Admissions FAQs

You can see a detailed explanation of our fees on our Fee Information page here.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

ELA Basel offers wrap around care and education from 3 months to 12 years old.

• Early Years cares for children from 3 months to 4 years old
• Primary caters for children from 4 years old to 12 years old.

Early Years 

ELA Basel Early Years is divided into baby, toddler and pre-school sections: each section has multiple groups.

Section	Age range	Groups
Babies	3 months to 17 months old	Blue, Red, & Yellow
Toddlers	17 months to 3 years old	Brown, Green, Orange, & Purple
Pre-School	3 years old to 4 years old	Grey, Pink, Turquoise, & Violet

 

Your child will be assigned to an age-appropriate group. Progression is automatic based on age.

Primary School

Primary School is from 4 years old to 12 years old. Full time attendance is required as part of Swiss compulsory education. Students are assigned according to their date of birth based on the Basel-Stadt (government) admissions entry requirements: exceptions are considered on a case-case basis. As for most schools, progression is not automatic but based on meeting developmental targets.

Primary School placement as applicable for the 2020-2021 school year

ELA Basel year	Date of Birth	Basel-Stadt equivalent*	UK grade	US grade
Primary 1	1st August 2015 – 31st July 2016	Kindergarten 1	Reception	Pre-Kindergarten
Primary 2	1st August 2014 – 31st July 2015	Kindergarten 2	Year 1	Kindergarten
Primary 3	1st August 2013 – 31st July 2014	Primary 1	Year 2	Grade 1
Primary 4	1st August 2012 – 31st July 2013	Primary 2	Year 3	Grade 2
Primary 5	16th July 2011 – 31st July 2012	Primary 3	Year 4	Grade 3
Primary 6	1st July 2010 – 15th July 2011	Primary 4	Year 5	Grade 4
Primary 7	16th June 2009 – 30th June 2010	Primary 5	Year 6	Grade 5
Primary 8	1st June 2008 – 15th June 2009	Primary 6	Year 7	Grade 6

 

 

* You can see an English language overview of Primary education in Basel here (Basel Department of Education, external site)

Yes: you can choose a contract that best suits your family.

You can choose

• 3 days per week; or
• 4 days per week; or
• 5 days per week

and you can choose between 

• Standard Days (7:30 until 15:30 Monday to Thursday, 7:30 until 14:00 Friday); or
• Extended Days (7:30 until 18:00 Monday to Friday)

You can also add to your contracted schedule, with additional Standard Days, Extended Days, or extending a Standard Day. We work hard to accommodate all requests, but they are inevitably based on availability of staff and facilities: the more notice you are able to give, the more likely it is we will be able to accommodate additional care.

Changes to the contracted schedule require a minimum of 1 calendar month's notice.

No. Compulsory education in Switzerland means that full time attendance (5 days per week) is required.

Basel is one of the 19 (of 26) Swiss cantons  where compulsory education starts on 1 August following a child's fourth birthday, and lasts for 11 years.

A Swiss government map illustrating compulsory education in Switzerland by canton can be seen here (external site).

If you can't find the answer to your question please just ask: our contacts are in every footer and on our Contact Us page.