Hi Alfonso

People will tell you different things : the merits of the Swiss system, the merits of the French system and ultimately it is you who will have to decide what is best for your family. But from the poor side of the Lake, we believe the French educational system works well in that there are not these very curious hours which the Swiss have, i.e. some days in the mornings at different times, some days afternoons ditto. The children in our district seem happy, well-adjusted and happy to go to school. Hope you make the right decision.

Sheila

Hi,

I think both systems are quite equivalent for young children, but one big difference is that public school starts much earlier in France (around 2.5 - 3 years old in France and around 4-5 years old in Switzerland).

Per

Not clear whether you have decided where to live yet. I work in Geneva and have been living in France (pays de Gex) and love it. It means living in a village, with beatiful country side all around me, and with all the amenities of city life. Food and wine are better and everything is more affordable. It takes me 15 minutes to get to the centre of Geneva by car and less than 10 minutes to drive to work. Best of both worlds, and while I respect the Swiss, I find the French lifestyle and culture more to my personal taste.

My daughter goes to public French school. If the quality of education is comparable, the great advantage is that all her school friends live close by, so she has a great social life.

Hello everybody

I haven't made up my mind yet, indeed I will move in May, and my family during the summer.

For what you say (thanks a bunch!) France seems a perfectly ok option. My worries are if the system is very "elitistic" with lots of homework and so on... (it is a little bit like that here in Belgium, where we live, and we don't like it...).

I have seen that Ferney (and other locations) have an public international school -my wife being german, it is important for us to cover that language as well, what the Swiss system does-. This is also a very big good point for france :-)

We also lived in Belgium for many years and found the educational system to be excellent but with a certain amount of pressure.

What strikes us so forcibly when encountering school children of most ages hereabouts {Evian}, is that they are so polite, mostly always saying "bonjour" with a smile [even the teenagers]!!!

As someone who is very much based in Geneva, I am always impressed when

in France by the politeness and courtesy of French children and teenagers.

However, to avoid straying from the point of this thread,

I would just like to add a comment about German tuition in State schools.

Geneva is a fiercely francophone canton and while German is necessarily part of the curriculum, there seems to be an innate reluctance to give the language the attention it deserves.

Indeed, when German Swiss and French Swiss colleagues meet to discuss policy and tactical issues it is not unusual for English to be used.

That said, there is an excellent private German school in Geneva but it is, of course, quite costly.

In deciding where to live, much depends on the length of your stay, your business travel commitments, and much more.

Best wishes in any event,

R.

Thanks to all, this is really helpful. I think that we are now a little bit more positive with living in france than we were at the beginning. In any case, we are lucky to be choosing among two good things :-)

Have a nice week everybody!

If you are going to move around a lot, the French Lycée is everywhere among the best schools avalaible.