School is far from over at lunchtime

Red socks with green dinosaurs, blue and black stripes, white with pink dots. They slip out of their thick shoes and dash across the parquet floor. It's just before midday, school is out and the children are arriving for lunch in the annexe of the listed St. Karli primary school in Lucerne. Jackets and kindergarten triangles fly onto the hooks in the cloakroom. The rooms are bustling, the noise level rises, but within minutes the apparent chaos turns into a natural calm.
It's as if everything suddenly falls into place automatically. Three girls are sitting on the sofa with comics - as engrossed as if they had been sitting there for hours. Eva and Noah study the list of tasks: Who will help with scooping, who will mop up after the meal? When the gong is struck, everyone lines up to wash their hands. Where an army of toothbrushes awaits their turn.

When children are at school from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the school buildings also need to be rethought.

The atmosphere during the meal - rice and sliced meat - is calm. Even at the tables without a carer, where the older children put their heads together conspiratorially. The seating arrangements are fixed, there is no discussion. This is because the carers do this at the beginning of each semester - and check exactly which combinations work. «If we changed the seating arrangements, we could trigger an apocalypse,» says head carer Philipp Stöckli with a laugh.
The 38-year-old carpenter and social pedagogue has been working at the St. Karli care centre, which has existed in various forms for 100 years, for 14 years. He has been in charge since 2011. With the exception of the trainee, practically all the staff have been there for over ten years. During this time, demand for the childcare services has risen sharply. Parents can choose from four elements depending on their needs: Morning care before school starts, lunch, early and late afternoon. The amounts are income-dependent. Today, a total of 130 of the 274 children from the St. Karli primary school and kindergarten attend the childcare programme - often just one day a week, sometimes several days - and the trend is rising.

Rules are passed on to the younger ones

After brushing their teeth, it gets quiet in the common room. Jesus is painting a mandala, Jacob is sitting by the Lego box on the windowsill, above him are forest animals made of tissue paper, and pine cones are hanging from the ceiling. Most of them have logged off and are letting off steam on the football pitch under supervision. The others let us know which room they want to play in. Such internal rules are almost automatically passed on from the older children to the younger ones. "But we also let them make their own rules. We are the guardrails, helping and supporting.

The children should find their own space in between," explains Philipp Stöckli. The family atmosphere is certainly supported by the size and room layout, says Stöckli, himself the father of two sons. The children are spread out across the rooms, finding peace and quiet in the creative corner and the reading area. Others need exercise - on the football pitch, the playground or, in bad weather, in the gym, which is reserved for childcare before and after school.
The long time together, eight years from kindergarten to leaving school, also fosters a family atmosphere. «We put a lot of time and passion into building relationships over the years,» says Stöckli. This is confirmed when young people drop by unannounced in the afternoon to tell him a bit about how things are going at secondary school.

«Childcare time is free time»

In the meantime, school has finished, only homework supervision is still taking place in the school building Yousuf carefully carries plate after plate of snacks to the tables in the common room, with grapes rolling on top. Anna presents her handicraft work, Denis rearranges books and Regina sews fabric bunnies with three girls. «Childcare time is free time,» says Philipp Stöckli clearly.
The subject matter is usually left out. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, a lot is invested in the dialogue between the childcare team, the teaching team and the school management through weekly meetings and additional mandates. The childcare programme is popular with the children. Especially the Wednesday afternoons - because that's when trips to museums, the swimming pool or the circus are on the programme, and that's much more fun with lots of friends, says Lynn. Another highlight she mentions is that you can request your favourite menu on your own birthday. Because everyone at the craft table agrees that rice is served too often.

A major renovation is planned at the St. Karli school building, after which the childcare offer could accommodate 60 per cent of all pupils every day. This is expected to create a third more places in 2023, as many of the children only use the service on one or two days. «We can see how demand is continuously increasing in the city,» says Philipp Stöckli. Almost all schools in the city of Lucerne are currently expanding their childcare provision.
Stöckli attributes the increasing demand to various developments: «In some cases, both parents are working, while for other families, childcare is also a form of integration.» Many children in the St. Karli school building have a migration background. Ensuring that the family atmosphere in the childcare centre remains after the renovation of St. Karli is a challenge that the school is tackling with the help of the childcare staff. They will be involved in the planning. The aim is to avoid large rooms and create opportunities for the children to spread out and relax. Because if the children are at school from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the school buildings also need to be rethought.

The day school is to become standard

The city of Zurich is already a few steps ahead in terms of comprehensive childcare - or so you might think. In the Leutschenbach school building, for example, which opened in 2009. This morning, around 600 pupils are bustling around the modern building. It stands like a castle made of glass and concrete in the middle of the large area with a football pitch, meadows and playground. It is raining cats and dogs and most of the pupils have made themselves comfortable under the canopy around the school building.
They are swapping stickers and picnicking in circles with their Tupperwares full of apple slices and bread rolls. The air is buzzing with voices. Children scream and pose, a girl in yellow rain boots jumps into the biggest puddles on the lawn, lonely but full of passion. «Normally, the whole thing is more spread out around the school building during the breaks» In the city of Zurich, they are already a few steps ahead in terms of comprehensive childcare - or so you might think.

Most cantons expect demand from 60 to 80 per cent of the school population in the future. Many schools are therefore expanding their programmes.

In the Leutschenbach school building, for example, which opened in 2009. This morning, around 600 pupils are bustling around the modern building. It stands like a castle made of glass and concrete in the middle of the large area with a football pitch, meadows and playground. It is raining cats and dogs and most of the pupils have made themselves comfortable under the canopy around the school building. They are swapping stickers and picnicking in circles with their Tupperwares full of apple slices and bread rolls.
The air is buzzing with voices. Children scream and pose, a girl in yellow rain boots jumps into the biggest puddles on the lawn, lonely but full of passion. «Normally, the whole thing is more spread out around the school building during the breaks» In the city of Zurich, they are already a few steps ahead in terms of comprehensive childcare - or so you might think. In the Leutschenbach school, for example, which opened in 2009. This morning, around 600 pupils are bustling around the modern building.
It stands like a castle made of glass and concrete in the middle of the large area with a football pitch, meadows and playground. It is raining cats and dogs and most of the pupils have made themselves comfortable under the canopy around the school building. They are swapping stickers and picnicking in circles with their Tupperwares full of apple slices and bread rolls. The air is buzzing with voices. Children scream and pose, a girl in yellow rain boots jumps lonely but full of passion into the biggest puddles on the lawn.

«Normally, the whole thing is more spread out around the school building during the breaks,» explains headmaster Claude Saladin, as he returns greetings on all sides, rebukes scuffles and distributes handshakes. The school is one of the first to become part of the City of Zurich's «Day School 2025» pilot project in 2015. A project that envisages the nationwide introduction of day schools.
Mylène Nicklaus, project manager of the Day School 2025 project, lives around the corner and knows the school building sites. «In most schools, the premises are not tailored to day school operations and have to be redesigned when switching to a day school,» says Nicklaus. Many of the 18 schools now involved have to rethink their resources and come up with creative solutions, says Nicklaus.
It must be possible to guarantee childcare for 70 per cent of pupils. However, if one assumes more, this is certainly not wrong if one looks at the figures for the pilot schools: In Leutschenbach, only 10 per cent of children are deregistered from day school. The view over the city from the top of the gymnasium is impressive and almost idyllic at lunchtime. But acoustically, the room is a disaster. Every voice echoes and bounces back into the room. The entire glass structure hardly allows for any sound insulation. A problem that had to be solved by the school management with various measures: with sound-absorbing partition walls, carpets and fire doors that are always closed.

Giving space to the need for peace and quiet

In the dining area, curtains separate the room. The children can choose their own seats within these areas. They eat their lunch in stages and staggered. Rice. Photos of all the children are moved to the place where they will be at the registration station on a metre-long board. Ben and Diego have already done this and are playing a card game with great concentration, next to mountains of shoes piled up in front of the barefoot zone by the Lego corner. Around the corner, the rules of table tennis and table football are made by the children themselves.
Around 30 children bustle around the tables behind the partition walls. «The children and young people need places to retreat and communal spaces that absorb noise,» says Saladin. Mylène Nicklaus compares the situation when switching from a regular school to a day school with the energy at children's birthday parties: «Especially at the beginning, it can be difficult for children to realise their own need for peace and quiet because of all the play opportunities and friends.» This can lead to excessive demands and friction. Quiet rooms are therefore a very central point when converting a building to the day school concept. Behind a glass door on the ground floor, covered with multi-coloured curtains, there is such a quiet room. Children from the lower school rest here, on carpets and sofas, with blankets and cushions.

Rooms in the basement have been equipped for the middle and upper school, where they can retreat to the tables behind the Games and Instruments screens, on beanbags and behind make-up tables. If you ask the students, the volume is hardly an issue. Besa and Dani are in the first secondary school and are not fans of mobile phone zones. That's the only thing they criticise.

Children with a migration background: Day school is also a form of integration.

Apart from the menu, which too often includes rice. They think it's pretty cool that they can spend more time with friends, playing ping-pong or in the creative room, and it's hard for them to imagine it any other way. From 3 p.m., many now take advantage of the «IL», individual learning programme. Omkar and Arda from the second class come every day.

Not only to study for tests, but also to work on application documents. Especially when German is not the native language of the parents, learning here is a great advantage. In order not to lose track of the almost 600 children and 110 employees, carers are assigned to specific levels. «The children choose for themselves who they relate to the most. This happens automatically,» says Saladin.
If no close carer is present in difficult situations, everyone is encouraged to simply stop a conflict and call the person who knows the children well. «Recognise instead of overreacting.» Regular and intensive dialogue between teachers and childcare staff is therefore also key to the functioning of a day school. And the well-being of everyone.

Things to know about day structures and day schools in Switzerland

• The topic of day schools and day structures is regulated in Switzerland by cantonal school legislation and every school community and political municipality can establish a day school within the framework of this law and the respective cantonal school ordinance. As a result, programmes and names vary. For this reason, the following will be summarised as the childcare offer.

• There is no right to a childcare place in Switzerland. However, depending on cantonal regulations, if around ten parents join forces, they can submit a request for childcare provision to the school, which is then obliged to fulfil the demand.

• The childcare ratio varies depending on the canton. In Lucerne it is 1:10, in Zurich 1:12, while in Bern the ratio is left up to the schools.
• The composition of the childcare teams varies greatly. The management team is mostly made up of social pedagogues, the majority of the teams are made up of childcare specialists, and people in training or without pedagogical training are also employed as assistants. Occasionally, teachers, kindergarten teachers or playgroup leaders - people with suitable professional experience - are also employed, although the employment conditions are not attractive for them.

• The costs vary from school to school. Depending on the canton and location, between 6 and 30 francs are charged for lunchtime supervision including meals. In most cases, the fees depend on the parents' income. A day can cost between 20 and 90 francs, especially if families can put together the childcare programme from different parts, each of which costs a few francs.

• In most cantons, demand is expected to reach 60 to 80 per cent of the school population in the coming years. Many schools are therefore expanding their programmes.

Daycare: What parents should look out for

• Is a maximum supervision ratio of 1:12 maintained? Are there quiet rooms, places of retreat and space for various leisure activities - including romping around?
• Does the team consist of long-term employees and is it made up of a mix of social pedagogues and care professionals?
• Are there fixed reference persons for the classes or levels? And a regular exchange between the teaching staff and the support team?

Read more about day schools:

• You should bear this in mind when looking for a suitable all-day care centre for your child.

• Educational scientist Emanuela Chiapparini is researching the welfare of children at day schools.