shaffy1

Hello !!
While trying to frame this post I realised I need some moral support and a hug more than anything else !

I lived in London, got married in 2005 and moved in with my husband and his family (eek!) in 2005. We lived there for 6 years and moved back to London.
Now…he has been transferred via work to Toronto yet again.
I am utterly distraught by the news! I think the time spent in Mississauga was the worst time of my life. I have two kids (aged 7 and 8) and they love London. There just seems to be so much more to do, so many places to go, such an incredible variety as well … of everything ! Be it people, food, clothes!
I’m biased. I know.

Anyhoo. We will be moving soon. The way it stands is that my husband starts work end of August. He wants us to come with him and start researching schools so the kids can start in Sept with everyone else. I’m not sure how to research schools if they are off for the summer !?!

I don’t want to rush it. I would much rather we do the research well and start school in Jan in the new term.
My questions are… (finally!)

1) How do you go about researching schools?! I imagine the best thing to do is to visit and get a feel for the school. The Fraser rating only measures how well they are in science, math and English. What about teaching methods? What about management style of the school? What about extra-curricular activities? As silly as it sounds, how do they nurture the children??
Has anyone cold-called schools to get this info?

2) My husband would like to move to Oakville. I prefer to be closer to the city, possibly East York and Etobicoke. Does anyone know of schools in this area? It’s the chicken and egg situation. We can’t enroll them is school if we don’t have a house, but then we can’t really buy a house if we don’t know what schools to target?

I sound like a bit of a newb. I realise that. I’m also being rather petulant and need to get over myself!

If you could maybe give me some starting tips that would be amazing.

Thank you!

dbd33

There are lots of posters here who live in Oakville and will be able to explain how it's different from Mississauga. I, for myself, can't tell the difference so I think if you hated one and have a husband who wants to move to the other that's a bit of a problem.

Have you considered the obvious option? No jury will convict if you say you shot him in despair when he said he wanted to move to Oakville.

HGerchikov

In answer to your questions.

I agree with you that the best way to research schools is to visit them, and you are correct that is not easy in the summer when they are closed. The Fraser Report Card is not a totally reliable source of information. I find it useful as an indicative tool, say if a school performs really badly then its worth taking a closer look to try to work out why. But if I liked the feel of a school I would not discount it based solely on the Fraser Report.

Most Canadians that I meet really don't seem to be over worried about the performance of elementary schools, its not like the UK where parents fight to get their kids into the 'best' schools and will drive miles daily to get them there.

I live in Oakville, my boys were 9 and 5 when we moved here, we have been here for 11 years. Parts of Oakville are very different from Mississauga, other parts not so much. We live in the older part of Oakville, in a house built in the 1950s, on a large plot with lots of well established trees and creeks, its a very short drive to two GO train stations and the schools are great. When we moved we also looked at Etobicoke briefly, but for a number of reasons Oakville suited us better.

My boys really love living here, and have never been short of things to do. They both like being outside, several of their friends have swimming pools, so in the summer they swim, and in the winter many people build back yard rinks and they skate, or play roller hockey or ball hockey in the street. They generally get invited to someone's cottage for a week or two in the summer where they get to water ski, etc. Both play organised sports too.

One is now 19 and the other 16, I have never heard either one of them complain about being bored and having nothing to do.

I don't have any personal experience of the Etobicoke or East York schools, elementary schooling here seems to be a fairly stress free experience so I wouldn't worry too much about the academics, just pick one that feels like a fit for your children. If you think this may be a permanent move you may want to focus more on the high schools in the area.

Finally kids seem to be remarkably adaptable, as long as they don't pick up on how negative you feel about the whole thing (not that I blame you, it's no fun being uprooted from a place where you are happy) then they will probably be fine wherever you settle.

colchar

I'm not sure I understand...were you living in Mississauga with his family? If so, it will likely be different this time when you are living on your own.





The school year runs from September to June. If your family moves here in August the kids would need to be in school in September. I am sure there are possible legal ramifications if the kids are not in school.

And since the kids (the ones in the schools) will be all settled in by the time January rolls around it might be to your kids benefits to start them in their new school at the start of the new year rather than starting them halfway through in January.




Check with the local school boards, they might have info.

And here kids generally just go to the school closest to their home. Schools in the local neighborhood will generally be of the same standards. Some might have a different focus (ie. arts) but the quality is generally the same.



They will be similar in most publicly funded schools.



That isn't an issue here. Schools here are not run in the same way that they are in the UK (ie. boards of governors do not exist here). Schools are run by their principals under the auspices of the local school board.




That will vary a bit by school but, by and large, most schools will have the same extra-curriculars. Are there specific ones you are interested in?




Not sure what you mean by this...can you clarify a bit?

shaffy1

Thanks for your response !

yesss I have !! don't tempt me....


I think I might be overthinking the school situation.

And colchar youre right, it'll be different this time definitely ! I'll no longer be a doormat that's probably where all my anxiety is stemming from. I have this fear of their twisted influence on my kids.

It's also the reason why I would prefer to move in December. My husband can move in August, find a place and the kids and I could make a couple of trips in between, find a house and school without having to stay with them initially.

I might also be trying to delay the inevitable !

The more I look in to it the more I like the idea of Oakville. There are some lovely pockets and we have friends there which would be great for everyone.

Sting has got nothing on me.... I'll be a Londoner in Oakville ...

dbd33

More Trudy than Sting, I would have thought, will you be flying your hairdresser back and forth?

SchnookoLoly

My family moved to Oakville when I was 2. I've lived in Oakville most of my life. I went away to University (still in Ontario but lived away) and then lived in London for 5 years. My husband (British) and I decided to move back to Canada nearly 2 years ago, and we've settled back in Oakville. For me it was going back home, but my husband liked it a lot and was happy to go there - it was his choice and we did look into a load of other areas. I'm happy to answer questions, either publicly or by PM.