European School, Ispra

[GBG]

If anyone knows anything about or has experience of the European School in Ispra, I would love to hear about it..

Do they separate native from non native speakers of English?

What is the reputation of the school?

Thanks for any input!

Have you looked at their website? (google Schola Europea Varese). Lots of info there and on European Schools sites on the curriculum etc.
Varese is a smallish European School catering mainly to families working at the Joint Research Centre I think. It has only four or possibly five language sections ( EN, FR, DE, IT and possibly NE). The risk/opportunity you have is that all enrolled children who do not have one of these five languages as their mother tongue will be enrolled in the EN, FR or DE sections.
(at Varese: Danish, Finnish, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian,
Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Slovakian, Slovenian, Bulgarian and Romanian) In practice, most will go to the English section so if your children go to the English section they may find themselves in large classes with lots of non native speakers.
The risk/benefit of that will probably depend on the age of your children and whether you plan to move them to another system at some stage. For secondary, note that the European Schools are really not very inclusive, so if your child is not "grammar school material" s/he risks leaving school without any formal academic qualifications.

I only really know about the ones in Brussels but what I can say (which you should take with a bucket load of salt) is that the Ispra one had a bit of a reputation for being full of rich, connected Italian kids who had no connection with the institution but were there as a kind of social prestige thing. Of course that says nothing about the standard of education there.

poppydopolous is completely correct about the problems with the English sections being overwhelmed by non-native speakers - certainly true in Brussels - and the lack of assistance for those who might fall behind.

Of course, having made some criticisms, one positive point is that, whilst the European Schools are not free for the children of non-officials (I don't know your background), the fees are effectively subsidised and way below those within the private sector for a similar education.

Thanks for that.. the problem is the website is basically in Italian... they haven´t bothered with an English translation, which is curious..

I'm afraid I only know the school in Luxembourg... but I'm shocked that the website is largely in Italian. I had a quick look at it myself, and it does seem odd that it's not translated into English. Sounds like you definitely need to try and talk to someone with experience of it. Are you or your husband contemplating a job in Ispra? Could you ask whether any colleagues have children at the school and whether you can contact them to ask about it?

Hi. My husband has been offered a job at the JRC in Ispra and we are looking at the European School in Varese for our children. In addition to the comments above, I would be very grateful for any advice anyone might have about the school, or about a good area to live with children in the Ispra/Varese area. I am trying to find out what i can online but would love to hear about your experiences. Thank you :)

As the school is based in Italy its website is in Italian. However, if you click on the British flag on the top right hand of the home page you will see the text in English.

In my experience most Italians (young and old) don't speak much English, so you may want to explore learning Italian.

The issue of the English language section being invaded by non-English sections is a bit of a myth. In many of the European schools, English native speakers are taught in separate classes to SWALS (students without a language section) who have elected to be taught in English. And, increasingly, English is no longer the language of choice for SWALS - in Luxembourg, for example, French has become the language of choice for SWALS.

SWALS children is not a myth in Brussels - I know a maternelle teacher there, class of 30, half Irish and British, half are Slovakian, she says there is little mixing between these 2 groups. There is nowt wrong with children who speak another language at home "mixing" with mother tongue English speaking children, the difficulties come when you have so many who all also speak the same language. I certainly would be very unhappy to have half a class speaking another language, whereas I'd be quite comfortable with having half the class speaking another 10 languages. Our children have spent the last 4 years being schooled in classes of 25, all in French, but with always more than 10 mother tongue languages other than French making up roughly 40% of the class. This situation has been fantastic, having friends of different nationalities and speaking different languages.

I'm not convinced that French is the language of choice in Luxembourg - there are also lots of SWALS kids in the English section and my impression is more that it's about half French, half English.

My 4-year-old's class (English section) is probably half SWALS, although there are 3 or 4 different nationalities. The kids do mix though - two of his good friends are Slovaks and his decisions about which kids he likes seem to be based more on whether they are 'fighting boys' or more his type, than on any language issues.

My 8-year-old's class has fewer SWALS but quite a few Italian and other families that don't speak English at home - I know some English-speaking parents don't like having lots of kids with other languages, but personally I've found it to be a source of enrichment, especially in a school where the parents are relatively homogeneous in terms of socio-economic background. I'm very happy for my kids to find out how things are done in Romania or Slovakia or wherever.

And in my experience the SWALS kids have become amazingly competent at English in a short space of time, and I hear from secondary teachers that they generally do very well.

I think it's fair enough if SWALS are mixed with native speakers in maternelle - how are SWALS going to learn English at all if there are no native speaker children around them?

In Luxembourg there have been separate SWALS classes in the English section in secondary for quite a while.

OP, it would be good to know if your dh has a permanent job in Varese and how old your children are. Is this your first move abroad? Are you keen to learn Italian?

ime small European Schools with fee paying students attract a certain class of parent keen to be seen to be paying for their children´s education. They are not paying for a solid academic education but are very interested in status symbols.

Native speakers are not separated from non natives ime and I would check if this is the situation in Varese (or not). This seems to lead to a dumbing down of language as there are so few models of native-level language. I am shocked to hear my child speak English at school - a mixture of accents and interference from the other 10 languages that her peers speak at home. Your child may always be top of the class but may not actively learn much. Homework for example might always be ridiculously easy. If your children are not academic this might suit them. If they are academic they will not be stretched at all at school. The system comes as a big shock to all newcomers so be prepared for this. There is a huge amount of dissatisfaction voiced by English native speaker parents who are used to the standards set at UK / USA private schools.

Having said all this, the system can work and certainly churns out young adults who can speak at least 3 or more languages fluently and who will go on to university. Most seem to really enjoy school and live a sheltered and privileged existence in an interesting environment!

Regarding where to live.. Ispra is not near the school so I would consider very carefully where to live. The PA should be able to advise on popular areas and on school bus routes so you don´t have to do the school run and are close to other families. Also ask about after school activities which may be difficult to access in the area.