From Wiki

• Private schools are much less common in Canada than they are in the UK.

• Private schools can be very expensive. It's not just the tuition (although that too can be high), the mandatory laptop, etc. It's also the field trips to foreign countries and other "enrichment" activities.

• If you research private schools in advance of your arrival in Canada and convert the tuition into British pounds, you may not get the full sense of how expensive it would be to send your child to that school. Keep in mind that, when you're living in Canada, you most likely will be earning your income in Canadian dollars.

• Yes, the academic standards of a private school may be very good, but it's not necessary to stretch yourself financially in order to secure good schooling for your child. Provided you're willing to do some research, you can find a public (state) school that will provide your child with a decent education. If your child has academic inclinations, one of Canada's great bargains are the public (state) schools that offer the International Baccalaureate program (albeit this tends to be available only in cities and larger towns).

• The author of this article did some research to try to figure out the academic standards of private schools. Just by way of example, Calgary was used as the test case. The Fraser Institute's School Report Cards were used as the yardstick. (The FI School Report Cards are something like League Tables.)

• A reading of the FI School Report cards revealed that Strathcona-Tweedsmuir, an expensive private school outside of Calgary, shared the highest provincial ranking with a public (state) high school in Edmonton. A public high school in Calgary was very near the top of the list, just behind Strathcona-Tweedsmuir and the Edmonton public school.

• The private schools in the Calgary area that had a religious focus varied enormously in their standards. Some received an above average ranking from the FI, and some of them received a below average ranking. This author actually was surprised to find out how poor the academic standards of some private religious schools turned out to be (according to the FI).

• There are circumstances in which it may make sense to send your child to a private school:
  • You easily can afford private school tuition and the accompanying enrichment activities, and these expenses will not detract from your family's other goals; or
  • Your child has special needs, you have tried the public school system, and you have found that the public school system has been unable to meet your child's needs. "Special needs" might include a child who is unusually bright, an autistic child, etc.

• Note that the public school systems in Canada's cities and larger towns do cater to children with a variety of needs (bright children, children with learning disabilities, children who want to specialize in the fine arts, children who want bilingual schooling or immersion in various languages, children who want to specialize in sports, etc.). So, if you do some research about your Canadian city, you may find that there is a public school that focuses on the area in which your child wants to specialize.

• Also note that it is not necessary to attend a private school in order to secure a slot in a Canadian university. It is perfectly feasible to attend a public (state) school and get into university in Canada.

• University tuition in Canada is not free. You have to pay for it. If you want to invest in your children's education, your money might be better directed towards their tertiary education.

• But private schools do offer benefits such as smaller classes and more individual attention. If you want your child to enjoy those benefits and if you can afford private schooling, by all means go for it.

• BE forum discussions about private schooling in Canada can get somewhat emotional, as this thread illustrates.

• For links to more articles about schooling in Canada, please see the Wiki article entitled Canadian Schooling.