bigfatal

Hi. We are considering a move to Calgary in the next 6 months or so. I have two girls who are 6 & 8. Who knows what the long term future will hold but there is a good chance this will be s 2-3 year thing with a return back to England.

Ive read all the standard stuff about schools but had a couple of specific questions:

I understand that kids start school when they are 5/6 rather than 4/5 in the UK. How does the Canadian first grade compare with the English Year One? Do the kids risk being frustrated at going backwards in Maths / English (they are both strong academically).

The idea of French immersion is attractive. How does this work / would my kids be too old to start it?

Assuming we returned to England in 3 years, my oldest would be moving to secondary school on her return. As well as the hassles in trying to get back into the queue for the good schools in the area, does anyone have any experience of moving back to the UK after a similar period? The impression I get is that Canada has more of a focus on the wider approach to education which means pure academic stuff starts off more slowly, but catches up by mid teens. Do my kids risk being behind their English peers on their return?

Finally, whats the deal with going home for the lunch hour? Is this common? I assume if both parents work they hang out at school with a packed lunch - I think I read somewhere we have to pay for supervision...

Many thanks

Geordie Lass

Hi I can answer the bit above. You are right re the starting age. However the cut off is 1st March not Sept like it is here. I had the same worries as my son has just turned 6 (he is the youngest in his year) but has already completed 2 full years at school. He has just started Year 2.

I asked the same question to the Calgary Board of Education (which are very helpful btw) and they said that there is always mixed abilities in year groups but that new children are assessed anyway to see if they should change grade.

I did wonder whether he would be better off in the grade above (he can read fluently is good at numbers etc) but they said we have to consider the social maturity impact - ie putting a 6 year old in with 7-8 years olds may be difficult for them.

I have a friend who had a son in my sons class and she has just moved back to Calgary and says that he is doing fine. I get the impression that school is a bit stricter over there.

I'm not worried about it to be honest. Getting him settled is more important and him making friends than academics at this stage (in my eyes anyway)

As for bringing them back in a couple of years - we might also have this problem but if you find they are a bit behind you could always pay for a personal tutor to get them up to speed if you need to or any teacher worth their salt could give them extra work etc.

Hope this helps.

x

cheeky_monkey

i dont get the whole french immersion thing..no one speaks french anymore except in France and Quebec..my kids are learning Spanish instead..i would try and get them to do Chinese if i could.

snowshoveller

from our experience you shouldn't really have any major issues, although if there are selective high schools where you return to in the UK you need to give this consideration as to when the entrance exams are and whether your kids need to prepare for them.

My daughter was 7 when we arrived in canada, she joined her age group, she has significantly ahead in math but had a great couple of years learning about north american culture and history, french etc.

She returned to the UK and fitted into year 5, by this time she has significantly ahead in french (she did not go to french immersion) I don't think she has missed anything particularly. She attended a math club in canada as she likes math and was not challenged by the stuff she did at school

Chookie

My kids were slightly younger than yours when we moved here (7 and 5). The older one slotted into her new school fine, and didn't really have any problems adapting at all - she didn't really find much difference in levels, and had no real problems at all. She was a bit ahead in some things, but she was also a bit behind in others.

The younger one was frustrated in some ways - but more because she had to go to kindergarten (half days), and it was because her older sister was taking the piss out of her and saying "you are going to playgroup" (kids can be cruel, more so when it is siblings!).

I can't comment on the moving back thing though, as obviously we are still here 6 years on.

Lunchtimes - yes the kids either have to take a packed lunch or go home for lunch. If you live within the walk limit (the school will be able to tell you if you do), you will have to pay for lunchtime supervision if you want your kids to stay at lunchtime. If you live outside the walk limit, your kids can get the schoolbus, and the lunchtime supervision is included in the bus-fees (but apparently if you decide to drive your kids to school to save on the bus-fees, you will again have to pay lunchtime supervision)

ann m

Mrs DV has taken children back to the UK earlier this year after spending about 3 years in Calgary (I believe) - she (or her good hubby) may be along to offer some comments.

Cumbrian Lass has also just moved back to the UK with teens after being in Alberta for about 9 or 10 years - she has made comments on the "Moving Back to the UK" section of this forum - perhaps look up some of her threads.

gryphea

Overall I think it will be better for your kids in terms of broad education to see a whole other country and live there for a while.

Come over. If you end up going back you can always put them in Oxford Learning/Kumon whatever for the 6 months before you go back

When are your kids birthdays? Because they may not drop back a year as you think.

Quite a few calgarian schools now have mixed grades in elementary- quite a few by choice. Personalised learning is their buzz phrase. My own experience is that they personalise well for reading and writing etc, but not really at all for Maths. In the young grades there is a very big spread of reading ability.

I think your kids may be too old for french immersion. They may let them in but from my discussions with schools they wouldn't let your eldest in without some assessment.

MrsDV

Hi,

ann m is right, after spending just short of three years in Calgary we returned in the spring of this year.

In Canada:

My daughter just missed the cut off date for grade 2 when we arrived (March birthday) and so was put into grade 1 - after one week the school tested her reading and writing and moved her up to grade two, she was the youngest in her class but not by a huge margin. (although it's worth noting that it's not unusual for kids with Jan / Feb birthdays to be kept back a year by their parents)

We discussed the option of moving my son up (from grade 3 to 4) but decided that, although academically he would be fine, it wouldn't work socially, as he would be the youngest by a significant margin - this was definitely the right decision.

I think it would be fair to say that neither of my kids thrived academically in Calgary but they were happy at school, did sport every day, talked a lot about peace and learned an awful lot about first nations and Canadian history.

I did a bit (not much) extra maths and English with them at home mainly because I just didn't feel they did enough of this at school and I always knew we'd be coming back to the UK. In the last 6 months or so in Calgary we did SAT past papers with my son, just to see where the gaps were and then focused on these areas (there really wasn't that much considering he was going from Canadian grade 5 to year 6 here)

We paid for lunch time supervision and the kids took a packed lunch every day. (I think, if you get the school bus, you pay for this and don't need to pay for supervision)

Back in Blighty

We moved back at the end of February this year, this gave my son the opportunity to do one term in year 6 here and make some friends before moving up to high school - this was definitely the right decision. (The kids here loved their 'Canadian' accents.)

I was in touch with the the education authority the previous Sept. and completed the application forms for both primary and high school from Calgary.

My son went to high school in Sept and my daughter moved up to year 5. They're both doing really well, I'd say in one term we easily sorted out everything (of significance) that had either been missed or taught differently in Calgary, it really hasn't been a big deal.


I'd say, don't worry about it, you say your kids are both strong academically, they will be fine, they'll adapt there and then adapt again when they come back.

Good luck

jimf

Depending on the date of birth they could be in the same grade in Alberta as year in England. 1st March is the cut off so those born before would be in the same grade ie yr 4 to gr 4 etc those born after go to the grade below ie yr 4 to gr 3 etc. Two of my children stayed in the same grade and one went back. At elementary there are plenty of mixed grade classes anyway so it doesn't make a big difference. If we do stay here the two eldest children will finish school a year earlier than if they had stayed in England.

In my opinion french immersion is a waste of time but I know some think it's wonderful. Some use it as an indicator for better schools.

I think at the ages you mention moving back wouldn't be a problem for the children. I would check out the schools that get better scores on the Fraser Institute lists - no great suprise that nicer areas with wealthier/better educated parents tend to have schools that get better scores.

The difference I find from England is that the children were streamed by ability from a fairly young age whereas here that doesn't seem to happen. Being in the top maths set they were definately pushed much more whereas here I get the impression things just drift along at the average rate. It may well be why Alberta does well in international comparisons for average achievement at age 14.

Lemonfish

French is definitely useful if they want to get a job with the Federal Government, United Nations, World Bank, European Union, NGOs or other types of international organization. Plenty of kids grow up wanting to do so.

French is also widely spoken elsewhere, e.g. west Africa. Its still a useful language for business, or even for demonstrating that you are capable of learning other languages.

Agree that Mandarin would be useful, but unless you're immersed in that environment and prepared to put a lot into it, they're unlikely to reach anything like fluency. Unlike French, which is relatively easy to learn for English speakers given the similarities between the languages.

My two cents.

LucyLovelock

Hi,
Some great advice above, and as my two are 2 and 4, I dont have anything to add, but just wanted to wish you all the best.
Calgary is a great city, and a fantastic place to live!

TheThornes

The elementary school my youngest goes to has a lunch time program run by volunteers so that all kids can stay at school during lunch without having to pay anything for supervision. Not sure if and, if so, how many other schools offer this as I know what Chookie has stated is the norm.

bigfatal

thanks for all the advice. Both girls have birthdays in June so would miss the cutoff.

cheeky_monkey

My whole point is the world is changing rapidly..French is in decline Spanish will take over as the 2nd mostly widely spoken langauge after Chinese and both these languages i guarantee will userp French within organisations such as those you have listed on a global scale...so in terms of kids you need to be looking at the world 15-20 years from now.

Chookie

Funnily enough, all my kids have June birthdays as well...

At that age, they are relatively young for the school year by UK standards, but would be in the older half by the Canadian system, so I doubt they would have major issues.. I know my girls didn't.
apri
And as some others have said there is the social thing - there is a HUGE difference between a 7 yr old who is born in June and an 8 yr old who is born in April. I know I would much prefer my kids mixed with others of their own age - I want them to make friends and integrate. I don't want them to feel like they are the "baby" of the class because they are almost an entire year younger and not fitting in at all. In elementary school (as it is in Junior school in the UK), it is less about academic achievement and more about learning to socialize and learning good study ethics (ie doing the homework on time).

With the exception of one of my kids (who was only 18 months old when we emigrated), all are doing well at school here and are in the top 75% of their class. The one who is having issues has suspected ADHD and it is more a can't sit still in class and concentration issue that we are working with the teacher to address.

And the only other issue we are having educationally is that my eldest (at the grand old age of 13 ) has decided that homework is stupid as far as she is concerned and is refusing to do it (but that is more a teenage kid issue than a school issue).... she will learn to regret it later on..... I am a BIG believer in them learning from their mistakes!