Hello

We have just moved to Geneva from Australia. We have our 5 year old daughter in school and our 2 year old son with a maman-de-jour. Soon it will be summer holidays and both the school and the maman-de-jour will close for a long time. My husband and I both work full-time and we don't have any family or support in Switzerland, or even in Europe! We are wondering what the local children do during the holidays.

I have contacted the local slj (govt department for youth) and they have various options such as camps and day-activities. I cannot imagine sending my 5 year old away for a week-long camp, and the day-activities are mostly for 8 year olds and above. I have just two options suitable for her, so that leaves another 6 weeks to fill. Even nannies are hard to find because they are taking their holidays too! We can take a family holiday for one week, but any ideas for the rest will be gratefully appreciated...

What about the day camp in Coppet?(10 mins from Geneva), They organise a bus service to and from Geneva. It's for kids from 4-13 years, Monday - Friday 09:00-16:00 or 09:00- 18:00. bilingual camp English/French. 3 x two week sessions. starting 7th July- 15th August. It's run by Village Camps. been around for 37 years.Their web site is www.villagedaycamps.com

Brilliant! Thanks so much Tranter!!

Most of the international schools do summer camps throughout the summer. So you could look in your area to see which schools are nearby. For example I work in a school in Champel and they have summer camp inscriptions at the moment. Look up international schools in google and check their websites for dates and prices.

Sorry forgot to say, most of them are for 4 year olds and up and have different themes for different weeks.

Thanks Heather. Great idea.
I checked some, and suitable programmes I found were:
the International School of Geneva http://www.ecolint.ch/ecolint/ch/en-ch/index.cfm
http://www.dynamic-learning.ch/Summer%20Workshops.htm
Thanks again!