Hi Ryan,

Both my boys attended the he English National Programme in Ferney. It is great.   Really great.  Though mine were attending French schools at the time,  I believe it may be possible for kids to do some of their hours at the ENP, with dispensation from the school they are attending. The french curriculum and methods of teaching, however are not for everyone, and requires a good level of French. Kids learn quickly, though.

My kids also went to public school in Switzerland. Not as interesting in my opinion, though they are not as heavily dependant on the involvement of parents as are the French schools. That was exhausting.

My kids loved the ENP, but hated the French schools. Not for them.  They managed, but the school experience was not good.

Still, it depends on the child. My brother in law's kids (4 of them) are doing very well, and enjoy it. They, however, had a good level of French from schools abroad, and are quite studious.

I hope this helped.

best

mary

Thanks Mary.

Ryan

Hi, Ryan. Two of my three children went to Ferney as part of the Dutch-language program (we're American but the kids were born and raised in Belgium).

My understanding is that you have a quite good chance of getting your kids into the English National Program (the most popular of the school's non-French-language programs) even if you don't live in the district where your kids would normally attend Ferney. If you choose to live in France in the area of Ferney, your kids would automatically be able to enroll there, though I believe they'd still have to apply for the ENP.

I agree with what Mary said about the French being necessary, but when we moved to France from Belgium, my kids had no French. They learned quickly and are now fluent (keeping in mind that they were bilingual when we moved here and already had an aptitude for languages).In fact, there is also a special program at Ferney for children who don't speak French -- it's designed to give them a lot of extra help with the language and if you do put your kids there, I'd highly recommend it.

There are some sports activities (as well as gym) and the kids also take a music class, but American "things" such as marching band, school sports team, etc. really don't exist here.

The school is very inviting to new students (there are lots of different nationalities there so no one is really a foreigner) and my kids didn't find it particularly cliquish. My son had some problems with some North African/Middle Eastern kids -- they tend to stay in groups and with groups, kids can become bold and unpleasant.

A lot of the kids (foreign kids) going to Ferney come from affluent families and yes, you can buy drugs (pot) there. But I don't think it's a big problem and probably no worse than an American school.

I can't speak about Swiss schools as my children have only attended Ferney and the "college" (middle school) closer to where we live. The French schools can be daunting, especially for American kids used to teachers being rather coddling, or at least more supportive. Many teachers in France teach by being negative rather than positive. The schools here are tougher than American schools -- my daughter, who is 12, had classes including math, chemistry/physics, history/geography, French, English and technology last year.

Hope this helps.