The dilemma of the local school lunch hours for working parents

Photo above - Parents waiting for their children to pass by in the Nyon "end of school" year parade. A question that often gets asked on this site is "How do working parents manage the long free lunch hours that children get in local schools?"

Photo above - Children in the end of school year parade.  Living in Nyon posed this question to Michelle who runs the site called "Moms in Vaud". This site includes some very useful articles for parents including; " Car seats in Switzerland", "Water Safety", reviews of  parenting magazines, links to other sites, babysitting swopping services, moms' nights out etc .   Check it out here .   We also asked Rowan, a mother who has children in the local school system. They both gave these helpful answers. Michelle says;  "Not all public schools in the area have a cafeteria/lunch club and even those who do, availability of places is based on if one/both parents work, etc.  This means the child might get a place one day a week, but still have to figure out the other three, or whatever.  Parents who aren't available at lunch (and whose schools don't have cafeteria or clubs are full) and can't send kids to family/friends use a lunchtime "maman de jour", which you can apply for through the reseau des enfants de Nyon (for Nyon region) and for the other reseaux elsewhere (Rolle, Terre Sainte, etc.). Most private schools (Montessori, La Cote, La Chat, GES, CDL, Swedish School, etc.) include lunch in their daily programmes, but these schools are usually wait-listed by this time of year ( June) as sign-ups are normally by March/April for placement in September. Each public school is different.  So really, it's important if   a parent wants to go the public school route to find a place to live to be able to register with the school and if you want to go private, to get the child's name in at all the private schools in the area".  Michelle suggests that readers with similar questions join the site Moms-in-Vaud and they pose family parenting questions there in order to get responses from parents from the whole area. Rowan says; "Primary school hours in Nyon run from 8:30 to 12:00 then 13:30 to 15:05, Mon-Fri for older children (1st year Primary onwards) except for Wednesdays which are mornings until 11:00 or 12:00 depending on the child's timetable. Children in first year infants (age 4 - called CIN1) attend school in the morning only, and not at all on Wednesdays. Children in second year infants (age 5-6 - CIN2) have school in the mornings and afternoons, but again, not at all on Wednesdays.   Unlike many Swiss towns, Nyon has a system to support families with children aged 0-10, where both parents are working, called the Fondation pour l'accueil de jour des enfants. There's more information on this on the Nyon town website - here .  They co-ordinate nursery places for the very young, child-minder services and 'parascolaire' around-school support. For a child at infant or primary school, this means that it's possible to arrange to drop them off before work, often from 07:30, have them picked up at midday and given a healthy hot lunch and supervision for their homework, then be picked up again after school, and looked after until 17:00 or later. Fees are means-tested according to income, but places are limited and in high demand. And once again, provision depends on where you choose to live". Living in Nyon also says;  "Don't forget to get a copy of "Know it all Passport" (link  on the side bar of this site). The book is the original comprehensive guide in English for parents and is packed with information on schools, family, shopping etc. It also has a section called "Day care explained" and a section called "Au Pair oh where?" on finding au pair and it explains the duties of an au pair according to Swiss law.