Prime Language & Activity Summer Camp for High Schoolers in Via Collina d'Oro, Switzerland Experience

Course Description: Prime Language & Activity Summer Camp for High Schoolers in Via Collina d'Oro, Switzerland Experience

🎓 Course Overview

This three-week summer programme in southern Switzerland is designed for students aged 14–17 who want to combine serious study with sport, travel and international friendships. Each student follows one academic course for the whole session, including English as an Additional Language or French Language & Culture, then spends afternoons on sports and activities and evenings on social and cultural events. Weekends bring day trips to cities such as Milan, Zurich and Lucerne. Students come from more than 60 countries, and both boarding and day places are available.

📚 Academic Content

Students choose one academic course for the session, with about four hours of instruction a day. Teacher-to-student ratios are about 1:12 in most courses.

Language Courses

• English as an Additional Language (EAL): immersive practice in reading, writing, speaking and listening, open to all levels.

• French Language & Culture: practical language skills and vocabulary alongside French culture through songs, films and food, including a required weekend trip to Colmar (at additional cost).

Students taking language-based courses also join a morning Discovery class on topics such as Japanese animation or acoustic guitar.

Other Course Options

• Academic Writing: narrative, expository and persuasive essays and the ethical use of generative AI, for native or near-fluent English speakers (laptop required).

• Finance and Lean Startup Masterclass: investing, blockchain and venture capital, or building and pitching a business (laptop required).

• Art & Design and Architecture & Design: studio work, model-making and a required trip to Basel and the Vitra Design Museum (additional cost) for the architecture course.

• Musical Theatre, Filmmaking and Digital Photography: creating an original musical, a short film, or a photography portfolio (students bring their own DSLR camera).

• Fashion, La Cucina Italiana and STEM: pattern drafting and sewing with visits to Italian fashion houses, Italian cooking with a professional chef, or genetics, chemistry and data analysis.

Sports & Activities

Each student chooses two afternoon sports or activities (about two hours a day). Included options are watersports on Lake Lugano (paddleboarding, windsurfing, swimming and kayaking, usually twice a week, supervised by lifeguards), volleyball, recreational tennis, basketball, yoga, spinning, weight training, hiking, rock climbing, dance and recreational football. Optional sports clubs, held twice a week, cost CHF 500 each: waterskiing, wakeboarding, tennis (coach ratio 1:5), Milan Academy football coaching and golf at Lugano Golf Club (maximum five students).

📍 Campus & Location

The school sits on a hillside in Montagnola, in the municipality of Collina d'Oro just above Lugano in Italian-speaking southern Switzerland, with views of snow-capped mountains, palm trees and Lake Lugano. The campus has 25 buildings, ranging from a 17th-century villa to a modern science centre, and students use the lake for watersports and the surrounding Ticino region for trips and outdoor adventures.

Unaccompanied boarding students are met at Milan Malpensa Airport (flights landing between 09:00 and 17:00 on arrival day) or at Lugano railway station, and departure buses run to the same points at the end of the session.

🏫 Accommodation & Meals

Boarding students live on campus in separate boys' and girls' dormitories with peers of their own age group, mostly in rooms for two to four. Siblings and friends are not placed together, so students share with peers from other countries. Boarding fees include all meals and laundry. Day students receive lunch and may stay for dinner when they take part in evening activities.

🚌 Excursions & Activities

Weekend day trips, included in tuition, visit cities such as Milan, Zurich and Lucerne with cultural tours and free time, and adventure options include canyoning, canoeing, rafting and caving, as well as lido visits in Ascona, Locarno or Tesserete. Optional overnight trips of one or two nights can be added at extra cost, to destinations such as the French Riviera, Rome (Session One only), the Italian Riviera, Tuscany, Zermatt and the Matterhorn, and Venice. Evenings include formal dances, group games, cinema nights and ice-cream socials.

⏰ A Day in the Life

• 08:15 — Breakfast (boarders)

• 09:15 — Morning meeting

• 09:35 — Classes and activities, with a lunch break

• 14:45 — Afternoon sports and activities

• 18:25 — Dinner

• 19:30 — Evening meeting

• 19:45 — Evening activities or free time

• 22:00 — Boarders check in to dorms; day students leave campus

• 23:00 — Lights out

2027 Dates & Fees 📅

The programme runs in two three-week sessions. Students arrive on the first day (registration 10:00–16:00), and classes begin the following day. Fees are quoted in Swiss francs (CHF).

• Session One: Sunday 27 June – Saturday 17 July — Length: 3 weeks — Boarding: CHF 9,200 — Day: CHF 5,100

• Session Two: Monday 19 July – Sunday 8 August — Length: 3 weeks — Boarding: CHF 9,200 — Day: CHF 5,100

The last programme day for day students is Friday 16 July (Session One) or Saturday 7 August (Session Two); boarders check out by 12:00 on the final day.

Optional extras: sports clubs (CHF 500 each), overnight trips and course trips to Colmar or Basel (prices on application).

Payment: a non-refundable deposit of CHF 1,500 secures a place, and the balance is due by 15 May 2027 (later enrolments must be paid in full within seven days of the invoice). Cancellations before 15 May may receive a tuition refund minus the deposit; after that, enrolment is binding and there are no refunds for absence, withdrawal or dismissal except in documented emergencies. Optional sports and trips are non-refundable after arrival.

Other costs: if an airline's unaccompanied-minor service is booked, a CHF 200 chaperone fee applies. Suggested pocket money is CHF 80–100 per week.

✔️ What's Included

• Boarding: tuition, books, dormitory accommodation, all meals, laundry, daily excursions and weekend day trips, and health and accident insurance for non-Swiss residents.

• Day: tuition, books, lunch and snacks, most sports and activities and daily excursions.

Not included: optional sports clubs, overnight and required course trips, personal spending, uncovered medical costs and travel to Switzerland.

🛡️ Safety & Welfare

Students follow a structured schedule with supervised evening meetings, dorm check-in at 22:00 and lights out at 23:00. High school students have daily phone access but follow a no-phones policy in class and at meals. Watersports are monitored by lifeguards and trained staff.

The on-campus Health Center is staffed by three nurses providing round-the-clock care, and the Civico Hospital in Lugano is about 15 minutes away for emergencies. Boarding students who are not Swiss residents are covered by the school's health and accident insurance plan, which has no deductibles (dental and eye care are not covered); Swiss residents and day students need their own policy, although non-Swiss day students can apply to join the plan.

💡 Who This Programme Is For

This programme suits 14–17-year-olds who want an academically focused summer abroad, whether that means building fluency through English or French, or exploring a subject such as business, design or film. It is ideal for independent teenagers who want to live alongside peers from dozens of countries, and for families who value a structured, well-supervised environment with plenty of sport and travel.

TASIS The American School In Switzerland — Google Maps ↗

Via Collina d'Oro 15, 6926 Montagnola, Switzerland Google Maps ↗