The perfect school does not exist, but the perfect school for my child does

As parents, we all want what is best for our children. We want them to be happy, feel safe, develop their abilities, confidence, knowledge, points of view and skills. We want to give them the best education possible, allow them to feel perfectly prepared to conquer the world, to follow the path of their choice, and have an address book full of friendships for life.

But let’s be honest, it is never easy to navigate between our and our children’s expectations especially when they themselves seem undecided about what they want or what is best for them. Despite that, we must integrate them in the decision-making process.  This is because even if the perfect school does not, the perfect school for each and every child does.

Despite the growing standardization of teaching programs and the predominance of IB and British A Levels across the globe, Switzerland remains unique. If further proof were needed, I could point to our geographical location in the centre of Europe, to our natural environment characterized by the mountains, the lakes and the oasis of green. The holistic education we offer our children with cultural, sports and entrepreneurial activities in a multicultural and multilingual setting creates this unique alchemy, which for many years, has made our country one of the most competitive on the planet.

The process of choosing a school starts with the definition of your child’s uniqueness. This will be for your child to achieve his or her full potential. We will accompany you in the discovery of our country and suggest websites of schools for you to explore. We will then set up your first online meeting with a few schools. Once you have shortlisted 3-4 schools I strongly encourage you to travel to Switzerland and explore together as a family. This will allow you to experience the beauty and efficiency of our country. You will travel by train, breathe in the pristine mountain air, discover the beauty of our lakes and get to know the hidden treasures in our historical cities. As soon as you walk into each of the schools you will feel for yourself how even though the perfect school does not exist, the perfect school for each child does. Just like our children, each school is unique and has its own DNA. During these visits, don’t hesitate to reach out teachers and chat with students. Get acquainted with our unique alumni network and ask for the names of the pupils from your nationality who were once pupils of the school. Share your feelings with your child. During this visit, you will get a taste for the « Swiss Lifestyle », a combination of efficiency, dialogue, trade-off, high-quality work and modesty.

Being myself a father of three children I can assure you that the day our family needs to select a school for our children, I will put aside my preconceived ideas and make sure we visit different schools as a family. We will share our impressions and will decide together: this is because the perfect school does not exist, but the perfect school for each child does.

I will of course be delighted to brainstorm with each of you on these points, our international team also remains available to assist you throughout this process.

Christophe-Xavier Clivaz

Founder