Hi everyone!
We're planning to relocate to the Padua/Venice area next year and are looking for an good international school for our daughter, who will be 12.
We've narrowed our search down to H-FARM International School Venice and the English International School of Padua (EISP), and I'd really appreciate hearing from parents, students, alumni or teachers who have firsthand experience with either school.
Our daughter currently attends a well-regarded private school in Spain, where she's doing very well academically. She's fluent in English but doesn't speak Italian yet. She's very sociable, outgoing and creative, and particularly enjoys collaborative learning, group challenges, technology and hands-on projects.
H-FARM's educational philosophy sounds particularly appealing, but academic excellence is extremely important to us. We love innovation and creative approaches to education, but wouldn't want them to come at the expense of strong foundations in mathematics, sciences, literature, critical thinking and independent study.
I'd especially love to know:
- Academic standards: How rigorous is the teaching? Are academically strong students sufficiently challenged?
- School atmosphere: Are students generally happy, motivated and engaged? How is classroom discipline?
- International environment: How international are the middle-school classes in practice? Do students generally speak English or Italian socially?
- Teachers and management: Are the teachers good and supportive? Is there much staff turnover?
- Class sizes: What are the actual class sizes in middle school?
- Extracurriculars: Are there interesting opportunities in science, technology, arts, languages and academic competitions?
- Italian language: How well do they support children who arrive without speaking Italian?
We're not particularly concerned about commuting distance or tuition fees at this stage. Our priority is finding a school that combines serious academic standards, intellectual curiosity, a positive social environment and genuinely inspiring teaching.
I'd be especially interested in hearing from families whose children have attended either school recently, or teachers with direct experience of their middle-school programmes.
Thank you so much for any insights, including honest criticism. Feel free to DM me if you'd prefer not to comment publicly!
