Admission and language requirements

The complete programme normally takes six years. However, we are happy to accept students transitioning from other systems and schools. Students who wish to enter our programme are required to take admission tests to ensure they have the required subject content knowledge.

All students take an English entrance examination to ensure their English is strong enough for the programme. Another strength of our programme is that we model it on principles of the highly regarded Finnish system of education, whereby classes are not organised according to age but rather by interest and ability. Mixed aged classes and modular programmes provide flexibility as well as innovation. Whenever our timetable allows, students can repeat a single subject if they need more time in that subject.

At lower secondary school, all academic subjects are taught in English. However, a considerable part of our teaching time is dedicated to German by layering our curriculum with project-based learning, creating a unique bilingual experience.

In our IGCSE– and A-Level-classes, the language of instruction across the curriculum is English. However, we encourage our students to learn German in order to both integrate into the community and provide them with opportunities to study in Switzerland. Many of our students are bilingual and a large proportion of them take French, German or English to Advanced levels.

For an additional fee, we offer three classes of German lessons a week designed to propel your son or daughter to a functioning level of German as quickly as possible. We refer to this as our German booster programme. In this programme students have the opportunity to sit the highly regarded and internationally recognised telc A1 to C1 German language exams. Proven language skills at the C1 level have to be attained to be accepted by Swiss universities located in the German speaking part of Switzerland.

Students wishing to access our IGCSE programme must have a B1 + proven level of English. We administer our own assessments to all non-native speakers wishing to access this programme. For those students who do not have a B1 level of English, we offer the opportunity to study our four-year programme over five years. The first year involves a high level of English support and reduced academic programme.

Should you wish to find out more about our programme, please contact us for a consultation or participate in one of our information evenings.