C decides that he wants me to come to school with them as he wants to try biking to school today and is worried about balancing on his bike with his school bag – he wants me there in case he falls off. Fair enough, it’s a big bag and he’s still learning how to balance properly. So, off we go.
We’ve now tried all 3 methods of getting to school in 3 school trips. The bike shed is a kind of open room at cellar level (with a ramp leading down to it) just as you go into the Schulhaus. We’re not late by any means but the shed is already packed with bikes, many of which appear to have a Gemeinde sticker on them as well as the Swiss velo vignette, and I wonder if this is the Swiss version of the Cycling Proficiency Test. The boys find small spaces for their bikes and lock them up. I’m not sure we need to lock them up but the boys like using their locks and recent experience has taught me that it’s a good habit to encourage for when we go on holiday out of our Swiss bubble……..
J runs off without even saying goodbye, so he’s obviously happy. C discreetly waves me off.
Lunchtime
They appear from school, safely, both saying they’ve had a good morning. They are late again but this time it’s because J couldn’t understand the instructions for his maths homework and was asking the teacher for more guidance, which she gave. We have told them both to ask for help until they can understand, rather than struggle with the language. C also has maths homework, which he gets on with immediately. C has now made 2 friends (no competition there, honest) but can’t remember their names…. He has also had maths, more singing (I like this school, a lot) and has had a German lesson all on his own whilst his own class did English, and he got on well with the work and with his teacher. Good.
J’s teacher has given them a tube of Smarties each, with a code for the colours, saying (apparently) “You can have a pink one when you’ve had a good idea, a red one is to stop you falling in love, a brown one is for when you’re stressed with homework” (continues) Who says the Swiss don’t have a sense of humour ?
The boys eat, then set off back to school. 2 minutes later they reappear at the door – "We’ll be too early Mum so can we watch TV for 10 minutes ?" OK. 15 minutes later I have forgotten they were in the house, lost track of time and am yelling at them to get back to school because they’ll be late. This is not a wise move as they are now flustered and panicking, and about to get on their bikes with their backpacks on. So I wave them off and follow at a discreet distance to make sure they don’t get even more flustered and fall into the road. Of course they get there fine, and I return home, chiding myself for fussing.
Teatime
Home again. They are still friends with the people they made friends with yesterday. This is encouraging. C has no homework, having been a good boy swot and done it at lunchtime. J gets on with his maths and German reading. J has had English today but stayed in the main class rather than have extra German (as C did this morning). I hope he gets some extra German tuition but I’m leaving that to the school staff to sort out.
J tells me at great length about “the naughty board”. Apparently there are various zones of this board, and where people’s names appear on it is in direct relation to the level of their naughtiness. Today one boy was in the worst zone for having laughed at another boy who had forgotten to speak High German and had accidentally spoken Swiss German in the lesson.
This is good, because at least it means that they really do teach in High German in the schools (I have seen concern expressed by some expat parents that behind closed doors the Swiss teach in dialect rather than High German – clearly not true here).
It seems to be going OK so far.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Monday 18th August 2008
Good grief, we’ve overslept and it’s the first morning of school. Yikes !
Not a good start but we manage to get the boys up and breakfast on the table in record time. Breakfast is a struggle with both of them claiming to be too nervous to eat, but I make them eat half a bowl of weetabix and drink some milk. OH is coming with us today to school as it’s the first day.
We bought Swiss school bags from the Co-op in June and the boys were nearly ecstatic with delight “Oh Mum, that’s the bag I’ve wanted all year” etc etc. I don’t think it was the exact one, as it was on offer so it must be last year’s fashion, but they don’t know that. Yet. And, despite the haircuts, I am fairly desperate for them to fit in rather than make it obvious that they are auslanders, hence the bags and the scooters, which we also found in June.
The bags are heavy this morning – with PE kit and indoor shoes as well as the pencil cases. The Co-op school bag kit contained the main bag, the PE bag, one filled pencil case, a spare pencil case (presumably for maths instruments and extra colouring things) and a snack box. Bargain. Well not really, it was still 49CHF at the reduced price, but a comparative bargain for a Swiss school bag, the prices of which can reach an eye watering 200CHF.
A couple of nerves-induced tears, and then we’re off. It’s a 10 minute walk or a 6 minute bike ride or scoot to the Schulhaus. This morning we walk. I’ve already taught them the route I want them to take to school which is among the quickest but avoids the zebra crossings on blind corners (a rather dangerous Swiss speciality) and minimises the number of roads to cross in the first place.
Swiss school children walk themselves to school on their own from Kindergarten / Grade 1 age (5-7), but we are not the only parents in the playground today, so that’s OK, at least we aren’t making them feel like sissies. I hope. There are children everywhere in the playground and lots of parents, with countless girls lined up with their noses pressed eagerly against the glass door waiting for the bell to ring. It’s a happy atmosphere, and bodes well, we hope.The bell rings and there’s an almighty rush for the main school doors.
J is in Klasse 4. His teacher recognises us from the Besuchermorgen (Visitors Morning) and comes to say hello and shake hands. She is extremely friendly and speaks good English. J goes off with her to his sport lesson.We follow the masses into the main school building and up the stairs to C’s classroom. C is in Klasse 2. Again, his teacher finds us outside the room and greets us cheerily in German, showing C where to put his PE bag, outdoor shoes and school bag. The Headteacher, who impressed us greatly when we visited in May, also stops to greet us enthusiastically. 8.15am on Day 1 and it’s looking good…….
We leave C, and OH gets off on his bike to work. I walk home, wondering at the beauty of the village in the morning summer sunshine. Even the mountains have made an appearance, for the first time in weeks. It’s a good day for a new start.
Lunchtime
They’re back, they’ve walked on their own. How was it ? "Fine, good". J has made a friend, and had a good morning, and C has also had a good time and has sung all morning. I’m sure he hasn’t, but I don’t mind if he has, being a singer myself. If I was 7, went to school and sang all morning I’d be chuffed to bits.
They both remind me of the details form I’ve not filled out for their teachers yet. Blast. Meant to do it when OH was here as his German’s better than mine, which is, sadly, still at pidgin level. So I attempt it and leave a couple of boxes blank, and tell them to hand them in and let me know if there’s a problem.They manage a bit more lunch than breakfast, and then eagerly get back to school, this time on their scooters and miles too early. All the children I saw on scooters this morning were wearing bike helmets, so I make the boys wear theirs, which they do, reluctantly.
J seems to have some sort of optional Bible class at the end of Monday, so I tell them to wait at school after classes finish as I’m not sure if he’s doing the class, and in any case I think I should be there for them the first day.
I plan to go to the post office in the village and aim to get back to school at finishing time. This is all timed, theoretically, with Swiss precision. But I then have a ridiculous British pantomime with my shopping bag falling out of my bike basket outside the house and me not noticing until I was at the post office, so I bike back to the house, get my bag, bike back to the post office and promptly get held up in a queue. So now it’s my turn to be late again. I get back to school late, and the boys have gone home without me. They are there on the doorstep when I get home, “MUM WHERE WERE YOU” at school darlings, waiting for you……
They declare the day to have been “brilliant”. Result ! J has made 2 friends, C hasn’t made any but has done even more singing (I’m less and less sure about this) and this afternoon “made things. Gluing and sticking”. He also did some maths and got it all right. Phew.
J does his homework – some reading in German. C has no homework. They are happy. Phew.
The first day is done, and we all go to bed a great deal more relaxed than last night.
Not a good start but we manage to get the boys up and breakfast on the table in record time. Breakfast is a struggle with both of them claiming to be too nervous to eat, but I make them eat half a bowl of weetabix and drink some milk. OH is coming with us today to school as it’s the first day.
We bought Swiss school bags from the Co-op in June and the boys were nearly ecstatic with delight “Oh Mum, that’s the bag I’ve wanted all year” etc etc. I don’t think it was the exact one, as it was on offer so it must be last year’s fashion, but they don’t know that. Yet. And, despite the haircuts, I am fairly desperate for them to fit in rather than make it obvious that they are auslanders, hence the bags and the scooters, which we also found in June.
The bags are heavy this morning – with PE kit and indoor shoes as well as the pencil cases. The Co-op school bag kit contained the main bag, the PE bag, one filled pencil case, a spare pencil case (presumably for maths instruments and extra colouring things) and a snack box. Bargain. Well not really, it was still 49CHF at the reduced price, but a comparative bargain for a Swiss school bag, the prices of which can reach an eye watering 200CHF.
A couple of nerves-induced tears, and then we’re off. It’s a 10 minute walk or a 6 minute bike ride or scoot to the Schulhaus. This morning we walk. I’ve already taught them the route I want them to take to school which is among the quickest but avoids the zebra crossings on blind corners (a rather dangerous Swiss speciality) and minimises the number of roads to cross in the first place.
Swiss school children walk themselves to school on their own from Kindergarten / Grade 1 age (5-7), but we are not the only parents in the playground today, so that’s OK, at least we aren’t making them feel like sissies. I hope. There are children everywhere in the playground and lots of parents, with countless girls lined up with their noses pressed eagerly against the glass door waiting for the bell to ring. It’s a happy atmosphere, and bodes well, we hope.The bell rings and there’s an almighty rush for the main school doors.
J is in Klasse 4. His teacher recognises us from the Besuchermorgen (Visitors Morning) and comes to say hello and shake hands. She is extremely friendly and speaks good English. J goes off with her to his sport lesson.We follow the masses into the main school building and up the stairs to C’s classroom. C is in Klasse 2. Again, his teacher finds us outside the room and greets us cheerily in German, showing C where to put his PE bag, outdoor shoes and school bag. The Headteacher, who impressed us greatly when we visited in May, also stops to greet us enthusiastically. 8.15am on Day 1 and it’s looking good…….
We leave C, and OH gets off on his bike to work. I walk home, wondering at the beauty of the village in the morning summer sunshine. Even the mountains have made an appearance, for the first time in weeks. It’s a good day for a new start.
Lunchtime
They’re back, they’ve walked on their own. How was it ? "Fine, good". J has made a friend, and had a good morning, and C has also had a good time and has sung all morning. I’m sure he hasn’t, but I don’t mind if he has, being a singer myself. If I was 7, went to school and sang all morning I’d be chuffed to bits.
They both remind me of the details form I’ve not filled out for their teachers yet. Blast. Meant to do it when OH was here as his German’s better than mine, which is, sadly, still at pidgin level. So I attempt it and leave a couple of boxes blank, and tell them to hand them in and let me know if there’s a problem.They manage a bit more lunch than breakfast, and then eagerly get back to school, this time on their scooters and miles too early. All the children I saw on scooters this morning were wearing bike helmets, so I make the boys wear theirs, which they do, reluctantly.
J seems to have some sort of optional Bible class at the end of Monday, so I tell them to wait at school after classes finish as I’m not sure if he’s doing the class, and in any case I think I should be there for them the first day.
I plan to go to the post office in the village and aim to get back to school at finishing time. This is all timed, theoretically, with Swiss precision. But I then have a ridiculous British pantomime with my shopping bag falling out of my bike basket outside the house and me not noticing until I was at the post office, so I bike back to the house, get my bag, bike back to the post office and promptly get held up in a queue. So now it’s my turn to be late again. I get back to school late, and the boys have gone home without me. They are there on the doorstep when I get home, “MUM WHERE WERE YOU” at school darlings, waiting for you……
They declare the day to have been “brilliant”. Result ! J has made 2 friends, C hasn’t made any but has done even more singing (I’m less and less sure about this) and this afternoon “made things. Gluing and sticking”. He also did some maths and got it all right. Phew.
J does his homework – some reading in German. C has no homework. They are happy. Phew.
The first day is done, and we all go to bed a great deal more relaxed than last night.
Sunday 17th August 2008
We’re packed and ready.
I’ve given the boys their customary hair cut – a number 4 all over - which will, unfortunately, immediately distinguish them from their mullet-styled Swiss peers. I’m not sophisticated enough to manage anything other than a number 4 all over - I started cutting their hair myself last year when we arrived in Zurich after nearly fainting at the apparent cost of small boys’ haircuts (prices of 50CHF were carelessly touted round my circle of friends as quite normal for a boy in Zurich. £25 ? For a short back and sides on a 7 year old ? Are they taking the mick ? I’m not having any of that, I’ll buy a pair of clippers and cut it myself so I can afford my own increasingly necessary highlights). They’ve also – under protest of course – washed their hair, and I’ve cut their nails. It’s a miracle I don’t cut off their fingers, the amount they wriggle, still, aged 9 and 7.
And so to bed, for another night of disturbed sleep and alarming dreams. I haven’t slept properly for several weeks. This night I dream that I’m in a very crowded car being driven by Prince Charles (after a long lunch), he loses control of the car and we end up in a ditch. Make of that what you will, psychologists.
The children, of course, sleep like tops as per usual.
I’ve given the boys their customary hair cut – a number 4 all over - which will, unfortunately, immediately distinguish them from their mullet-styled Swiss peers. I’m not sophisticated enough to manage anything other than a number 4 all over - I started cutting their hair myself last year when we arrived in Zurich after nearly fainting at the apparent cost of small boys’ haircuts (prices of 50CHF were carelessly touted round my circle of friends as quite normal for a boy in Zurich. £25 ? For a short back and sides on a 7 year old ? Are they taking the mick ? I’m not having any of that, I’ll buy a pair of clippers and cut it myself so I can afford my own increasingly necessary highlights). They’ve also – under protest of course – washed their hair, and I’ve cut their nails. It’s a miracle I don’t cut off their fingers, the amount they wriggle, still, aged 9 and 7.
And so to bed, for another night of disturbed sleep and alarming dreams. I haven’t slept properly for several weeks. This night I dream that I’m in a very crowded car being driven by Prince Charles (after a long lunch), he loses control of the car and we end up in a ditch. Make of that what you will, psychologists.
The children, of course, sleep like tops as per usual.
August 2008
The penultimate week of the holidays we receive an equally friendly card from C’s teacher with his weekly timetable and her private contact details. Fortunately this one comes with a key to which letters represent which subjects. He will have 8 sessions – Wednesday and Thursday afternoons off.
OH rings J’s teacher as we can’t remember if they need indoor shoes – they do. She is happy to field questions from us about next week.
English is taught from Grade 2, as it is now officially the second language in Kanton Zurich. They will start French in Grade 5. However, I have decided to enrol them in the English Reading and Writing lessons at the WAC in Uster, to keep up their English learning at the right level for them. I feel this is particularly important as they have both really developed a love of reading since we’ve been here, and they’ve had a good start in English up to now
OH rings J’s teacher as we can’t remember if they need indoor shoes – they do. She is happy to field questions from us about next week.
English is taught from Grade 2, as it is now officially the second language in Kanton Zurich. They will start French in Grade 5. However, I have decided to enrol them in the English Reading and Writing lessons at the WAC in Uster, to keep up their English learning at the right level for them. I feel this is particularly important as they have both really developed a love of reading since we’ve been here, and they’ve had a good start in English up to now
July 2008
The first week of the holidays we are gobsmacked to receive a phone call from the big international school 10km away from us, offering us a place for J, against all the odds. However, we feel that our decision has been made and the boys are all geared up to go local, so, feeling slightly sick about the situation, we turn it down. The logistics of it would have been difficult anyway.
We also receive a very friendly letter from J’s new teacher for next year, with his weekly timetable, and her private contact details. Unfortunately it appears to be written in code, as the lesson blocks are just allocated a letter of the alphabet with no explanation, so we ask for the teacher neighbour’s help to decipher it, and it makes more sense. He will have 9 sessions of school per week: 5 mornings and 4 afternoons (no school Wednesday afternoons).
We also receive a very friendly letter from J’s new teacher for next year, with his weekly timetable, and her private contact details. Unfortunately it appears to be written in code, as the lesson blocks are just allocated a letter of the alphabet with no explanation, so we ask for the teacher neighbour’s help to decipher it, and it makes more sense. He will have 9 sessions of school per week: 5 mornings and 4 afternoons (no school Wednesday afternoons).
June 2008
The boys have known for a couple of months that we were debating which school to move them to. We tell them our decision. They are upset as they only went through all this last year when we left Manchester, but we explain that they will still see their friends at the international school for playdates, sleepovers etc, and in any case some of their friends might have to leave Zurich as their parents’ jobs might have to move, as that’s the nature of family life at international schools. They’ve already experienced this – C made a lovely friend this year who has had to repatriate to Sweden. They like the idea of making permanent friends, and also walking to school on their own – the height of grown-up-ness and responsibility.
We ask if we can visit the school with the children for the Besuchermorgen (Visitors Morning) and the answer is yes. This is not an open morning as such – but a morning where parents are welcome to go into class and observe a normal teaching morning. We meet both teachers for next year, and they are both interested in the boys and very welcoming. J will have his teacher for 3 years (Grades 4-6) and C his for 2 (Grades 2-3). J meets another new boy who is moving to the village, which is nice.
C gets the hump (not sure if this is just for my benefit or whether he would have done this in my absence) because his class are reading aloud German text from an overhead projector – he’s not learnt to read German yet. So I reassure him that the German they are reading is much simpler than the English he’s doing at his current school, and promise that we’ll try to get some learn-to-read-German books to have a look at during the summer.
The next day I raid the village Post Office bookshelves for workbooks. They have an excellent selection of books to help learn to read in German, and I come home armed with resources to try to help the boys and give them a little confidence before they start.
The summer holidays begin. The boys are nervous about the new school but we’ve explained to them our reasons for choosing to go local, and they are making a good attempt to understand - bless ‘em.
We ask if we can visit the school with the children for the Besuchermorgen (Visitors Morning) and the answer is yes. This is not an open morning as such – but a morning where parents are welcome to go into class and observe a normal teaching morning. We meet both teachers for next year, and they are both interested in the boys and very welcoming. J will have his teacher for 3 years (Grades 4-6) and C his for 2 (Grades 2-3). J meets another new boy who is moving to the village, which is nice.
C gets the hump (not sure if this is just for my benefit or whether he would have done this in my absence) because his class are reading aloud German text from an overhead projector – he’s not learnt to read German yet. So I reassure him that the German they are reading is much simpler than the English he’s doing at his current school, and promise that we’ll try to get some learn-to-read-German books to have a look at during the summer.
The next day I raid the village Post Office bookshelves for workbooks. They have an excellent selection of books to help learn to read in German, and I come home armed with resources to try to help the boys and give them a little confidence before they start.
The summer holidays begin. The boys are nervous about the new school but we’ve explained to them our reasons for choosing to go local, and they are making a good attempt to understand - bless ‘em.
May 2008
By May, C is making progress on the maths front, which is a relief.
We decide that we really ought to see if we can visit the other Swiss village school, so we do. This one we like even more than the first one. The Headteacher here speaks excellent English and also happens to be chairman of the board of Headteachers within the Gemeinde, so he knows all the schools very well and is able to explain a number of things, including :
- that they follow the Kanton Zurich policy of block timetabling - good.
- He would be able to ensure that the children end up in the same school as each other (which isn’t always the case in Switzerland – family members are often separated) and that he will get them into his school as it’s much smaller (c.240 pupils) and probably would be better for them.
- that they have a policy of not keeping auslander children back a year as it has repercussions at puberty when they are then not with their immediate peer group.
- The boys would be placed in the main class but would get extra German tuition (rather than being in a special class until their German is good enough for them to join the main class.)
We express our concern that if either of the boys is to have a fighting chance of achieving gymnasium entrance (which is by no means a prerequisite for us, but if they are academic it would be a good opportunity), would they have sufficient time to catch up to the required level in German ? After all, J is 9 and only has 3 years left in primary school, so time is of the essence for him. The headteacher explains that there are two opportunites for Gymnase entrance in Kanton Zurich, the Kurz Gymnase (short Gymnase – lasts 3 years) and the Lang Gymnase (all 6 years).
Finally, he gives us a DVD which explains, in English, among other languages, how the school system works in Kanton Zurich, three copies of the Gemeinde School Magazine (which is excellent) and the home phone number of one of his members of staff who is American – he tells us to ring her if we have any more questions – not because he doesn’t want to field them himself, but he realises that it might be easier for us to talk to someone who also speaks the same mother tongue.
Wow.
We come out of the meeting thoroughly cheered: this is clearly a very sensible option for us. They really do seem genuinely happy to welcome us auslanders and they seem happy to help us integrate.
The icing on the cake is that I then get home and bump into the Swiss Italian neighbour again – it turns out that this is the school where her youngest son is. The one who has been on 3 school camps this year.
We're still a bit concerned about the secondary level of schooling but have decided that if they don’t get into the Gymnase – and therefore have the opportunity to do the university entrance standard Swiss Matura - we can consider putting them into an international school at 15 to complete the IB diploma. Hopefully by this time I’ll be earning again, and they will be able to get themselves to school independently.
OH contacts the Schulsekretariat by email, copying in the Headteacher, who then emails back, within a couple of hours, allocating the boys to his school, and naming which classes they will be in.
It’s done: we're going Swiss.
April 2008
April sees the first appointment I’ve had with the childrens’ German teacher at their international school. Both boys started in the Beginners stream and rapidly transferred into Intermediate. Their teacher informs me that they are both doing very well, J in particular. I’m thrilled with this if a little surprised, as they are both reluctant to speak it at home. In fact it gets me thinking – if we don’t immerse them in the Swiss system now it could be a huge opportunity to develop their language skills - lost.
It also saw the start of C needing some help with his maths – for reasons which mystify me even now, he had managed to slip through the net in both his schools to date and, at the age of 7 and the point at which he would have been sitting his Key Stage 1 SATS tests in England, he couldn’t add up to 10. So we commence an intensive course of help for him, just about covering the whole of KS1 in the time between April and August. I don’t want him to struggle next year, whichever decision we take. And I beat myself up continuously as I had no idea he was struggling so much.
:((
Still very keen on the IB, we visit another international school in the city where OH works. The school is excellent, they have places available, they are seeking authorisation for the Middle Years programme of the IB and have a definite plan and structure to extend this authorisation to the Diploma level. But when I get home I look at the mileometre in the car and realise that I have just driven 70 km. This would mean 140km and 3 hours in the car every day just to get them to school. Factor in the after school activities and the party invitations as far as the German and Austrian borders and what do you get ? Me in the loony bin. And we would still have to find money for fees – and the boys still wouldn’t know anyone in the village. I love the IB and I love this school, but we also love where we live and don’t want to move, and to choose this school at this stage would make no sense.
March 2008
For historical reasons there are two primary schools in the village and one of our other neighbours is a teacher at one of them.We visit this school, and are impressed with the facilities and the staff. Perhaps this wouldn’t be such a bad move after all….. the childrens’ language development would be very good, and they would have friends in the village at last, but we hear that they might have to be kept back a year because their German might not be very good to start with, and we still prefer the idea of the IB as an end result of their education.
February 2008
During the sports week holiday I bump into our neighbour (the one with the very normal but accomplished sons) and ask after her youngest son, who is 12 and in Grade 6 in the village school. She tells me that he is away on school ski camp for the week. This gets me thinking – since October, he has been away on no less than 3 school camps – standard school camp, music school camp and now ski school camp.
Hmmmmmm. Am I missing something ?
Hmmmmmm. Am I missing something ?
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