SwissBread

Hello everybody. My husband and I will be moving to BC in June/July this year. We have three children, who will start Kindergarten, Grade 2 and Grade 5 in September.

I would like to know a bit more about everyday school life in Canada, i.e. when does school start in the morning, do all the grades finish at the same time, are children allowed to walk to school, do they have packed lunch or school dinners or both, what are the main differences to English schools, apart from uniforms, are reports (as Ofsted) as important as here in the UK? etc. etc.

Our children have been going to Swedish and English schools so far. As these school systems are very different from eachother, I just wondered how it is in Canada. Any feedback is very much appreciated. Regards, Kristina

SwissBread

I just saw that many off the topics I've mentioned in regards to schooling are already discussed in the Wiki articles. Silly me. Anyhow, it would be nice to maybe get some personal experiences from you and to know, how it was for your children (and for the parents!) to start a new school in Canada. Thanks a lot! Kristina

Atlantic Xpat

I cannot answer your questions (not having a school age child & being the other side of the country for a start) but just wanted to say that the wiki articles are usually based on personal experiences - that's one of their strengths.

In general terms, there is no equivalent of ofsted & league tables in Canada. There is a report from the Fraser Institute (google it) although that is not independent (Right wing think tank with an axe to grind). My wife, who has taught in both UK and Canada would suggest that not having Ofsted in Canada is a plus.

Start times likely vary grade to grade. Here if you live more than 1km from the school you get the bus, closer you walk or your parents are responsible for getting you to school. Pack lunches or going to the local store/fast food outlets seems to be the norm. As with so much in Canada this will vary from province to province. (Educatuon being one of the many things that is controlled at the provincial level as opposed to Federally.)

ExKiwilass

My experience: nobody cares about the Fraser Institute report, really. I say that based on the fact my school doesn't do well yet we had 11 kids switch from the private sector last year to our school. Word of mouth/the kind of programmes your school has is/are more important. The FI report is very controversial here - personally I think it's a very inadequate measure of schools and the PP is right, the Fraser Institute is a right wing neo-con think tank so be wary.

Each school district in BC is run slightly differently, so some of your questions depend on where you're going to be. At mine yes the grades finish at the same time. THere are no school dinners - everyone brings their own lunch. School starts at 9. Children can walk to school alone from about Grade 2 on. Mine is in G1 and still requires an adult to pick her up. School finishes at 3 - 3:15 (will check as I am a working mum and the OH does the pickup)

Bonestable

We are on the North Shore in Vancouver. Our Elementary School (K-7) starts at 8.40 and finishes at 3. Lots of children walk alone to and from school - I have never heard of a rule as to when they can start doing this. At 3pm the kindergarteners are dismissed one by one to their parents, but the older kids are just released so you have to make sure somebody is there to meet them and that they have a plan as to what to do if nobody is!

Most children at our school take a packed lunch, although once a week they can buy hot lunch (eg pizza or sushi). They eat in the classrooms. They get 15 minutes to eat then go outside to play. A few children go home for lunch.

One thing that surprised me is that they go outside for recess every day, whatever the weather. They go out for 20 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes after lunch. It rains a lot so they often get soaked. They keep a change of clothes at school in case they get so wet they need to get changed.

We moved from the USA so never went to the UK schools, so I can't compare (except to my own experiences many years ago!).

Our school did well in the Fraser Institute reports last year, and I have met a few families who moved from other Provinces or countries and were attracted to the area for that reason, at least partially. However the people who have lived in the area a long time don't seem to pay much attention. As somebody else said word of mouth is much more important, although obviously not so easy to access before you get here.

ExKiwilass

See, and our school doesn't do recess every day outside. So it really varies.

Lychee

I have friends and family members who are teachers in Greater Vancouver, and know children in the school system here.

First, there is no such thing as a Canada-wide school culture any more than there's a European-wide school culture. Each province is responsible for its own education system, and within each province, each school board is responsible for administering laws, regulations. Even then, there can be variations from school to school. In other words, we can give you our experiences, but it might be completely different from the school you end up sending your children to.

In the Richmond School Board, for example, some schools start at 9am. Others start at 8:45am. Some have one day a week where they leave school early. Some schools enforce an outdoor-only recess while others are given the choice to stay inside or outside.

Richmond is only one school board in Greater Vancouver, the others being Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, etc. Each school board will have a website listing such details.

Typically you can expect class to start no later than 9am. Students often get a short recess in the morning (10-20 minutes) and a full hour for lunch at noon.

American style cafeteria culture (the stuff you see in movies) doesn't exist in Vancouver schools from what I see - children bring their lunch to school and eat it in the classroom. Usually high school is where schools have an on site restaurant or cafe selling the most basic of foods... unless it's a school that offers advanced culinary courses (McNair Secondary in Richmond offers a chef training program, I believe, and students cook gourmet lunches for their fellow students at cost).

Most kids walk to school or get their parents to drive them. Some kids carpool. There is no school bus system here in Vancouver to pick up/drop off children, although I have seen some buses for local private/religious schools picking children up in affluent areas. It is not the norm.

School rating systems aren't paid attention to because they don't exist here as they do in the UK. Academically Vancouver schools do very well in general, it's the unmeasurable qualities that distinguish one school from the next. One school might have an excellent arts program while another school might have a reputation for being a serious sports school. It's the "culture" of each school that varies from one to the next - things that aren't taken into consideration by the Fraser Institute.

However, if I may contradict myself, if there's one thing that varies from UK school culture vs. Canada school culture, it's that academics are only one factor in the Canadian schooling system. The English (and some other immigrant groups, the Hong Kong Chinese for example) put a big importance and emphasis on academic achievement than their Canadian counterpart. It's not that Canadians don't value academic achievement, but it's not the end all be-all when choosing a school. As a result, most local families simply send their children to the nearest public school, and all is well. That is the norm for Vancouver.

Bonestable

If you know which areas you are interested in living, you can find the websites for the local school boards. These probably have links to individual school websites. In our district each individual school has a detailed website.

These websites have a lot of information including the school handbook with rules, policies etc, monthly newsletters, photos, details of extracurricular activities, minutes of parent association meetings etc etc. You can get a reasonable idea of the culture and emphasis of the school by looking through this information.

SwissBread

Many thanks for all this very helpful information. It gives me a good insight into the B.C. school system. It's good to hear that children are "allowed" to walk to school (school runs where we live now are a nightmare) and that children are often outside for recess (similar to Sweden). Although I will miss the school uniforms a little bit!

@Bonestable may I ask you to which school your children go to? We hopefully will find a property in North Vancouver, so it might be useful to know. Cheers

@Kiwilass are you on the North Shore too?

Can I ask you one more question: how important is the catchment area? When we moved from Sweden to the UK during school term, it was very difficult to get the kids into the nearest school, as many are oversubscribed in our area (Hertfordshire). How is this in North Vancouver/Vancouver?


Thanks again for your help! Kristina

ExKiwilass

nope, north burnaby.

re: catchment in my experience it depends on how popular a school is.

Frank'n Sense

I agree. I had a client last year looking to get his kids into Westbay, in West Vancouver. This offers the IB program and is very popular. Even living next to the school might not get you into it! But overall the schools are pretty good and most people I talk with are happy with the education they get.

My 4 kids were older when we came here (youngest was 11, then) and they slotted into the schools very easily. They have all gone onto University or college, and have done well. Plus they now snowboard, sail, hike, camp and generally enjoy life in the great outdoors.

Enough with the advert for Canada!

Warmly,

Frank

JonboyE

This subject often comes up in this forum. I almost feel there should be be a wiki article under the heading "Canada is different".

The town I used to live in in Hertfordshire had a minor public school. Whenever you met someone the first question they would ask was, "which school does Junior go to." (Even before, "what do you do for a living?")

I know people in London who would move mountains to be in the catchment area of a "good" school. House prices would rise and fall on the reputation of the local school.

In Canada it seems to work the other way around. Schools reflect their neighborhood rather than the neighborhood reflecting the school. If you find a neighborhood where you are comfortable then the chances are that your kids will be comfortable, and prosper, in the local school. The vast majority of people send their kids to the local school. It is simply not something that people stress about.

The only reasons I can think of for choosing anything other than your local school are extra-curricular. Maybe the religious context of the education, or particular sports or arts bias. Also if you want your children taught in French.

Of course, if you really feel the need to impoverish yourself "for the kids" then there are private schools that will gladly accommodate your desires. Just don't expect your children to benefit from it, or appreciate it.