School

Steps

1. Ask your canton (education department, département de l'instruction publique) about the starting age and the procedure: it varies between Geneva, Vaud, Zurich and the other cantons.
2. In Geneva: enrol your child in primary school if they have turned 4 by 31 July and live in Geneva (loi sur l'instruction publique, article 55). For a child aged 4 to 12 arriving during the year, enrolment is possible at any time, from mid-August to the end of June: you phone the head office of the school near your home to arrange an appointment, which the child must attend with you; for the start of the school year, the enrolment dates and places are published by the canton.
3. Allophone child: they are enrolled in an ordinary class and attend a classe d'accueil (reception class) half-time (Geneva). Each canton organises the reception of allophone pupils in its own way (reception classes, intensive language courses): ask the school or the education department of your canton.
4. Choose between public school, private school or home schooling (in Geneva, for home schooling, you contact the private education authorisation and supervision service, service d'autorisation et de surveillance de l'enseignement privé, SASEP).
5. Early childhood: in Geneva, a place in a crèche or other institution is possible until the child has turned 3 (fees depend on the family's income and are set by the commune or the provider: ask your commune).
6. Foreign qualifications: the competent body depends on your profession: the procedure starts on the federal portal reconnaissance.swiss, which tells you whom to turn to. The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SEFRI) handles some of the applications: a reconnaissance (recognition) for a regulated profession, an attestation de niveau (level statement) for a non-regulated profession. At the SEFRI, the application is submitted online with your ID, your qualification in its original language and, if it is not in German, French, Italian or English, its official translation; the fees are CHF 550 for a recognition and CHF 350 for a level statement (the SEFRI fees ordinance provides for CHF 90 to 1,000), payable in Swiss francs by a single transfer. The average timeline is 4 months for a recognition and can reach 10 months for a level statement; there is no fast-track procedure. Swiss ENIC (swissuniversities) issues on request a non-binding attestation de niveau for a foreign university qualification.

Documents

• In Geneva (enrolment during the year): ID of the child and both parents; proof of the child's health insurance affiliation; residence certificates from the cantonal population and migration office (office cantonal de la population et des migrations, less than 3 months old) for the child and one parent; tenancy agreement, land register extract or deed of purchase; latest SIG bill or proof of moving in; school reports for the last two years; a document specifying any particular situations, where applicable.
• Elsewhere in Switzerland: the list depends on the canton and the school, which give it to you at enrolment.

Costs and timelines

• Public school: free.
• Private and international schools: paid, often expensive; each school sets its fees.
• 2026-2027 calendar in Geneva: school year starts Monday 17 August 2026; autumn holidays from 19 to 23 October 2026; Christmas from 24 December 2026 to 8 January 2027; February from 15 to 19 February 2027; Easter from 26 March to 9 April 2027; summer from 5 July to 25 August 2027. Each canton has its own calendar.

Common pitfalls

• Applying the rules of one canton to another. Ages, cycles (primary, lower secondary called cycle d'orientation in Geneva) and languages vary.
• The language of instruction. In Zurich, school is in German; in Geneva and Vaud, in French; in Ticino, in Italian.
• Not enrolling a 4-year-old in Geneva: enrolment is compulsory.
• HarmoS concordat: some of the cantons have harmonised compulsory schooling (11 years, from age 4) in an intercantonal agreement in force since 1 August 2009; Geneva applies it (Geneva collection C 1 06). The complete list of signatory cantons is published by the CDIP on edk.ch (to be confirmed: page not readable automatically).

What changes by country of origin

• All nationalities: the same access to public school for children domiciled in the canton.
• French-speaking families: French-speaking Switzerland (Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Jura, parts of Fribourg and Valais) for schooling in French.