To think ski school for the tiny ones is fairly barbaric?

[Nurder]

We have just gotten back from a week skiing in France and I spent a good deal of time on the learner slopes with a friend who is just learning. The amount of 3/4/5 year old children wailing in the snow and being terrified was just upsetting. The ratios appear to be really high with not enough staff to remotely cover what the kids actually need.

Nurder
@Needanewname42 Happy to post pics as proof tomorrow. They are closer to 12 in a group.

Count the instructors too.
8 is what they have written in the book.

It's France. You think they go by the book? 😂😂

I know for a fact they are under pressure at half terms to fit way more than the book says in the class.

Even if it's 8, it's still twice as many kids as you get in some of the British ski schools. We've also had group ski lessons they've still chosen to run just for my two kids.

Unless you're trying to improve your children's French or save money, I can't really see why you'd book ESF ski school over one of the other options. All the ski schools teach the kids to ski well. Every time I've seen ESF lessons at different resorts, the instructors really haven't been very nice to the kids.

At the ESF we use (go to the same place every year) it's 12 per group during the winter school holidays (Feb / Mar). The place we go is very French and ESF is overwhelmingly the largest ski school. There is Evolution and ESI but they are on a much smaller scale.

Agree. And the standards to qualify as an instructor in France are some of, if not the, most stringent in the world. There’s never any doubt that the instructor at any ski school in France knows their stuff when it comes to skiing. So unless you’re on a really tight budget then may as well go for the ones who aren’t shouty, actually seem to like children and who do smaller groups i.e. not ESF.

Ski school/young children isn't the problem - its ESF.

ESF instructors have to do mandatory kids ski school as part of the job - these are often instructors who have no interest or experience in young children. They're not much better with beginner adults tbh.

We used to use Esprit who were fantastic. Also had a good exp with New Gen.
It really depends on the instructor and the child though.
Some kids can't wait to be in the snow with other kids - some want to be with their parents.
Some kids are good at taking instruction.
Some like the snow and don't mind the cold.

Incidentally I've seen plenty of young kids bawling their eyes out with their parents/families on then pistes too!

Our last ski holiday my youngest was 4, he hates ski school. After day 1 he said he had had enough and that he could now ski( he went down a small slope once.) So he didnt go back to ski school. Other kids loved it tgere were lots of tears. I wouldnt leave them that young in ski school without watching, but some people ski so reguarly like 4 times a year its pretty normal for them

Well most men would be kind to a crying child. I wouldn’t worry about that.
But yes, it does seem a bit wrong of the ski school!

Mine learnt to ski in Austria and had an absolute blast. They loved it

I loved it and that was back in the ESF days when the instructors barely spoke any English.

I remember going down the couloir in courchevel in a class of about 12 kids when I was maybe nine or ten years old. That’s just madness. I’m sure it wouldn’t be allowed now.

My kids all learned to ski in Austria, at a ski school attached to a Kinderhotel. Kids start at three, on a private nursery slope next to the hotel. Parents can watch throughout, and some did (I did, as I can’t ski myself), but most watched for the first day or so before heading off for their own skiing once they knew their children were settled. The youngest kids never went up to the main slopes. The 4/5 year olds would start off on this slope and then go to the main ski school area up the mountain after a day or so. The tiny ones had breaks for hot chocolate and Haribo and games. They learned to use a magic carpet and by the end of the week were pretty proficient for three year olds! The instructors were lovely, all English speaking but the groups were usually mixed in language.

The only time I ever saw an unhappy child was a single kid who just did not want to be there and would sob throughout every session - his parents were dropping him and heading straight off each time. He ended up crying and crying and the poor instructor would be clearly stressed about it. The parents who hung around ended up trying to comfort him and in the end confronted his parents as they were dropping him off and told them quite frankly it wasn’t happening, and he didn’t appear again. Other than that, I only saw children having a great time - the ones who didn’t enjoy it much ended up not coming and probably tried again when older.