Making Bilingual Education a Gateway to the World

We offer continuous education on all levels, from kindergarten through primary and secondary school to college – sometimes even under the same roof. With our bilingual day school offer, we strive to ensure that the students entrusted to us are prepared for the challenges of life, and that with their education, the gates to the world are open to them. We make sure that the students are optimally cared for and supported in a safe learning environment.

Bilingual Kindergarten

Learning to learn: Our English/German bilingual kindergarten offers a stimulating and supportive learning environment for children aged three or four to six years. We nurture their innate curiosity about the world by offering diverse learning possibilities in our day school concept.

Bilingual Primary School

At our primary school, students aged six or older acquire high-level language skills in both English and German, which is of paramount importance at this level. We promote awareness and respect for other cultures as the basis for an international education. We aim to empower students and give them a voice in their learning process.

SIS primary school students who achieve the necessary grade average can transfer to SIS College without needing to sit admission examinations.

Bilingual Secondary School

We empower our students to become lifelong learners. At our secondary school, students are prepared for continuing their education at the SIS Bilingual College or the SIS Bilingual International Programme. Great care is taken that our students learn important specialist vocabulary in both languages and that the overall distribution of subjects in German and English is as equal as possible.

SIS secondary school students whose performance meets the necessary requirements can transfer to our college without needing to sit admission examinations.

Bilingual College

College students at SIS are encouraged and challenged to achieve two qualifications in two languages. At our college, we prepare students for the nationally recognised bilingual Matura and/or the globally recognised International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma.

We use the immersion method of language learning, which invites children to dive headfirst into the foreign language. Students use the second language to engage with the world in a playful and completely natural way. Children begin by developing a passive understanding of the language, achieved through the use of pictures, gestures and symbols, for example. Then, they gradually begin to actively use the second language. 

Scientific studies and our experience at SIS have shown:

• Instruction using the immersion method over a number of years results in near-native fluency in the second language.
• The best results are achieved through extensive early immersion prior to the start of formal schooling.
• Development of the mother tongue is not adversely affected.
• The immersion method not only promotes childrens' language acquisition but also their cognitive development – for example, linguistic awareness, creativity and their ability to think outside the box.

At SIS Swiss International School, children can learn both English and German through immersion – even if they are not native speakers of either language.
 

SIS faculty members are all native speakers of their language. They use their mother tongue not only for teaching in the classroom, but also in the school yard, at lunch, and during events and excursions.

For our students, school is a place to learn and thrive – an environment that is stable and nurturing while presenting them with appropriate challenges. By eating, playing and learning together, they learn to share with others, develop assertiveness and take pride in their achievements. Both German and English are used during extracurricular activities, too, providing a further opportunity for students to develop their language skills in a natural way.