Schools in Zug

[loosfriend]

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of the Montana School in Zugerberg?

Yes. A friend-of-a-friend had her children there. Academically weak and socially exclusive. There seemed to be very little pastoral care or discipline. She pulled her children out - but it is beautiful up there! I can put you in touch if you like.

Enough said! This reinforces admittedly only 1 other viewpoint I have had - there was even mention of "Russian oil barons" (probably heresay, I guess). I need as academically strong as possible. Thank you SatinandTat. My dh insists on going for a visit so we will. Do you mean putting me in touch with your friend-of-a-friend or the school? I've emailed with the school and they do have places in April. However, I'm cautious since ZIS and ISZL are full and have waiting lists for all grades.

I could put you in touch with "friend-of-a-friend" if you like. Russian Oil Barons were exactly what I was trying to get at!

That would be very useful so that I can go with an informed mind. How do we go about connecting with your friend-of-a-friend?Thanks.

Could you pm me and I could respond with her e-mail?

Wow! Is this common knowledge in the community?

Yes it is!

Thank you sooooo much all!

I knew the reputation as Middle eastern people who use drugs. Very common knowledge IMO.
I too had a friend whose son went there, he was happy but aged 7, she was taking him out once he got to 11.

We're sidelining this school now. I'm so glad I asked this question here.

How old are the children? I would have a look at the International school of central Switzerland. It is a relatively new school but one that we considered for our DD. We didn't go with it because it would have been too disruptive as she was leaving a year after.
I have heard very good things about it.
Alternatively four forests school has a decent rep.

Girls are 15 & 13 y.o. Thx for the suggestions of 4 Forests but as you can see, not our age group and ISCS finishes at 8th grade. Maybe we could consider local state school temporarily. In theory, girls would have intensive German learning but other curriculum subjects would fall behind as I believe the lessons are taught in High German or even Swiss German if teachers don't adhere to the rule of sticking to High German (been on threads of other expat websites). Anyone had experience of doing this with teenage kids moving to the area? This would only be temporary (hopefully) until a place comes up at the local international school.

I had a friend whose children were at one of the International schools but her DH was made redundant. They chose to keep one child at IS, but sent the other two to a local school. The girls became fluent in german very quickly. they were put into an immersion class with a few others.
I do know that home schooling is terribly difficult to do. A family I know moved from Zug to either Aargau or Schwyz because the rules were less onerous.

Homeschooling rules seem to be very onerous there in Switzerland especially when the teacher is not a "qualified" one. So not an option for us. However, we are looking into an integration school which sounds good....if they have space! Seems to be the common thread at the moment.Fingers crossed.