Grossaffoltern is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

[3] The oldest evidence of humans in the Grossaffoltern area are neolithic objects at Vorimholz, an Early Bronze Age ax blade depot at Munimatte and Bronze Age items at Kosthofen.

The area was also inhabited during the Roman era and the Early Middle Ages.

During the Middle Ages it was owned by the House of Zähringen until that family died out, when it was inherited by the Kyburgs.

Due to the good transportation connections, starting the 1960s, the number of commuters living in Grossaffoltern rose sharply.

In 1967, Grossaffoltern and six surrounding villages merged into a single municipality to streamline government and centralize services.

[5] The municipality is located on the western edge of the Rapperswil Plateau in the Lyssbach valley.

It consists of seven villages; the religious and administrative center of Grossaffoltern, Ammerzwil, Vorimholz, Wingarte, Suberg, Kosthofen and Ottiswil as well as a number of scattered farm houses.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or an Apple tree Vert issuant from a base of the same and fructed Gules.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (2,700 or 96.4%) as their first language, French is the second most common (23 or 0.8%) and English is the third (16 or 0.6%).

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][12] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37.49% of the vote.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 115, of which 113 were in agriculture and 2 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 38 or 25.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 8 or 5.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 28 or 18.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 2.7% were in the information industry, 16 or 10.7% were technical professionals or scientists, 21 or 14.1% were in education and 3 or 2.0% were in health care.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 2,191 or 78.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 248 or 8.9% were Roman Catholic.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

[16] During the 2009–10 school year, there were a total of 226 students attending classes in Grossaffoltern.