Green Bay, WI
Green Bay, WI
When we first began looking at boarding schools in Switzerland, I was not searching for a perfect place. I was searching for a place that would not flatten my children into one type of pupil. My son is fourteen and thinks best when his body is tired. My daughter is sixteen and needs quiet, music, and a little space before she can trust a new classroom. So yes, the academics mattered. Swiss Matura, IB, and the American diploma all sounded serious. But the thing that surprised me was how much weight I ended up giving to sport, art, music, and the small daily habits around them. We visited a few schools, and La Garenne was one of the campuses we remembered longest. Not because everything looked glossy. Honestly, some parts felt almost too quiet at first. The international mix sounded good on paper, but what mattered more was whether staff spoke about activities as if they were part of the learning, not a reward after learning. My son asked about football and mountain walks. My daughter asked whether she could keep playing piano without giving up weekend mornings. Those questions may sound small. For us, they were the real test.
I used to think extracurriculars were something you added if the school had spare time. Now I think they are often the first language a child uses when a new country feels too big. My son did not have the vocabulary to say he felt lonely. But he could ask for a ball. My daughter could not immediately join every conversation, yet she could sit at a keyboard and feel competent again. That is why I started asking schools about small classes, yes, but also about what happens at 7:30 in the morning, after lunch, and on a rainy Wednesday evening.
| Child | What worried us | What we looked for |
|---|---|---|
| Our son, 14 | Too much sitting, frustration, missing home | Regular sport, outdoor walks, a clear daily rhythm |
| Our daughter, 16 | Pressure before exams, losing her creative confidence | Music practice, art space, teachers who notice mood changes |
During one visit, we watched a fairly ordinary morning. A house-parent was checking whether a boy had packed his swimming bag, another student was late for breakfast, and someone was laughing about a missed alarm. It sounded normal, and that was exactly the point. Boarding goes beyond the brochure photo. It shows up on an awkward Tuesday when your child is tired, during an exam week when music becomes a relief, and on a weekend when a horse-riding lesson suddenly makes a shy child talkative. At La Garenne, we were told that mountain hikes and creative workshops are woven into the week. I liked that, though I also asked what happens when a child simply wants to rest. A good answer, for me, felt less like a list of clubs and more like a calm explanation of how staff adjust the pace. Still, I do not want to make it sound effortless. Being away from home can sharpen small problems. One sibling may thrive in the art studio while the other struggles with early training. Parents hear about both at the same time, usually in one phone call. We had to accept that the same school can feel different to two children from the same family. That is why we paid attention to how teachers and house parents described individual needs. Did they know which child needed a push? Which one needed a pause? Did they notice when exam preparation was turning into anxiety, and could they offer music or sport as a way out instead of another lecture about effort? A few questions became surprisingly useful during our search.
I still do not believe there is one school that fits every sibling perfectly. What I do believe is that activities can reveal a school's temperament. If a child can run, draw, play, hike, or simply find a quiet corner, the academic work often becomes easier to carry. For our family, the right Swiss boarding school was not the one that promised the most. It was the one that seemed able to hold two different children without asking either of them to become someone else.