I have read many of the threads on schools in Zurich / Switzerland and most scare me! We are still undecided where to live within Zurich but have agreed that the best way is to send the kids to local schools to integrate them and us better (hence my worry having read the threads...).
Can anyone recommend a school for non-German speaking children in Zurich? Perhaps your children or someone you know has knowledge of a school were English speaking children have been well received? Even better (perhaps) there are other English children at the school?
We have yet to sort out accommodation - I want to find the right school then we'll sort out accommodation. Start date would probably be Jan 2011.
They are both football mad so any info on this in Zurich (clubs etc) would be appreciated.

Every school is going to be different as it depends on the teachers who work there for it's atmosphere, attitude etc. They are run by the local educational administration for the town not each school individually, they allocate the place and decide which grade they should start in etc. It's not really left to you to make the choice of school -you must have an address in that town to have the school place allocated.
The best thing is to look for a house in an area of Zurich that has a lot of English speaking families. Some examples would be Kilchberg, Thalwil, Wädenswil, Adliswil, Affoltern am Albis, or on the other side Meilen, Kusnacht etc. Or further away in Winterthur. Check where the forum members live. Many may live near the international schools as they may use them.
Sports and other activities would be organised outside of school hours.

Thanks - I'm learning already - I didn't realise that we'd not have any say in the school choice. I'll look into your location suggestions and see what I can find. I obviously need to confirma location then keep my fingers crossed!

Just to save you the bother of looking - there's no equivalent of league tables or Ofsted inspections here. After a while the whole Zen-ness of accepting what's given becomes quite relaxing, and keeping all the kids local gives a real sense of community.

Good luck for your move.

kodokan