. Your gemeindehaus (village admin) will automatically inform you, when the children are of age.
If not, then you need to call or visit them. Sometimes they do forget, in this hot summer heat.

The local school will accept new children during the semester. In fact, sooner or later they have to, because school is mandatory. Which grade the children join isn't set in stone.

I have no experience how much time the school needs. I assume it tends to be more where the commune is small and rural, and if the children need language support.

But it will be most probably less time than you need to find a house. You'll already have discovered that finding accommodation is a challenge, if you've read some of the threads in the forum.

Until some parents write how much time they needed (hopefully), there are many other threads about Swiss schools in this part of the forum that might be worth a read.

Hopefully someone who lives on one of the coasts will also reply to your question but I can share our experience in Zürich city. We arrived in January and registered with the Gemeinde. After two weeks we contacted the kindergarten "president". She said that our daughter (who was turning five in February) would attend Kindergarten 1. The nearest kindergarten was full, but we would go to another nearby kindergarten. Because the ski holidays were going to start in two weeks she said that we should wait until after the school holidays for our daughter to start kindergarten. If I was to do it again, I would have called as soon as we arrived.

When we moved from our temporary apartment to our current apartment we also changed our Kreis, so I called the kindergarten president in the new Kreis and arranged for her to start at the new kindergarten a week after we moved (and took her to the old kindergarten during that week).

Thanks for your information. I guess I can't really do anything until I have secured a home, as everything depends on where you live!

If you live in kanton Schwyz, its different. My child got a letter, and the cut off is 31.07 for any child at age 5. BUT...with that I must state also that the Kindergarten is only one year, as the area that we live in is extremely small and they combine 2 village kids into one school.
Best option is always...call/check with the gemeinde in teh area that you want to live, it might be a small area, and then only One Year kindergarten applies, otherwise 2 yrs...and the cut off date are all different, bearing in mind that when you come into CH you will have to go to the Gemeinde to register yourself, and then you can also ask...otherwise, you will get a letter in anyway (if your child is not eligible yet) in teh applicable Feb, asking you to sign it that you child will then attend school in that year of August.