Lunathecat

We made the move to Canada quite a while back and settled in the Okanagan. It now looks like we are going to move to Calgary later this year(work opportunities for me have never been good but now they seem to have dried up completely) and could do with some advice.

We have visited Calgary a few times and although we loved the communities in the deep south, we are thinking that we will probably have to move somewhere in the north west. Our research has shown that the schools in places like Mckenzie Towne are over subscribed and kids are being bussed (some 1 hour each way). I know new schools will be opening but not until sept 2016 and 2 years is too long to wait.

I am also a bit of a wuss when it comes to driving and would rather commute via public transit .

This being the case we have been looking at the communities in the NW, such as Tuscany. Does anyone have any information about these communities and the schools and commuting? Or can anyone recommend any other neighbourhoods in other quadrants that have access to downtown and good schools that have capacity for grade 1 kids? Our budget to buy a home is about $500k.

Thanks in advance!

JBJ14

Hi there

School availability is a pretty big issue unfortunately, we live next to Tuscany and our local school was full so the kids were going to be bussed to another school a bit further away (I visited the overflow school and wasn't impressed so we went elsewhere).

If you want to choose schools then you will either need to try private, charter or Montessori. Otherwise your kids may be bussed out of area to where there is available space.

There is a school in Royal Oak called Renert School (I think that's correct), it's a private school but I believe it has some space. I'm not sure the state of schools in or around Tuscany, you may get lucky! Even the private schools are pretty full.

We had a pretty tough time finding a school we liked which had room for my Grade 1 child.

Tuscany is a nice area though, as is Rocky Ridge, Royal Oak, Edgemont, Arbor Lake and some others around there.

Good luck with the search

Lunathecat

Thanks for the input. We went for a look at the Renert school, it was nice but $2k a month, so not an option for most.

I just called the school district and they said that the overflow school for Tuscany is W.O. Mitchell - is that the school you didn't like?

Lunathecat

Which school did your kid end up in?

Geordie Lass

You have another option re schooling. You can put your kids into the Catholic system. You don't have to be Catholic to do it.

I was raised Catholic and was baptized - however our son hasn't been raised any religion at all. They haven't asked for proof either.

My issues were the same as yours - the local school was full and I didn't want him bussed and was told the overflow school for my area wasn't very good so saw that as an option.

The school he is in is a bit heavy on religion but we balance that at home. The good thing was we moved communities and still were able to stay at the same school.

If you want any more info please PM me - I don't want to put much more personal info/experience onto the public forum.

Hope that helps.

Lunathecat

Thanks, I have sent you a PM

Flossie and Jim

Are you set on a 'new' house? If you look at the areas with older, more established housing you might find that the schools are not so crowded. In Calgary, communities (IMHO) seem very homogenous, and this is a generalization on my part but the newer places like Tuscany and Rocky Ridge are chock full of families with kids whereas if you go more to the slightly older communities then they tend to have older kids and schools with smaller numbers, hence the overcrowding issues in the more newer communities.

If you are looking at the NW, have you checked out: Arbour Lake, Edgemont, Scenic Acres, Silver Springs, Dalhousie, Varsity, Brentwood, etc? These are older housing areas (ranging from 1990's down to about 1960's) and some of the schools in these areas have pretty good reputations and have quite small numbers. Our daughter is going into Kindergarten this September in an older NW community and it is a K to 6 school with only 190 pupils and has a pretty decent reputation, so they do exist!

If you were to look at the SW, particularly out west in newer areas like Aspen, you will probably find the same situation as in Tuscany i.e. oversubscribed schools and probable bussing. Maybe check out the communities (some of which are very nice) on the west CTrain line but a bit closer in? The school boards always seem to be playing catch up when it comes to building schools serving new communities!

Here's the list of schools designated by residential area: Calgary Board of Education - Schools by Community

You can get a broad idea of number of kids at the school from the school profiles page on the CBE website: Calgary Board of Education - School Websites/Profiles

This is quite an interesting page that tells you about schools coming in the pipeline: Calgary Board of Education - Schools Under Development

And, this link tells you about plans to review/combine/close certain schools - there is a bit of background on the position in Tuscany if you scroll down the list: Calgary Board of Education - Community Engagement

You could also look into the other programs offered by thew CBE - I know quite a few people have put their kids in the Spanish Program at West Dalhousie and WO Mitchell, and the Traditional Learning Centre program too in order to avoid the 'regular' school that is designated for their community.

Hope this helps - good luck!

And re commuting, most of the communities will have a feeder bus to the nearest CTrain station, and as a rough idea, it takes about 30 mins on the train to City Hall Station downtown from Crowfoot station (20 mins if you are heading to the west end and 8th Street) - the west line seems pretty quick and may also be worth checking out too.

pkc

If you really like McKenzie Towne, it might be worth doublechecking your research - the northern part of McKenzie Towne (Prestwick) is the designated walk zone for the Elementary school and I don't know how likely it is that you would move to Prestwick and still get bussed out. $500k would also buy you a very nice house with big yard in that area....

danfolkestone

This report might help as well - it shows the capacity and enrollment at CBE schools, which might help you to work out where your kids would be able to get into the local school: CBE School Capacity and Enrollment Report 2013-2014*

This link shows the public school allocation for each community, for the main program and various alternative programs: Calgary Board of Education - Schools by Community

Be aware that most of the schools listed as under development have had their opening dates delayed. I'm not sure whether the CBE has updated their site to reflect the later dates, or whether they could be delayed again.

Recent school construction has not kept pace with population growth, so kids are bussed from most communities on the edge of the city - either because they have no local school, or because that school is oversubscribed. My community was built in the 1960s, but the school is also over capacity due to the number of children coming in by bus. Although children who live in the designated walk zone do get priority, I'm not sure how that applies in your case, assuming that your children are already of school age and transfer in, rather than starting at the school at the designated entry age.

*Note that the figures are for 2013/2014 and may be significantly different come September. Tuscany's designated Middle School/Junior High (Twelve Mile Coulee School) is expected to be over capacity next year.

Lunathecat

Thank you so much for all the wonderful help. I'm going to look at all the suggested neighbourhoods and discuss with my husband. Its so hard moving from our current neighbourhood as its so nice, we have a great circle of friends, and we fought so hard to get our son into the local school and after school program

It seems counter intuitive to leave, but I've been trying for months to get a job and I'm not getting any where. That's why I really want to try and get a nice school and neighbourhood, it will make leaving a bit easier.

Thanks again!