Andrew C

Hi everyone and thanks for your input, bit pushed for time right now, will respond in more detail with thoughts and an questions tonight. Thanks again, much appreciated. ADL&M.

TestaRossa

Glad you came back on! Was starting to think we had frightened you away!
As you say, all we are giving is input. I can only tell you about the Int. school in Florence as I have only seen ads for the Roman ones at Fiumicino. If you went off them they look good! Have heard stuff on another site, but I think it was very one sided. The person writing had had to remove their son, they felt it was all partisan behaviour by the school as the other boy involved was Italian. I don't know, reading between the lines the English speaking boy was very unhappy having been moved from his home country across the atlantic at 16 to somewhere he very obviously didn't want to be! At least that tells you they are strict.

nbrome

My four children all went to Italian state schools.
I would at least take advantage of the Italian elementary school, you can always switch later. There's alot of fuss about changing the primary system right now, but the fuss is in part due to the fact that it's the one part of the system which really works, especially the tempo pieno. I gather, too, from general reading and listening, that Italian elementary schools are recognised as excellent on an international scale.

Andrew C

Thanks to everyone for he input and advocacy for both private and state schools. We need to look deeper at both to ensure an enriched and challenging learning experience for our boys.

For instance how does the Italian curriculum compare with the British one?

Caoi. ADL&M.

Lorna at Vicenza

I don't know much about the English curriculum anymore but I can tell you about the Italian Primary school one.
My daughter is 8 and in her 3rd year. They don't officially start primary school until they are 6 here. Before that there is the Scuola Materna where kids can go from age 3 to 6. This is not obbligatory.

My 8 year old does Italian, maths, geography and history, science, computers, English, music and art. Religion is now optional as it is not varied but only Christianity and Catholicism. She does PE just once a week. Occasionally they have little projects like a craft week before Christmas and some fun time for carnival in February. School breaks up on June 9th and begins again around September 15th so they have very long summer holidays but less time off during the year. Half term breaks do not exist.

I don't really have any problems with the academic side of things but the lack of extra-curricular activities annoys me. Like most kids she finishes school at 12.30 most days so is not there in the afternoons. Primary school is for 5 years and then kids move onto the Scuola Media.

There are loads of sport clubs, lessons, activities and swimming etc available but of course these are not done through the school but private clubs and organisations and you pay for them. Prices vary but the receipts for these sports activities are now tax deductable for anybody doing tax returns in Italy.

My daughter told her computer teacher last week that she was quite wrong saying "gog-lay" because it is pronounced google - that's why it has a double O.

casalottian

My son goes to St. George's British International School in Rome (La Storta). As someone else mentioned, half the children seem to be Italian, so there must be something going for it. We couldn't be happier with the school. There is another St. George's in Nomentana and there is an American school somewhere too.

My son is in the junior school, though the school caters for children from 5-18. He starts at 8:45 and finishes at 3:30. Thankfully, there is no school on Saturday. There are quite a few after school activities he can do and we don't have to be there to supervise him when he's doing them.

Andrew C

Hello there
Thanks so much for all your valuable input. St Georges has been recommended to us as a very good school several times now - I guess it follows the International Baccalaureate curriculum like all private schools? You are obviously happy with your son's progress so it must be the right mix of challenging and creative learning. I don't suppose if you have any idea how this curriculum compares to the Italian state school curriculum do you? We run our own business and wouldn't have a big corporation paying the fees like many of the expats do, so we want to explore both options fully before making any decisions.

We hear the fees can vary quite a bit for the international schools depending on who is paying for them...do you have exerience of that?

Thanks a lot so far for your help. All the best.
Andrew and Debbie
ADL&M.

Andrew C

The International Baccalaureate curriculum has been mentioned to us a few times recently and the creative learning approach sounds really interesting. Has anyone any direct experience of this?
ADL&M.

TestaRossa

The IB has been adopted by quite a number of private schools in the UK. One of the top rated schools in the country Sevenoaks, only follows this system now. It is good for children who are all-rounders academically as most subjects are studied all the way up to 18 rather than specialising in a few. However, it can be harder to get into Uni on the popular courses in the UK as they still want to see good point averages in the subjects required for a particular discipline, medicine for example is still going to expect a strong showing in science. A child who is only studying sciences is going to be in a stronger position from this point of view. You also have to know that the UK system is being overhauled again by the top schools. Many are now dropping 'A' levels for lower 6th from this year and are studying something called Cambridge Pre-U's. I think it is highly unlikely these will be taken up by schools abroad unless they have a direct affiliation with a British school, Harrow has a school in India for example! So, if you believe your children will be coming back to the UK to study at some point - Uni maybe? - I would get all the prospectuses from all the schools and see which seems to be going the way you want it to!

The Italian system varies from the IB in that you go to a school at 14 that specialises in economics, classics, science etc. so in some ways more like the UK system where you start to drop subjects at 13/14 in preparation for Uni.
An example of fees - Florence Inter. School is €10k (07 fees) in junior department a year and €12k senior. On top of this there is a yearly inscription fee - all private Italian schools do this - of €3k, then there are meals, here €3.90/day and if you want it, transport €250 a month. Compared to a UK private school it is very good but compared to a private Catholic school it is extortionate! I currently pay the meals and then €120/month plus a yearly inscription of €185 for my daughters school and she is fluent in Italian now. For that alone it is worth it! I may be changing her to the FITC at some point but the jury is out for now!

casalottian

They do the IB and GCSEs. To be honest, that's a bit far off for us to worry about at the moment. If you go to the web site at www.stgeorge.school.it you'll find information on the exam programmes.
We are. I must say that I very much like the multi-cultural environment. It's predominantly english of course, but my son is interacting with children from all over the world and it certainly broadens his horizons I'm sure.
I'm afraid not.
I don't. We don't have anyone paying the fees for us either, and we're just paying the fees as listed on the web site. I believe you get reductions for the second and further children. But luckily(!) we have only one.

Good luck.

sharonsmu

Hi.

We are moving to Rome in 3 weeks and have just looked into the whole italian v english school system. There is a bi-lingual international school in Ostia which covers both the italian and the UK national curriculum. However my impression is this school is very intensive (a bit of a hot house). My daughter is UK year 2 and my son due to start reception in Sept and as my daughter is not fluent in Italian OIS wouldn't accept that she had the capability to catch up. She is an A-grade student in the UK. The impression I was left with from OIS is that the way they teach the italian system is a little old fashioned in some ways, lots of learning by wrote and not interactive. However that could be just this one school. Initially my 2 are going to Southlands International school as we will live in Casalpalocco. Again lots of Italians choose this school. (lots of my hubbies friends in Rome have opted for Int schools).
As I understand the primary system in Rome is currently oversubscribed, may Italian husband was horrified when he learned they were upping the class sizes to 25, (that was until I pointed out that in the Uk Grazia has 30 in her class)

Southlands for us seems a good starting point, they will get to do a scaled down version of the Italian system as they have dual nationality, they will learn Italian, formally and in the playground, and will have the opportunity to mix with both expats and natives speakers. There are also Italian lessons for the mummies.

Good luck with your choice, I also really liked St Georges, but its just the wrong side of Rome for us with hubbies job. Looking forward to meeting some new friends in Rome, I'm sure all the expats there are really friendly, well from what I see on this forum they are.

Good luck

TestaRossa

I think people in Rome and Milan are very lucky with all the choice of schools, in all systems, on offer. We only have the one Int. School here and reports vary greatly!

From what I hear learning by rote is the usual Italian system, particuarly at Media and Liceo level. An Italian friend was telling me this is her problem with the system as it doesn't prepare children for University, but she was saying a lot of Uni courses here are the same. She thinks the English Uni system is much better. Many here do try to send their kids to the UK if they have the cash for the Uni. I know at least 6 in my own circle.