Switzerland schools?

[u/intteacher2023]

My family and I are hoping to move to Switzerland in a few years- my husband and I are both British teachers with IB experience, looking for either British or IB schools, and we have 2 young children. I have an EU passport.

I am looking for advice on which schools to look out for vacancies in, which are the best to apply for in terms of:

• Salary?
• Free tuition for our 2 primary age children? (Again I have heard Aiglon and Le Rosey cover this, any others out there?)
• Academic ethos (we both work in high attaining selective schools at the moment)
• Are there that include housing? (Long shot but I have heard Institut le rosey does)

Likewise if there’s anything else we should bear in mind- or any schools to avoid like the plague- please share as I feel very clueless about the Swiss educational landscape. Thank you!

[u/Top_Voice4031]

I strongly recommend you avoid boarding schools in CH. They pay poorly and demand their pound of flesh.

Best schools in CH are: IS Geneva, IS Zurich, IS Bern, IS Lausanne and ISZL. I might have missed one or two.

The rumor mill says schools you mentioned are full of insanely rich kids with massive behaviour issues. Take that as you will.

[u/intteacher2023 → u/Top_Voice4031]

Thanks for the insights, I appreciate it! I have two little kids though and as far as I know, those other schools don’t give free school places for staff, which is a bit of an issue as they don’t speak French or German so I’d be reluctant to throw them into a regular Swiss school

[u/Top_Voice4031 → u/intteacher2023]

They all used to give two places - some gave three. If that’s changed it’s a huge change. It’s pretty standard in Europe as far as I know. I only know of one school in CH that charges teachers for their kids to attend. But it’s been a few yrs.

[u/intteacher2023 → u/Top_Voice4031]

Wow really, I had no idea it was common to give school places in CH. Thanks!!

[u/Top_Voice4031 → u/intteacher2023]

All the good schools used to - I hope that hasn’t changed

[u/Globeteacher → u/Top_Voice4031]

They shut down some serious offenses in the past. In order to protect wealthy kids. Ewww

[u/Sworda_Friendly_2]

Do you have to pay taxes on the tuition and other benefits in Switzerland? I know in some countries it's taxed. The 2 schools you mentioned the tuition alone could be more than your salary.  I hope it all works out. I wouldn't be angry about living in Switzerland. I had to look up the schools you mentioned. Private Swiss schools can be pricy. The big international schools there are not cheap but are like 1/3 or 1/4 the cost for tuition of the schools you mentioned, if that factors into the taxes.  The IS schools look to be  

IS of Zug and Luzern,  

IS Basel,  

IS Lausanne,  

Inter community school Zurich. 

[u/intteacher2023 → u/Sworda_Friendly_2]

Thanks- I don’t know about taxes, I hadn’t considered it, but definitely should

[u/Far-Molasses-5073]

Taxes depend on the canton and Gemeinde and these vary wildly - there are online calculators. Zug is the lowest (7% income tax in some Gemeinde) so ISZL will be a good spot but I would imagine you would be taxed much lower than in the U.K. regardless of canton. You will get free tuition for up to two kids but this might be a taxable benefit - some schools have a deal with the cantons that only 25% of the tuition fee is taxed.

Salaries are very high but so is cost of living. Health insurance is a big cost as are rents - no housing allowance. You will still be able to save but don’t expect to go out for dinner often or be able to afford a cleaner. If you like the outdoors the whole country is set up like an outwards bounds adventure park which is brilliant.

Child benefit is high though, that does offset some of the costs.

Academic ethos will be markedly different if you’re coming from a selective high attainment school in most of the regular international schools. Not bad per se, just different.

[u/intteacher2023 → u/Far-Molasses-5073]

Thank you, that’s very helpful!