Vaud back to school 2026: the two weeks that shape the year

On Monday 17 August 2026, school started again across the canton of Vaud. Tonight, in thousands of kitchens between Lausanne and Villeneuve, the same question will be asked: so, how was it? And almost everywhere, the same answer will come back: fine.

That « fine » is probably sincere. On day one, almost everything is fine. But a school year's learning difficulties do not turn up on the first morning: they settle in quietly over the following two to three weeks, well before the first marks. So it is now, between the first day and early September, that a few simple observations let you adjust the start of a year, at the moment it costs the least effort. Here they are, week by week.

01Why these two weeks matter more than the first marks

Between the first day and mid-September, school is still running in neutral, or nearly so. Teachers take the measure of their class, often with small diagnostic tests that do not count. The averages that matter will only arrive in October. Many families conclude that this period is neutral, a warm-up with nothing at stake.

It is exactly the opposite. This is the only time of year when a trajectory can be corrected without first having to make up lost ground.

A pupil whose mental arithmetic faded over the summer, who has not yet worked out how to write homework down properly, or who does not yet understand a new teacher's way of explaining: all of that resolves within weeks if it is seen now. By November, the same causes will have produced averages, and the task becomes climbing back up a slope instead of simply adjusting a start.

02Week 1: diary, tiredness, talk

The first week of school produces almost no paperwork. It does, however, produce three reliable signals that any parent can read, whatever their own level in the subjects concerned.

• The homework diary. Open it together, without turning it into an inspection. A diary where tasks are written down, dated and legible is the best early indicator of a year starting well. An empty diary in week two does not mean there is nothing to do: it means your child has not yet learnt to catch what is said at the end of a lesson.
• Tiredness. A new school year is tiring, and that is normal. But a child exhausted by the Wednesday of week two, or going to bed later and later because homework drags on, is showing a rhythm that is not settling.
• What gets told, and what does not. A pupil who names his teachers, recounts a moment of the day, complains about something specific, is a pupil who has found his place in the class. Complete silence, day after day, deserves a real conversation, not an interrogation.

03Week 2: diagnostic tests and homework duration

From the second week, school starts to speak, provided you listen on the right channels. Diagnostic tests first: they do not count towards averages, which is precisely what makes them valuable. They say, without stakes and without stress, what survived the summer and what evaporated. Ask to see them, particularly in mathematics and German. A child who brings them home spontaneously makes your job easier; a child who « forgets » them at the bottom of the bag is telling you something too.

Then there is homework, whose duration is a thermometer. As an order of magnitude: twenty to forty minutes at primary level, around an hour at secondary. Evenings that systematically overflow that frame from week two onwards point either to a comprehension problem or to a method problem. Both can be fixed, but not in the same way, and that is the whole value of an early diagnosis.

Finally, some subjects restart higher than they left off. German and mathematics are the usual suspects: the syllabus resumes assuming that June's material is secure. Two summers in a row of that is enough to open a gap that nothing in last year's report card predicted.

04Should you wait for the first marks? No, and here is why

The most common reaction to a back-to-school doubt is also the most expensive: waiting for marks to see. It sounds reasonable. It is not.

By the time the first averages land in late October, eight to ten weeks of syllabus have gone by. A struggling pupil then no longer has to fill one gap: he has to fill it while keeping up with the current pace, two efforts at once. It can be done, we help pupils do it all year long. But it takes longer, costs more energy and is harder on confidence than the simple adjustment that would have been enough in September.

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“Parents often call us in November saying: we should have come earlier. They are right. Not because it is too late, but because in September the same work would have taken half the time.”

An SOS teacher, Vevey centre

058P, 9e, 11e: the years when waiting is not an option

This reasoning holds for every class, but three years make it imperative. 8P first: the May ECR count for 30% of the annual averages in the orientation decision, and they are prepared over the whole year, not in spring. Then 9e: the first year of secondary school, in the pre-gymnasial or general track, with new teachers, new expectations and a pace that surprises many pupils who were comfortable at primary level. Finally 11e, certificate year, where every term counts for what comes next: gymnasium, ECG or apprenticeship.

For these three cohorts, the first two weeks are not a warm-up. They are the first act of a year that plays out continuously.

06How to help your child at home

When a signal appears, the temptation is to tighten the screws: more control, more hours, more pressure. That is usually counterproductive. What works comes down to a few things, and none of them requires turning the living room into a classroom or playing teacher.

• A fixed homework time, the same every day, agreed with the child rather than imposed. Regularity does more than duration.
• A stable place to work, phone out of reach. No need for a minister's desk: a clear table is enough.
• Ten minutes with the diary on Sunday evening, together, to look at the week ahead. The best effort-to-effect ritual we know.
• Questions that invite a story rather than a yes or no: what did you do in maths, rather than did it go well.

07When should you turn to academic support?

Let us be clear: most pupils need nothing more than their parents, a stable framework and a few weeks to find their feet. If your child writes homework down, sleeps normally and talks about the day, this school year is starting well, and this article calls for nothing further.

If, on the other hand, the signals described above start adding up, the right answer is neither panic nor patience: it is a diagnosis. That is exactly what our free educational assessment is for, with no commitment, in our Vevey, Lausanne and Montreux centres: thirty minutes to establish the real level, distinguish what belongs to method, subject matter or confidence, and leave with a written document, whether or not you then decide to work with us.

Timing matters here: our supervised study groups resume on Tuesday 1 September in all three centres. An assessment done this week or next confirms the right group before restart, so the year begins at the pace of the syllabus rather than chasing it. As every year, the weekday end-of-day slots are the first to fill.