Moser School, founded in 1961 by Henri Moser in Switzerland, counts now more than 1500 students in three different cities, Geneva and Nyon in Switzerland and Berlin, Germany. As a substitute teacher in the public school system in Geneva, Henri Moser soon became aware of the specific needs of foreign mother-tongue students.
Unlike other teachers who kept them at the back of the class, he sat them in the front rows to help them follow the lessons better. He continued to give French lessons after the school day and gave private lessons at home. The requests for support multiplied. The idea of creating a real school was born. In September 1961, the Ecole Privée de Français was inaugurated. With the help of its success, the school opened up to all subjects and levels, expanded to Nyon in 1986 and then to Berlin in 2005.
From an Early Age to the Early 20s
Moser School provides a 10-year worldwide pathway from Primary (5th grade) to Swiss maturité (bilingual German, bilingual English, or Francophone) or a Double Diploma: Swiss maturité and International Baccalaureate (IPDP).
The school currently educates 184 students in Primary, 312 in lower secondary (Cycle), and 234 in higher secondary (Collège) at the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.
Creating Open-minded Actors
The principles of the Moser School are true to those of the founder, a pragmatic, common-sense, empathetic and fair-minded person who based his innovations on experience. The school was created to respond to a need, and its vocation has changed as society evolved. Today, as a Swiss school and as an IB World School, it helps students become responsible and open-minded actors by providing them with an environment that fosters their academic, emotional and social development.
Supported by the Moser Lab, its in-house innovation center specializing in IT technologies, educational research and teacher expertise –the school ensures that a spirit of initiative is instilled in students. Transdisciplinary and IBDP CAS project-based teaching encourages them to collaborate, take on challenges boldly, be autonomous and creative, and assume responsibility with agility. The aim of the school is to succeed together with a view to joint success.
Laying Foundation of Benevolent Pedagogy
Henri Moser, a renowned pedagogue and a great advocate of language learning and multilingualism, laid the foundations of a firm and benevolent pedagogy which led the school to be the first Swiss school to be awarded Lab School status by the Positive Discipline Association. Since 2001, his son, Alain Moser, has taken over the school’s general management. He manages the day-to-day running of the school together with Pia Effront, who worked with Henri Moser and was appointed Deputy Director General in 1999.
While Alain Moser embraces the pioneering spirit of the school by combining creativity and profitability, Pia Effront excels in the implementation of educational visions and concepts. Both continue to develop the school in Switzerland and Germany, cultivating its tradition of innovation while maintaining the family business model, which ensures trust, loyalty to principles and a strong sense of belonging and adherence to core values on the part of both employees and families.
Guarantor of a Differentiated and Innovative Educational Offer
The school is involved in the formation and future of private schools in various federations in Switzerland and Germany corresponding to the location of the schools – the Geneva Association of Private Schools (AGEP), the Vaud Association of Private Schools (AVDEP) – as well as in the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Geneva (CCIG).
Alain Moser is regularly invited to the Haute Ecole Pédagogique du Canton de Vaud (HEP) to lead seminars for directors of public and private schools, particularly on the sensitive issue of digital development in schools. Pia Effront is involved in the Verband Schweizerischer Privatschulen (VSP), a guarantor of a differentiated and innovative Swiss educational offer, focusing on comparable and recognized training paths and diplomas.
Matching New-Age Demands
The strong growth of the school in the last twenty years presented it with a significant challenge: to accompany the expansion while remaining a family school on a human scale where the school knows everyone – students, teachers, staff, service providers, and parents. The school has just launched the construction of a new campus in Nyon.
Planned for the start of the school year in 2024, the infrastructure, designed on a beautiful, wooded plot of land, the school will provide a tailor-made setting for its 600 future students following a global multilingual pathway from primary to Maturité.
In order to keep up with the changes in the European academic world (bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees) the school is offering a double diploma (Maturité + IBDP), combining the very high level of academic skills of the Maturité with the recognition of the social skills valued by the IB.
Finally, it follows digital policy in a sensible and reasoned way, adapting to the latest innovations through the projects undertaken by Moser Lab. No subject is taboo; all questions are addressed – AI, VR, metaverse, chatGPT, what should their role and place be in teaching? All these reflections and experiments contribute to making the school one of the respected pedagogical institutes.
Helping Students to Achieve Universal Ambitions
Act local but think global: A wide range of activities allows students to develop their skills to achieve a personal and universal ambition of which they will be proud. Whether it is digital (Cyberdays on digital awareness, programming and robotics workshops), cultural (multilingual theatre, music scenes, accompanying Youtubers, visual art camps, Matinales on a social issue) or environmental (open-air school and project weeks focusing on sustainable development and the City of Tomorrow), Moser School is committed to opening their horizons, offering students meaningful activities and helping them become active and caring citizens.
It opened Les Cabris in 2021, an alpine educational center dedicated to training, retreats, workshops and camps that reconnect with nature.
Providing a Multitude of Experiments
Science subjects (mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, computer science) account for 29 percent of secondary education, with the possibility of adding specific options (bio-chemistry, physics and application of mathematics), complementary options (computer science, application of mathematics, physics) and reinforcement in the framework of the double diploma Maturité + IBDP (biology and mathematics).
Students carry out a multitude of experiments in the school’s three distinguished laboratories, and the school collaborates with the Chimiscope, the Bioscope and the Mathscope of the University of Geneva. Every year, it invites students to attend the Athena course (mathematics or physics) developed by the University of Geneva, and it organizes campus tours at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Zurich (ETHZ).
Finally, the Night of Science is one of the school year’s highlights. The culmination of a week devoted to exploring a theme through workshops, experiments and research, it brings together parents and secondary school students to present their discoveries and results and ends with a lecture by an expert.
Possibility of Exchanges with Other Moser Schools
The Swiss Maturité is one of the most demanding diplomas in the world: it stands out for its extraordinary general culture, which is nourished by the 14 primary subjects taught during the three years of secondary school. But the school does not limit itself to this route. It offers bilingual courses in English and German, the possibility of exchanges with the Moser Schule in Berlin, and a double diploma, Maturité + IBDP.
The guidance department also organizes campus visits in Europe (UK, Netherlands, Spain) and the USA, career days with participation in forums and fairs, as well as alum meetings, where students can generously share their experiences.
Agility, Dynamism and Innovation of Six Decades
Moser School is the first school in French-speaking Switzerland to offer the double diploma Maturité + IBDP. The school-leaving exam result places the school in Switzerland and Berlin among the best. The schools in Geneva and Nyon have a pass rate of 90-100 percent for the Maturité diploma and a very high level of honours, while its Berlin institution has been in the top 5 of the best Abitur results for the last ten years.
The school’s agility, dynamism and innovation over the past 60 years are not just empty concepts. They infuse a demanding and contemporary line of conduct, recently rewarded with the Prix de l’égalité 2022 (Grand Prix de l’économie du canton de Genève), the 2nd Prix de l’immobilier romand 2022 for the Centre pédagogique alpin Les Cabris in Leysin and the 3rd Prix SVC (Swiss Venture Club) 2021.
The school guides the students by saying, “Europe is a multilingual, multicultural and remarkably interconnected region: travel! It is an exceptional opportunity to learn languages, immerse oneself in cultures, open up and enrich yourself, deepen critical thinking, and develop ideas and relationships.”
Expansion while Keeping the Uniqueness Intact
Following the success of development in Switzerland and Berlin, the school plans to open other schools in Europe while ensuring that it keeps schools small and respects cultural uniqueness by offering the local diploma coupled with the IBDP. Every day, the school is committed to scrupulously preserving the school’s high standards in order to remain among the best in Europe and in the world.
