Terra Nova Bilingual School

The International Bilingual School Terra Nova accompanies children from kindergarten through to entry into secondary schooling or work life, always with the prospect of higher vocational training.

The IBS Terra Nova is a private school based on the canton of Zurich curriculum. In addition, we also follow international curricula – especially from the English-speaking world. Our kindergarten and primary school areo be met. bilingual in English and German. The high proportion of English speaking families in our environment naturally creates a bilingual atmosphere that allows the high standards of the Swiss school system and the international requirements to be met.

The IBS Terra Nova opens the eyes to numerous worlds. Along the communal path into the future many horizons and perspectives arise. With its two sites in Küsnacht and Feldmeilen, IBS Terra Nova presents itself as a modern educational, cultural and social center.

Our private school is state recognized as well as confessionally and ideologically independent. Since its foundation in 1996, IBS Terra Nova has stood for a performance-oriented educational institution and a place of innovation. Parents who set high standards for the education of their children find a competent partner in IBS Terra Nova. Our uppermost goal is to prepare the students for an academic education in either a long- or short-term Gymnasium grammar school.

IBS Terra Nova is firmly anchored in the Swiss educational landscape and prepares children and youth for international requirements. We want to maintain the joy of discovery, recognize children’s talents and specific strengths and promote them. In awareness of the significance of English, we already nurture bilingualism in our kindergarten and primary school. At the secondary level, language teaching in German and English is according to knowledge and happens in ability-level groups.

Poets and philosophers allow the heroes of their stories to set out for new lands and horizons time and again. Terra Nova discovered neither bilingualism nor school. However, with our Terra Nova philosophy we are always exploring new land.

The school is run as a day school and cares for the children throughout the day – with lunch and additional offers in culture and sport.

The Kindergarten at the IBS Terra Nova generally lasts two years and is open to children from four years of age.

We lead the children based on their prior knowledge of German and/or English and prepare them in all areas of learning for their future schooling career. The teaching is shared equally between German and English, and is given by mother tongue teachers. In these foundation years the children are already exposed to a wide-ranging experience in writing and media.

There are not yet subject lessons in the Kindergarten. The children develop their skills across the disciplines in an integrated way – through activities, actions, creative tasks and play. The teacher selects specific content from different education areas to meet the needs of the children either as a whole class, small groups or individually.

The learning environment mirrors the reality of life for children as much as possible. For them it is important that they belong to and can contribute to this environment, that they have friends and feel understood, protected and treated fairly by the teachers.

The first years serve to introduce and develop basic cultural techniques. The children bring different foreknowledge to this and learn at different paces. While some have already gathered first experiences in a subject, others must learn the new material from the ground up. We therefore focus on differentiated instruction. No child should be bored – and every child should not only understand, but also internalize material.

Social studies is a broad field of research and experience. Here the children deal with the multifaceted questions of life, look for answers to scientific phenomena, develop expertise in numerous areas and so expand their general knowledge. Language, mathematics and social studies instruction is shared equally between German and in English. Generally one mother tongue teacher works in the first half of the week, the teacher with the other language during the second part.

Music, handicrafts, theater, media and sports are taught by qualified subject personnel either in English or German depending upon the teacher’s origin. As of Grade 5 French is added, also taught by a mother tongue teacher.

At our academically demanding secondary school, our students continue their education in two languages.
Our bilingual curriculum is based on the official curriculum of the Canton of Zurich (Lehrplan 21) and the standards of the Cambridge International Curriculum. All students are prepared for entry into our English-speaking Gymnasium or other high schools.