My daughter, who is yet to come over to Switzerland (with my wife, who also still lives in NL), is on a Rudolf Steiner (primary) school in The Netherlands, I inquired about this school method here in Switzerland. Closest to Zug, there are Rudolf Steiner schools in Zürich an Luzern. I think I would prefer Luzern, but that is not my issue.

The cost of this schooling is enormous here. There are directive tables for the yearly contribution. It is not a mandatory thing, more a guidance, but it comes down to about 25% of the net salary. I think that is a lot of money, especially since I understand that regular Swiss primary schools are free. Is it worth that much?

Marcel.

The thing to understand is that there is virtually no subsidy for schooling that is not run by the Canton. Each canton has their own education department and schooling regulations.

The costs for 'private' education (anything other than government-run schools) are high, that's for sure - my assessment is that this cost is a combination of :

- no government subsidy
- high costs of operating
- high teacher salaries
- needing to offer an extremely good quality programme in order to compete (long hours of care, extracurriculur features, well-resourced facilities, lunch provided etc etc).

Whether you consider this 'value for money' is really personal. Our children attend Montessori school for the philosophy/method/approach. Unfortunately, that means very high costs, but there is nothing that compares to it in the government-run schools.

I'd expect a Steiner school to have parents who have the same attitude - although Steiner schools are quite *different* to Montessori (I would put them at two ends of the spectrum when you look at their beliefs about when a child should learn to read/write and do mathematics, for example... the similarity is that parents choose them often because they are quite contrasted to what is on offer in the 'traditional' school systems...


Hope that helps. Best advice would be to check out the schools you are interested, thoroughly, and specifically, because like anything, 'quality' varies between schools, and ultimately the best indicator for 'success' is whether the parents are happy with the school...

I would send your child to a normal Swiss state school.

Here, I am probaly going to offend you by tell you that a lot of people believe that people send their children to Rudolf Steiner schools when children cannot cope in a normal school (academicly) and so parents convince themselves that their children are artistic.

If parents have chosen this route they're not going to change their minds just because some people see it differently.

Methinks these contributions are calculated as fractions of the taxable income, which is considerably lower than the net salary, especially for families.

I can't speak for other regions, but here in Bern we will looking at about 20% of net for tuition.

I do not get agree with the early comment
"Here, I am probaly going to offend you by tell you that a lot of people believe that people send their children to Rudolf Steiner schools when children cannot cope in a normal school (academicly) and so parents convince themselves that their children are artistic."

My impression so far is that most Swiss look at it as a different style of education, and thats it.

I also dont agree with the early comment

"Here, I am probaly going to offend you by tell you that a lot of people believe that people send their children to Rudolf Steiner schools when children cannot cope in a normal school (academicly) and so parents convince themselves that their children are artistic."

Maybe some parents prefer to send their kids to private schools because normal swiss schools have a quite aggressive and competitive style of teching , so if your kid likes to fight then you got it but if he prefers watching bees or tea parties with dools and drawings and singing then maybe a less competitive environment its more suitable. And with no fear of judgement eventually you should look around and ask yourself if you are satisfied with the average Swiss attitude and behavior? Because I tell you- on the long term- school plays a huge impact in shaping oneself personality.

Finally do what you think is best for your kid and remember that saying public school is free its a bit of a joke (im talking preschool and primary) :what is free is 4 hours in the morning and 1,5 hr x2 afternoon, if you need more, you have to pay.

I believe there is also one in Zug, in Baar actually. At least you can see one from the train.

The bee watching and tea parties depends on a school and on a teacher, since that's what we got in a local school. To portray local teaching as aggressive and competitive is wrong as well, takes one to teach in the system to comfortably say it is not true.

One bad school or a teacher does not classify the entire system, just like one private school with tea parties and gentle approach wouldn't characterize private schooling here, either.

The only thing I can safely say is, one pays through one's nose for a private school. Incomparable with a local school and day care associated.

__________________
"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Exactly - and the attitude and behaviour of my Swiss friends, overall, is excellent, thanks

For the non-swiss: other than anywhere else in the world, in Switzerland, net income means income before tax.

There is also a rudolf steiner school in Geneva

I assume the op is looking for one in central Switzerland, because that's where he lives. Geneva would be a bit out of the way....

OP what does the girl think? Would she be interested in going to a state school? And most of all, can you afford the private school?

We send our oldest daughter to the local primary school and our son to a Steiner preschool. We tried the local preschool for two weeks and it was simply not for us. We love the preschool and teacher we selected for our son.

I still have many issues with our daughter's school/teacher but our daughter is happy. We will send our son to the same school and hope he will cope just as well. We simply could not afford private school tuition for three kids.

The major advantage of local schools aside from them being free is having classmates that live in the neighborhood. It makes scheduling playdates so much easier. I also like the fact that the kids can just walk to school alone or with their friends.

So I would say try the local school. The teaching philosophy in our part of Switzerland is different from what I would ideally want for my children but we just try to make up for it at home.

Growing up in Switzerland, I met many people that went to Prim, Sek and Rudolf.

If I had children, I would want them in Sek, but that's me. Rudolf is a great school, and many of the kids I knew grew up and made something of themselves, but I personally believe that the school is more directed towards the "artistic". Meaning, they tend to foster the artist in the child, more philosophy, Latin even. Some kids aren't cut out for it, and therefore wont excel.

Depends on what your child's strengths are IMHO.

I don't know what sort of experience you've been exposed to, but Swiss schools are not at all agressive-competitive. In Switzerland human qualities are still valued above excellence and leadership and such B$, quite in contrast to some other countries I've lived in. They are strict maybe, and don't make it easy for freeloaders, but that's not at all the same thing.

having said that, Steiner schools are of course very good for the artistically and musically inclined. But not everybody there is in that category. You can find ex-Steiner kids in all walks of life.

In my experience the aggression/competitiveness comes more from the parents than the school and teachers.

Amanandhisdogs - have you chosen the Luzern Steiner School? If yes, can you tell me a bit more if you're happy with it?

My daughter has finished 1st grade in Waldorf school back at home country and I wonder if we enroll her to Luzern Steiner for the 2nd grade or should look for public school.