Liesel

Hi there fellow expats.

I have just moved to the mountains in Austria with my husband and 3 kids.
My eldest (6) has joined the local kindergarten in order to get his German up and running in time for school to start in September.
I find the system so strange here in that children finish school very early and come home for lunch. The local high school even finishes at 1 which seems bizarre considering the contrast in the UK.

I'm curious if this is a local thing or across Austria. Has anyone else experienced this? Also is there an ofsted equivalent here so I can see how the schools here compare?

Finally, we have signed as residents at the Gemeinde and I'm curious of people's thoughts on if this would be removed if brexit goes ahead as a hard brexit.

Many thanks
Liesel

Thairetired2016

School finishing "early" is the standard. Same for having lunch at home. Older or highschool kids often have longer hours.
You could see if your kids can go to public (private) school if you can cover the cost. Many boarding schools take day students. I doubt you can pick primary school.
You didn't research schools and education before you moved?
Brexit consequences? What if.... What will happen...
Who can do more than speculate?

Liesel

Hi there.
Thanks for your reply.
Ironically as we've moved to a small town, we only had the one choice of school. I was thinking though of the prospects ahead as we can move around easily if necessary as we have flexibility in our working lives.
We love to ski and enjoy the mountains in the summer so we have taken the plunge while the kids are young.
Austria usually ranks high on the education scales but the last pisa scale ranked it lower than, close to france.

Where are you based and how have you found life in Austria?

Thairetired2016

Sorry I didn't reply earlier but moved continents in the meantime. We are only ever based temporarily in Salzburg for our summer break. We love Austria and Austrian people. We had planned to move more permanently but Brexit got in the way. If Germaný has her way that no country will be allowed to make individual arrangements, we have little hope that it will be possible to stay on after 2019 without jumping through hoops to get residency. Of course the two fronts may come to an agreement, and all will continue as before. For now Salzburg will be our summer break, otherwise home will remain Thailand.
I hope all will fall into place for you and your family. I would not put two much weight on Pisa. Influx ovf migrants has upset the schooling system all over Europe. Way out is a public (private) school education.