Ski schools for kids - Recommendations

Can anyone recommend a good ski school in Europe for total beginner kids age 5 and 7? We are taking them for the first time and are looking for a positive experience for the kids, this is most important we can fit all other plans around this! (My wife and I are average skiiers, we don't need tuition). France probably best but not that important as we will fly/drive anywhere in the Alps/Pyronees.

Hi. It's not a ski school recommendation but I would seriously look at ski esprit because as a family skiholiday company they take it to another level. Little things like they have there own staff on the slopes with the instructors to take little ones to toilet, wipe their noses etc. Not the cheapest by any means but quality and I am a believer that if your little ones are warm and enjoying themselves then we enjoy ourselves. A little food for thought. Russ

The British Alpine Ski School are excellent. Our son had lessons for several seasons with them from the age of 5, which he really enjoyed. I'd certainly recommend them!

My experience of ESF (French ski school) with kids is excellent. They really work hard a providing them with a good experience.

Whichever country, they won't do things quite the the way they do in the UK, but the kids seem to enjoy it.

Where I am based (Montgenevre) they are used to kids from the UK and have English speaking instructors, specially picked for their aptitude with the little ones. Classes are multi-lingual French/Italian/English but that's not a problem for the kids.

The ski schools are not what they used to be – in a very posititive sense. Private competition and demands from parents has made the likes of ESF really buck up their ideas, it's most likely the same for the other European countries.

We had a really positive experience with Nouvelle Dimension ski school in Les Carroz, which is in the Grand Massif area of France. Nice, pretty resort, which links to Flaine. Our instructor was called Isabelle and she was fantastic. We ended up having some 2-hour private lessons, in which she taught the three of us (me, husband and 9-year old daughter) all together for the first hour, then daughter on her own for the second hour. Daughter, who skis better than us at intermediate level, was taken all around the area by Isabelle, who passed the time on the chair lifts by telling her all about the local area, wildlife etc.

I have to say that regarding children's ski schools, we have had a very mixed bag over the past 5 years, including one very poor experience in Austria, in a resort and ski school which I won't name, but has been highly recommended by other people on this forum. It just goes to show that what suits one person may not suit another. It can very much depend on an individual instructor. We have solved that by taking private lessons, but not everyone can do that.

All I can add is that in the event that you ended up in a group that you weren't happy with, you could always ask to be moved to a different one.

Allie

BASS Morzine is great. English ski school so no language barriers, lovely instructors, nice teaching area for kids and then beyond, smaller groups than the local French schools which is a big plus.

The Ski School in Andorra is excellent; friends of ours took their 5 year old over to Soldeu for her first ski trip last year and she got going brilliantly.
Of course, her parents think it's because they have managed to produce our next olympic hope but I think it could be partly to do with the ski school :)