My husband, daughter and I are scheduled to move to Zurich in September. My daughter is 4 and will be 5 in April.

Here's the thing. My daughter was in a Montessori school in the US until last month and toward the end, it was horrible for her. She is really, really mommy-centric and every morning she would cling to me as her teacher would take her out of my arms. She stopped wanting to learn when she previously wanted to learn everything. I had to have her in some childcare because I was working but now I am not.

My big plan was to spend the next year working with her at home and allowing her to get used to a new culture and language. I am getting conflicting information about whether or not my daughter will be required to attend kindergarten.

I was going off this page:

http://www.facultyaffairs.ethz.ch/dualcareer/bildung_EN

I really cannot send her off to school as soon as we get there. Is it true that she will need to attend right away?

As soon as you get here go and have a chat with the Schulgemeinde in your area. You can relax as you do not have send your daughter until she is 5 so she starts kindergarten in August 2010 and not this year. Kindergarten finishes at 12 noon every day and most Gemeindes have kindergarten one afternoon a week for an hour and half.

It's not fun when kids start school too early and struggle as a result. We have just had the same problem with our son who started kindergarten early last year just turned 4 and has had a tough year. We made the common mistake of thinking he is smart therefore ready but he was too young and found the schedule of kindergarten a bit much. You do get quite a few choices here and you can also keep your child in Kindergarten an extra year if you and the teacher feels she is not quite ready for primary school.

There are big differences between the Kantons (states), chose wisely.

There are big differences between the Gemeinden (community / county) within the Kantons, chose wisely.

In Kanton Zurich, children that turn 4 (yes, four, not five) by May 1, 2009 have to attend Kindergarten starting in the fall. Two years of Kindergarten are mandatory.

This may be different depending on where you decide to take residence.

Are you sure? If the daughter turns 5 in April of this year she will have to attend Kindergarten this fall according to the rules of Kanton ZH.

As a mum, my advice would be to be kind to her and yourself and try not to stress too much.

Sounds like you got a rotten school in the US, not a problem of your child - was there a change in staff or arrangements that could have made her go from a child who *enjoyed* school to one who hated it ?

We had a little girl at the beginning of last school year who had only been in Switzerland for a couple of months, and was really struggling...apparently my son arrived in the class as another new english-only speaking child, and it 'clicked' and very quickly she started loving school again - who knows why but she and he have had a great year together...

Here's the educational site for Switzerland with some info:

http://www.edk.ch/dyn/16833.php

Compulsory schooling does begin at age 6, but in Zurich at least you will find that 'Kindergarten' can also be in a variety of settings - and it's not full-time - the most common pattern is five mornings and two afternoons...so it's short sessions and they come and go from school after only a couple of hours...

I don't think you have to send her if she is only turning 5 in April 2010. I believe there is also a mid-year intake which is somewhere in Feb/March. But the absolute cutoff for elementary school is 7 - a lot later than the USA...

There are at least two forumites who work in primary school who are more familiar with the 'rules' so you can check - also, you could just try to contact the Cantonal authorities in Zurich and ask...I am sure they can answer you very easily....

Hope that allays your fears. I took my middle child out of preschool/long-day care for three months before he started Kindergarten and it was really nice to have that special time with him and also to have a break before starting somewhere new...

I would recommend that you give yourself some time to debrief and recover from your bad experiences...and then consider that by the time you get here you (and your daughter) will have moved on quite a lot, and she might actually be ready for school when the time comes...

One does have to sort out how to deal with this one's own
way, but (and beyond what I find rather unhelpful 'disorder'
language) you might find one or another suggestion here

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/sepa..._treatment.htm

to be useful. What might help as well is finding a group
where mothers and children both attend, since the children
find their way to one another, and it becomes fun to spend
time *not* with mom - who might like a little space for
herself too!

Montessori schools differ enormously from site to site, and
a poor experience at one of them, in our experience, is no
predictor of what happens in the next.

J.

Maybe I am wrong, but have the cutoff dates not changed to eb harmonized country wide?

Latest I heard was that the new cut off dates are July 31st (child turns 4 by then) and this means starting Kindergarten in August.

cheers,
K

My understanding of kindergarten in Zurich Canton is that is it now compulsory, and that the cutoff date is definitely after April, meaning your daughter would be required to attend. My daughter turns 5 next February and she starts kindergarten this August.

You should be sent school registration forms soon after you register your arrival in the country, although you can contact the school authority in your area ahead of time to find out exactly what your daugther will be doing.

We're moving (within the Canton but to a different school area) and I contacted the new school authority to find out which kindergarten my daughter would be going to and to find out information on additional language classes etc.

I think the best way for a small child to learn the language and culture here is to be immersed in it, and the kindergartens here have lots of non-German speaking kids so have strategies in place to support them. If you don't speak the language yourself then your daughter will have very little exposure unless you find her some playmates.

There are private Swiss kindergartens as well as all the bilingual and international school options, so it might be worth checking them out, too. Kindergarten will still be compulsory but they might be a bit more flexible.

Changing countries is definitely stressful, but it could actually be better for your daughter to have some routine right from the start and to make some local friends. It could make things a lot easier for you, too. I met all my friends through my daughter and all her activities.

Anyway, good luck!

Kate

Apologies, my mistake. I'm getting confused because our son started a year early at 4 and should really have started this year at 5.

The cut off point is age 4 by the 30 of April to begin Kindergarten August of the same year(?) If your child turns 4 by August 31, you have a choice to write to the Gemeinde to start Kindergarten early which is what we did.

I totally agree... definitely worth considering...

Also, some people are confusing this by talking about when you are *permitted* versus when you are *required* to enrol...

I am still pretty sure that you can keep a child out of the system until the year they turn 6...although according to the government website most children do attend the non-compulsory (Free) preschool/kindergarten...


My understanding is that COMPULSORY schooling starts at year 1. Kindergarten is not compulsory...

This is the same in Australia - but everyone goes to Kindergarten anyway, even though they are not *required* to be at school until they turn 6.

Here in Adliswil Kindergarten is 5 morning in first year and in 2nd year 5 mornings, home for lunch then back for 2 afternoons - 13:00 to 15:30 (i think - not 100% sure as he doesn't start 2nd year until after this summer holidays).

Kindergarten is now compulsory (at least in Kanton Zurich) and you can not just take them out for a day to go for a long weekend - there are special forms to fill in - basically they are treating kindergarten like school

but - and this is cool - they don't push them to learn tons in kindergarten - so they don't have to read when they leave 2nd year kindergarten that will start first year of school when they're around 7yo.

at first i was shocked thinking eek! that's soo late compared to what i was used to in Australia

but now actually really happy about it as they can continue being kids for a bit longer and hell look at all the Swiss people they can read and write often in 3 or 4 different languages - so it can't be a big problem to start a bit later eh

the biggest hassle is child care - you'll still need it if you work 100% (or if you work on the times when kindergarten is "not in session".

and when they go to primary school they still come home for lunches and they still don't got 5 mornings and 5 afternoons for some years - that's a big pressure on a family hwen both parents work

hope that helps a bit

Cheers
Jase

Yeah parents of other kindergarten kids - the ultimate networking results hehe

actually it really is a case of helping each other out - at least in ours and we've made other friends too

Couldn't agree with Kate's statement more.

And the sooner they get into the language the better off they'll be - kids adapt well - and remember here there will be other kids speaking different languages at home too... we have a real mix in our kid's kindergarten

Ok,

found the link:
Zurich Canton Education Department

http://www.volksschulamt.zh.ch/

I shall add it to the sticky in the schooling section of the forum...

Download information sheet here:
http://www.volksschulamt.zh.ch/.../4...kt__zh_vsa.pdf

Ok, info sheet from Zurich Canton Education Department says:

Starting compulsory education
All children who turn four by 30 April are required to attend kindergarten at the start of the following school year. The local education authority allocates children to the different schools.

The school year
The school year starts mid-August and lasts until early July the following year.

So it does sound like your daughter will need to attend preschool when she arrives...and it will most likely be five mornings a week from 8am-12noon at your local school.

However 'preschool' and 'kindergarten' might be in something closer to a child-care centre than a primary school, as there are a lot of programmes that are located separately...

This isn't about learning the language or making friends though is it. The OP has real concerns about starting her child in school too early and would prefer her daughter to have another year at home so that she feels more secure and confident when she does begin school. The child has years to make friends and learn the language whereas starting school too early can cause all sorts of problems for the child and is a real concern for many parents and teachers.

In our Gemeinde (Maur) within Kanton Zurich, if they're 4 by April 30, they start Kindergarten that same year in the fall. If they turn 4 a bit later, you have to get them evaluated by the Kinderspital Zurich (read: $$$) to see if they can be admitted or not. My daughter passed the test and got admitted ... she only missed the DOB deadline by 8 days anway, and she wants to go to school like her big brother.

In our commune, Kindergarten year 1, Kindergarten year 2 and Primary School year 1 are one big class with 2 teachers. Kids from 4 to 7 years old ... integrative approach. Like it very much after some initial, unjustified hesitation. The little ones learn from the big ones. Way cool.

I had also read that Kindergarten has recently become compulsory in Zurich but it varies from canton to canton.

As far as I am aware, kids are allowed to be educated at home during this time but the authorities obviously have to be notified.

PS, why is the title of the thread "No schooling in Zurich"? It's a wee bit misleading.

My son also passed the test and yet he had tons of problems as he was far too young when he began. It's a real problem for kids who are often very smart but at the same time emotionally too young at 4. The problems that many Kindergarten teachers face today are usually to do with the huge mix of bored, misbehaving 7 year olds who are more than ready for primary school and very young 4 year olds who need tons of attention. I often get the feeling from our two Kindergartens teachers that the younger the child the more problems they have. Also my son's high German teacher is a Kindergarten teacher with 18 years experience, semi-retired now, and she has told me that over the years it is the young boys who have the most problems starting school too soon.. interestingly, girls tend to do fine either way.

Kindergarten in canton Zurich is in a transitional period. Last year the second year of kindergarten was made mandatory for the five years old and next August, the first year will be mandatory, too. This applies to other cantons, too, and is part of a national harmonisation project. It's very unlikely though that all cantons will introduce this rule at the same time. Search the forum for HarmoS if you want to know more about the changes to come.

I suggest to contact the local school authorities for specific information about kindergarten and investigate possibilities to make the move easier for your daughter.