(edit title) Bilingual primary schools in Stockholm Worth going? Options

[Wright]

Hello,

My kid is going to be 6 years old next year and will enter F-class.
I wonder if it is worth to put kids to bilingual schools? My kid is a native English and Swedish speaker and am afraid English class in local Swedish schools will be too easy and make her feel bored and lose interests in English. I heard that local schools will teach only ABC, but my kid can already read some simple words and talk fluently of course because we speak both Swedish and English at home.

However, we will need to travel for at least 40 mins if we go to a bilingual school (if they accept us)!

Also, which primary schools in Stockholm offer bilingual classes? We live on kungsholmen.

I would appreciate to hear more.

THANK YOU.
B.Wright

[Essingen55]

Well, I can tell you now that you will get completely divided opinions on this topic. So I will give you mine. We are in the same situation with our kid. Overall, I have a negative attitude towards so-called bilingual schools. Before making a decision, I visited some including the English school in Liljeholmen and was remarkably unimpressed. The main reasons for my negativity are as follows:
1. They are motivated by profit and are very good at marketing an image.
2. They often have kids that are only in Sweden temporarily.
3. I sometimes wonder why many of their teachers move to another country to teach.
4. Sometimes the premises are unsuitable...the English school in Liljeholmen for example.
5. I think it is better for a child not to have to travel 40 minutes to a school.
So, I would think it better for you to select a good Swedish kommun school. And I am sure that people will add threads on here telling me that I am wrong and being unfair to these centres of excellence.

[Martin565]

[Grommet]

My kid is a native English and Swedish speaker and am afraid English class in local Swedish schools will be too easy and make her feel bored and lose interests in English.

Ditto that in general. The Swedish model for education isn't set to have your kid achieve, but rather to ensure every kid has the same educational outcome.

So if your kid is smart, they will get thoroughly bored because the bar is set down at the level of the worst performing pupils.

So choose your school very very carefully. Ask about their views on grade inflation. Ask what is the policy for misbehaving students distracting other students? Can a failing student actually fail?

You might be quite shocked about what Sweden calls "education".

Good luck!

[Wright]

Thank you very much for all of your advices.

[Cheeseroller]

If you plan to live here a few years, your child will adopt the Swedish mentality anyway. Some of the ideas they bring home will be a surprise.

As for bilingual schools, our son started in a standard Swedish school and although 7 when we came here, he was put in a pre-school class for a year to learn Swedish. They also paid for a foreign language teacher to come out three times a week to teach him in his home country language.

Without Swedish parents to help increase the vocabulary at home, he was disadvantaged and it took probably 5 or 6 years to reach the level of his classmates. I think in the 2nd to 3rd year, he wanted to go to an international school - so he did for about six months. But the standard of teaching was much lower. It was questionable if the class teacher actually had any teaching qualifications or it was his first position (he was Canadian). So my son returned to his first school. The Canadian didn't return for a 2nd year apparently.

[*Guest*]

Our eldest is 13 and his English grammar is arguably better than his teachers. So for one English lesson a week he learns to play the piano or drums. Speak to the school, communicate and you'll likely get the same back. When the school programme livens up, say year 5 on, it might be nice to have a lesson they can cruise, achieve good grades and help their class mates in. School doesn't have to be a constant challenge.

[martinc]

I also live in Kungsholmen. We sent our son to a bilingual school in Gardet, called Futuraskolan. It's private but there are no fees (they get a grant from the government to cover costs). It was far better than the previous local public Swedish school he was attending.
He quickly got used to going across the city by bus.

[Wright]

Thank you for all the valuable feedbacks. Going to private schools also is a bit of luck right? Have to put kids to queue when they are young?

[*Guest*]

Thank you for all the valuable feedbacks. Going to private schools also is a bit of luck right? Have to put kids to queue when they are young?

I don't think it's always the case, as many customers are families of people travelling for employment. A few years here, a few there etc.

[ChocOwl]

For younger kids it can be great to have school friends who live nearby. If your kid is at a school with students from a large geographical area it might be hard to meet up with friends on weekends, holidays etc. Just something else to consider.

[Wright]

Thank you for the advices. I feel the same that having friends nearby is important for little ones.