tell me about it! its really super hard to find a spot!!!!

anyhow there is a new creche that is being built and they have few available sports still, so if u contact them and sign up fast u should be good!

thats what i did!!!

they are in ecublens which is 15 min away from lauanne city center, shoudl be ok:

http://www.creche-lausanne.ch/

other than  that, you should sign up asap on the BIP ( the public creche system)and ask that they sign u up for the "mamans de jours" list

can be cheaper depending on your salaries

here is the link

http://www.lausanne.ch/bip

"We would love to have our kids at a Montessori daycare, if that is possible at all."

Unfortunately, no accredited Montessori school in Lausanne (and avoid the ones that call themselves Montessori, they are awful). Lots in Geneva, and also in Nyon. And one in Vevey. For info and addresses www.montessori-suisse.ch.

The Swiss system is very well organized but it's true that it's a challenge to find a spot for a child in any public day cares of the commune. They are all very full.. But according to the area you live in Lausanne, the system will tell  you in which day care your child will go. I dont have the site name for it but I can look for it if you'd like. Now if you both work and have a good salary, you'll probably end up paying as much as in a private day care. So I'd suggest you try that.  There are many day cares that are bilingual in the area between Gland and Lausanne. I don't know them all but I work in one of them. We are not Montessori but our preschool section is working now on a Montessori approach with the children (I'm responsible for the preschool section of the day care).

Day cares here provide for the lunch of the children, educators look after them during that time and then put them to sleep. Parents are not supposed to be there at that moment. Lunch and nap are part of the day of a child at theday care.

Day cares welcome children from 4 months up to 4 years old in different groups and sections. Some kids come full time, others come 2 to 4 full or half days. The only rule is to have him come twice during the week, for social and adaptation reasons.

Day cares are usually open from around 6 am til 18h 30 and provide lunch and nap. Garderies have more flexible openings hours. I think that's the difference. Now jardins d'enfants are only open half days and they usually don't provide lunch and nap. Sonetimes they offer a program that prepares the child for school. But depending on the pedagogy, some day cares and garderie offer that too. However I would say that most public day cares only offer play time and different activities to help the children get independant and to socialize between themselves. Now its very interesting to know what approach they use. Some are very different. 

I have 20 years experience in child care here in CH so please feel free to contact me personally if you'd wish. I'll be more available next week though as my holidays will be over.

Thank you everyone for your replies, I have emailed the BIP and asked if we need to reside in Lausanne in order to get on that "Liste d'Attente Centralisée"

Rania: Thanks for the link to that creche! looks very nice.

Blaise: Thanks for the link!

Myriam: Very helpful information, thanks! I am starting to realize just *how* lucky we are here in Montreal. Here we have 2 100% spots for our kids, but they only go from 10am to 4pm. Daycare is cheap compared to Switzerland! We pay $35 per day per child. Which is SFR 30.

How do we get on a private Kindergarten waiting list? Can we contact them directly and put our kids on the waiting list, even if we don't reside in the Lausanne area yet (it could be another 6 months before we move)? Our kids grow up bilingual, French and German. So a solely French kindergarten would do as well. Although I wouldn't mind a French/English one, if we can get a spot there.

Thanks!

For private day care you can contact them directly by email or by phone. Then you can visit the place. They will tell you right away if they have room or not for the time you'll be here. No need to live in the town where the creche is. All parents pay the same no  matter their salary or where they live.

Little Green House (in Gland or Morges) is trilangual. German French and English.

Cap Canaille (in Morges Mont sur Lausanne and Rolle) have groups in English and others in French. Parents chose where they want their child to be. These are just a couple I can think right now.

And yeah you'll pay more than 4 times what you pay in Montreal. You can bring your child up to 9am and pick him up from around 5pm.

Oh by the way yes you can reserve a spot. But it will cost you a certain amount per month. .. nothing is free:-)

My daughter goes to Le Microcosme in Lausanne which opened a year ago and probably isn't 100% full. For full day attendance, we can drop her off as early as 7:30 and pick her up by 6:30. Lunch is included as part of the fees. 

Hi Marion,

My daughter goes to the Nanosphere crèche at the EPFL near Lausanne, and the team there is really good. They do plenty of activities to help the children's learning and advancement. They provide a full lunch menu (3 courses) plus breakfast and a fruity snack after nap time. My 3 year old daughter loves it there and even said she wants to be an "educatrice" like her favourite person at the crèche! :)

I think it's the same company that runs Le Microcosme in Lausanne as well, and they are open 7.30am to 6.30pm. They have some availability as a new crèche, but I don't know if they could fit 2 children at 100% (they might only be able to offer a couple of days to begin with).

As others have said, childcare here isn't cheap and the Nanosphere is no exception. The prices take into account your household income, so if you both work it's likely that you will pay a high price for the crèche, especially private ones. Crèches run by the local commune are cheaper (but not by a lot) however places are really limited - we signed up for the crèche in Bussigny when my wife was pregnant and they finally offered us a place (for 1 day a week) for the coming school year!!

Good luck with it all!

Paul