Switzerland
Leysin
An American boarding house on a Vaud mountain, not a Zurich day campus. The live tuition page prints francs without a year. Sunday evening is the honest tour.
School portraits in this city
Keep reading
IB, A-Levels, Bac, Abitur: a friendly decoder
The letters on the leaver’s certificate matter. They are not the whole child. Here is how to tell them apart without a headache, and without pretending every door stays open.
16 minHow to choose a school without losing the plot
You do not need a perfect algorithm. You need a few true things about your child, a boring list on the fridge, and the courage to ignore a beautiful campus that does not fit.
15 minHow to read a European school fee PDF without being sold
Tuition is the number on the homepage. The PDF is the number that arrives in March. Here is how to read the second one, without inventing a euro, a krona, or a deadline.
12 minTen questions that make a school tour actually useful
Skip the question about last year’s average. Ask the ones that make a teacher’s face change. Then look at the corridor while they answer.
Other cities nearby
Geneva
Three climates on one lake: Ecolint’s foundation campuses, a Versoix boarding-and-day house with five diplomas, and a Petit-Lancy privé with Swiss, French and IB papers. Time the commute, not the postcard.
Zurich
Two Zurich-area climates: ZIS on the lake shore in Wädenswil and Adliswil, and ICS in Zumikon. Not Bahnhofstrasse. Time both roads.
Basel
The IB continuum sits in Aesch and Reinach, south of the city, not on the Rhine bend. Time tram 11. This is not Zurich.
Lugano
An American day-and-boarding hill above the lake, not Geneva and not Zurich. Boarding starts at Grade 6. Time Montagnola, not Bahnhofstrasse.