Online School & Homeschool in Basel

Online school and international curriculum in Basel

For Basel families — the pharma capital where three countries meet, and where the supplementary route is the only route.

Live online Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge A-Level, Pearson Edexcel International, IB Diploma Programme, and American Curriculum with Advanced Placement (AP) for Basel families. Basel is the world's pharmaceutical capital — Roche and Novartis headquartered within sight of each other, a research and biotech ecosystem recruiting scientists globally, and a tri-national metropolitan area spilling into Germany and France. It is also the canton whose refusal of a home-education application produced the 2019 Federal Supreme Court ruling that Switzerland recognises no constitutional right to teach a child at home: in Basel-Stadt, home education is effectively unavailable in practice. Which makes the position here unusually clear — Smartious works alongside your school enrolment, never instead of it, adding the Cambridge or IB track live in the after-school hours.

Challenges Basel families face

Basel-Stadt effectively does not permit home education — the supplementary configuration is the only one available.
International school fees at Swiss levels for a globally recruited pharma and biotech workforce.
Tri-national households need to know which country's law applies, and that turns on residence.
Research and pharma contracts move families between Basel, the US, Singapore, and the rest of Europe.
Time zone: Basel runs CET (UTC+1) / CEST (UTC+2 summer) — 1-2 hours behind Nairobi EAT.

Why Basel families choose Smartious

The pre-medical and life-sciences spine, taught properly: Cambridge A-Level Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics — the exact subject set a pharma city's children tend to aim at.
Clarity where the law is strictest: Basel-Stadt effectively does not permit home education. We say so, and we run the supplementary configuration alongside your enrolment — the only lawful shape here.
Built for pharma rotations: Basel, Boston, or Singapore next — the curriculum, teachers, and examination board stay constant.
Tri-national clarity: Living in Weil am Rhein or Saint-Louis puts a family under German or French law instead; we state the distinction and plan around it.
Timezone that lands in the school day: Basel is 1-2 hours behind Nairobi EAT.

Basel is where Swiss home-education law was settled: a Basel-Stadt refusal reached the Federal Supreme Court, which held in 2019 that the Constitution's education provisions confer no right to private home tuition, that the right to respect for private and family life creates none either, and that no such right can be derived from the European Convention — leaving cantons free to permit or restrict as they choose. In Basel-Stadt home education is effectively unavailable in practice. The consequence for our families here is simple and we state it plainly: the school enrolment carries the Schulpflicht, and Smartious teaches the Cambridge or IB track live alongside it. Households resident across the border in Germany fall under German law, which does not permit home education either, and those in France under the French authorisation regime — decided by residence, not workplace.

Smartious delivers to Basel families online; the live programme is complete without in-person supplementation.

Live online via Smartious LMS, landing inside the Basel school day on the 1-2 hour offset — the after-school slot for supplementary students — with every session recorded.

Basel is the world's pharmaceutical capital — Roche, Novartis, and a globally recruiting biotech ecosystem in a tri-national city — and the canton whose case produced the 2019 Federal Supreme Court ruling, with home education effectively unavailable in Basel-Stadt. Basel runs CET (UTC+1) / CEST (UTC+2), 1-2 hours behind Nairobi EAT.

Family situations we work with

Roche, Novartis, and biotech research families recruited internationally.
Families supplementing an international campus with a subject or board it does not carry.
Tri-national households living in Germany or France and working in Basel.
Families on pharma rotations needing curriculum continuity across countries.
Students past compulsory schooling running the full A-Level phase.

Basel communities and nearby areas

Basel city · Riehen · Binningen · Allschwil · Weil am Rhein (DE) · Saint-Louis (FR) · Liestal

Common questions from Basel families

Can we homeschool in Basel?

In Basel-Stadt, effectively no — it is the canton whose refused application produced the 2019 Federal Supreme Court ruling that Switzerland recognises no constitutional right to home education. The supplementary configuration is the lawful route: your school enrolment carries the Schulpflicht while we teach the Cambridge or IB track alongside it.

We live in Germany or France and work in Basel — whose rules apply?

Your country of residence, not your workplace. Germany does not permit home education; France operates an authorisation regime. In both cases we run supplementary alongside the local enrolment, and we point families to their own advisers on their own status.

Where do Basel students sit Cambridge examinations?

At authorised centres confirmed per family per session, with regional options across the tri-national area where more practical.

Guides for families in Switzerland

What parents say

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Google from 130+ reviews. Read our Google reviews

“Smartious Homeschooling delivers genuinely effective one-on-one instruction. The teachers are patient, consistent, and skilled at identifying and addressing each learner's specific academic gaps. Since enrolling, our child has become more confident, enjoys lessons, and is now performing above grade level. For families in Nairobi seeking a dependable, academically rigorous homeschooling programme with personalised support, Smartious is a standout choice.” — Allan H., Google review