Are there such things as state/public bilingual schools in Switzerland? - we are English and I would like to ease the kids into the other language slowly if possible. They're currently at a US/German school and slowly learning German (in Germany), but I think we're more likely to end up on the French side! We don't want to pay for private schooling, so would just go for the local school otherwise, and let the kids get on with it!

I've neer heard of any state Bilingual schools only private but my knowledge does not cover the whole country. How old are your kids?

Hi Lou

My kids are 4, nearly 6 and 7 - all boys.

No need for English schools at that age. My oldest (now almost 7) went from all English to only Swiss-German at nursery at 4 years old he now speaks SG like a native according to his kindergarten teacher.

I agree with you, but just wondered whether there are any bilingual free schools! I know the youngest would have no problems, particularly as he would be at kindergarten and not primary school. Still looking to find out whether there's a school in the village we're interested in - Leysin. Can't find much on the web. I await news - I'm sure someone on this forum will have the info! How long have you been in Switzerland?

I don't think any of them would have problems at those ages, it's teenagers who would have more difficulty with schooling. Remember that primary school here only starts at 7 and they would get extra help with learning the language. I have no idea about Leysin but I am sure someone else will. I've been here almost 3 years this time around.

so my oldest, who was 7 this February, would start school this coming August/September?

The Swiss Education system is unique, in tjhat each state (canton), has their own programm, further to that, so do many Gemeindes (municapilities). The upside to that is that you can slect where you live & thereby select the type of education for your kids. The downside is that once the kids are in the system, its more difficult to move around, because the educational content is seldom comparable.

I do recommend the public schools over private schools.

The reason is that kids whoi go to the international schools, meet other kids from expats parents, and sadly, their most painful memory is when their friends leave school, and this often causes disruptions.

The local schools have really fun classrooms,- no uniforms, and lots of breaks where they can relax. The kids have the best chance of learning the lnaguage when they play together.

The area where you are planning to relocate to , Leysin, is close to Geneva in the french part of switzerland.

French is a really easy language to learn, escpecially since most vocabularies are similar to english. This makes it a simple language for kids.

There are great books & CD's which are very cheap, for kids to learn at home in addition to schools.

The french part of switzerland is really friendly.

Your heading to a great place.

Good luck.

Thanks for that! I think we'll just go for the local school so the boys have friends up the road/around the corner etc.

Good idea.

Hi Mrs, B,

I just want to let you know that Leysin does not have a bilingual state school. The state school in Leysin provides instruction only in French and has support classes for students whose first language is not French. Hope this helps.

Thanks Hotspur. That helps - think we'd just go with the local school. Do you live in Leysin and have children at the school?

As far as I know all the state schools provide support classes for childern who do not know the language. There are usually a lot of foreign kids in the classes and in the kindergarten and 1st school class it is common for kids not to be able to speak the language - so they will not be the only ones.

Good luck,

Jim