Autumn 2006

OH’s job is being relocated permanently to Winterthur, so after a great deal of soul searching, we decide to accept the move and try this ex pat lark 3 years to start with.

By a strange coincidence we have2 lots of close family in Switzerland too – one of whose children were educated at international schools in Lausanne and Geneva, and one whose children have gone / are going through the Swiss state system also near Lausanne, but with a couple of hiccups here and there. They have all had a very good education, either in the international or the Swiss system. Both of these families were fluent French speaking before they arrived in the French-speaking part of CH, so they have no issues with language.

We are moving to Kanton Zurich and have not a single word of German between us, so I am having a monumental hissy fit and refusing to consider Swiss state school – at least for now. OH has negotiated with the firm for them to pay for international school fees for the first three years of our time here, to help us adjust to the new surroundings, but after 3 years the firm will only supplement the school fees, and on a sliding scale down until the boys reach age 15, where they stop altogether (this is the age where most Swiss children leave school, and at the moment we hope ours will want to stay on to do Sixth-Form equivalent).