Hull's School, Zurich

In Brief

Hull's is the right school if your teenager needs British IGCSEs and A-Levels in Zurich and class sizes of 16 or fewer are non-negotiable. It's a secondary-only school with no feeder primary, so plan the transition in - but once in, the alumni network and university placement record are strong.

Hull's occupies four buildings within a minute of Stadelhofen station and the Opernhaus tram stop - about as central as a Zurich school gets. Founded in 1945, it was the first English college in Switzerland, and it remains one of the few options in the German-speaking world offering Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge IGCSE alongside A-Levels without a larger IB programme diluting the cohort. With around 300 students across four year groups (EC1-EC4, equating to Year 10 through Year 13), every teacher and most students know each other; the scale is closer to a sixth-form college than a conventional international school.

Class sizes are capped at 16, with most running at 12-14. That ratio means A-Level teaching is genuinely tutorial-like rather than classroom-standard, and the Nachhilfe (catch-up tutoring) sessions built into the timetable - included in fees - mean students who fall behind get support without paying extra. Families consistently highlight that teachers at Hull's know each child's academic weaknesses in detail. University placements include Russell Group and Swiss universities; the school runs structured guidance through the process. German is taken seriously alongside English, which matters for Swiss life.

The honest constraints are narrow subject choice and a small peer group. At 16 students maximum per class, A-Level subject combinations depend on enough students choosing the same options; confirm your child's preferred subjects are running in their intake year before committing. There's no primary or middle school, so families with younger children will need a separate arrangement for the early years, and a clear plan for which school to bridge from at Year 9. For self-funding families, CHF 30,800-32,000 per year is significant; confirm exam fees (Pearson Edexcel/Cambridge) are on top.