A couple of weeks ago I sent an email to the Calgary school board to find out what grades our 8 and 10 year olds would be in and the procedures for starting school, paperwork we need to bring etc and they replied very promptly saying they needed to know if we were Canadian citizens before they could answer, I replied to say we are moving there as permanant residents and since then have heard nothing!!
It might be that they have been too busy to answer but have started to wonder if they are ignoring me because I'm not a Canadian citizen!!
Will we be second priority to school places, is it a problem getting into a school on a permanant resident visa or am I just paranoid!!!!

You are probably just being paranoid.


In Calgary if your 8 year old was born before 28 Feb 1997 he/she would be in Grade three right now - grade two is an option if born between Nov 96 and Feb 97. Having spent some time in the UK the children will be tested to meet the curiculum and if advanced the 8 yr old may be place in Grade 4. Its probably as clear as mud right now - post me some birthdays and I will tell you specifically. I need the month and year.

No its not hard to get a school place if you are a PR. Your email probably just became a lower priority or they are working out some foreign resident fees just in case.

You will need a birth certificate, visa, passport, and a record of vaccination (your local health authority can print this for you in a good format if you request it) Copies of old school report cards are useful for when you start school but are not required for admission.

Mrs G

My 10 year olds birthday is 26 nov 94 and the 8 year olds is 20 jan 97.
they will just be finishing year 3 and 5 over here and I was worried they would end up effectively repeating a year, especially the 8 year old who is quite bright and top of her year (don't know who she gets it from - not me thats for sure!!!)

Do we go to the school to sort it all out? We are over in May for a couple of weeks and are really hpoing to have had our visa by then and find a house, will they let us put our childrens names down for September then or do we have to wait until we come back again in July?

I really liked the look of Fish creek elementary but I know there are 2 elementary schools in Sundance, do you know if where we would end up living in Sundance would make a difference to which school they would go too?

Admittedly I badly need a cup of coffee but I think, from the dates of birth that you've quoted, that your children will have no problem in progressing to grades 4 and 6 respectively in September 2005.

On the Information for New Students page of its website, the Calgary Board of Education states:

Calgary Board of Education provides Kindergarten through Grade 12 programs and continuing education. To register in Kindergarten to Grade 12 programs, you must visit the school your child will be attending on or after August 27. ...... If you would like more information about registration and schools, phone the individual school or call 294-TALK.

http://www.cbe.ab.ca/schools/Families/new.asp

As I have always understood the system, a school gives priority to students who live in its geographic "catchment" area. Then, if additional space is available, it accepts students from outside of the catchment area. (I'm talking about the normal course of events, not special situations in which students from a new neighbourhood that does not yet have a school of its own are transported to a school in another neighbourhood.)

Sundance seems to me to be a somewhat unusual situation, in that, as you've observed, it has two schools, namely, Fish Creek Elementary School and Sundance Elementary School. How they define the catchment area for each of those schools, I don't know.

Since it would only be a matter of a free, local phone call for me, I would be willing to phone Fish Creek and Sundance Elementary Schools, if you like, and ask them:

(1) How they define their respective catchment areas and, if necessary, how a student from outside the official catchment area might be able to register at the school.

(2) If a family who were relocating to Calgary would be able to register their children in May, provided they had their visas and a purchase agreement for a house in hand.

Another thing you may be interested to know is that the Calgary Board of Education has a Gifted and Talented Education Program. If your 8 year old is super bright, it may be the right fit for her, although it most likely would mean attending a school outside of your neighbourhood. She in any case wouldn't get into the GATE program immediately, since she would need to be assessed by teachers and a psychologist, and also would require your agreement to the scheme. In addition to that, I think it would be healthier, during your first year here, for your family simply to settle into your new neighbourhood. I'm just pointing out that it's a possible option down the road.

http://www.cbe.ab.ca/sss/programs/prog-refer.asp#gifted

My own kids are young adults, and I haven't had much reason to pay attention to the school system for a long time, so don't take anything I say as gospel.

Anyway, feel free to post back here if you would like me to phone the schools.

Judy,

thanks for your kind offer - that would be great if you were able to give them a quick call

No problem, ross&carolyn. I'll call them in the next couple of days.

By the way, the penny has just dropped, belatedly. I now understand why the Calgary Board of Education mentions going to the relevant school on or after August 27th to register a student. Ordinary schools (i.e., those that don't participate in year-round schooling) are closed during July and August. The principal, teachers and administrative staff are on summer vacation. There may be a janitor or custodian who checks on the school during the summer, but that's it.

So, if you cannot get your children registered during your May visit, I don't believe you'll be able to do it in July. In that case you'll need to wait till August 27th. I suppose you know that September 5th will be the Labour Day public holiday, and school will start on September 6th.

Anyway, things will be clearer, I hope, after those phone calls.

Hello ross&Carolyn,

In a couple of phone calls I found out the following:

All newly arrived students who were born outside of Canada first have to get Permission for Admission and go through Pre-registration at

Calgary Board of Education
Admissions Office
Riverside Bungalow
711 – 2nd Avenue N.E.

Tel. (403) 777-7399

The woman to whom I spoke at that number, who had a Canadian accent, said they preferred to wait till the family actually had relocated but, if parents had been accepted as immigrants to Canada, staff would be willing to meet them ahead of time, e.g., in May. As they are very busy, it is absolutely essential to make an appointment.

Their office hours are Monday to Friday, 8.30 am - 12 noon and 1 pm – 4.30 pm. By the way, unlike the schools, the Riverside Bungalow office is open in July and August.

Once the central admissions office at Riverside Bungalow has pre-registered a foreign-born student, it sends a so-called “Blue Form� to the school that the student wishes to attend. This authorises the school to accept that student.

The woman with whom I spoke was polite but businesslike.

Services for Newly Arrived Canadians are described on the following web page.

http://www.cbe.ab.ca/schools/Families/new_arrv.asp

The next person with whom I spoke was a secretary at Fish Creek Elementary School (Tel. 777-6400). She was very friendly and supportive. She had a British accent and, when I said I was enquiring on behalf of a family who would be relocating from the UK, she said her own family had been through the same thing and she understood what it was like.

She said that, because Fish Creek and Sundance Elementary Schools had a lot of students, neither of them could afford to accept students from outside of its catchment area. Consequently both schools were very strict about students’ geographical locations. Hence, if parents wanted their children to attend one school or the other, it was very important to pay attention to addresses when they were buying a house.

She said the best thing to do would be to visit the school during your May trip to Canada. Then you could pick up a physical map that showed the boundaries of the school’s catchment area. However, in rough terms, Fish Creek Elementary School draws its students from the northeast, east and southeast parts of Sundance, while Sundance Elementary School draws its students from the northwest, west and southwest parts of the community.

She suggested that you spend some time looking at each school’s website.

The page for Fish Creek Elementary School is

http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b384/

The page for Sundance Elementary School is

http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b267/

The secretary said that you were welcome to visit Fish Creek Elementary School during your May trip to Calgary. The office is open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm. They would meet you in the office and, if it didn’t interfere unduly with whatever the students were doing at that time, they would endeavour to show you through the school.

She said it would be helpful for you to meet school staff during your May visit and, thereafter, keep in touch with them by e-mail. She said that, as long as they had received the “Blue Form� from Riverside Bungalow, they could accept your completed registration form for their own school by fax. She confirmed, however, that they would be closed in July and most of August.

She said that, even if the official paperwork hadn’t been completed by the Admissions Office at Riverside Bungalow, it still would be helpful, from the school’s point of view, to “pencil in� your children’s names for September 2005 admission. Getting as precise an idea as possible of future student numbers helped the school to plan for the coming year.

She strongly urged you to bring some examples of each child’s work when your children started school in September. She suggested that you bring a couple of their workbooks in the luggage that you brought with you rather than in your shipment of “goods to follow.� This would be very helpful in identifying the most appropriate placement for each child.

I will add my own note that, when we went on expat assignments to the United States and Australia (although our kids were a bit older than yours when that happened), I obtained from their old schools the official descriptions of their curricula, and handed them to their new schools.

Cautionary note. I’m not 100% sure if you’ll be able to pre-register your kids in May, even if you have been accepted as immigrants. The secretary at Fish Creek mentioned something about needing the children’s birth certificates and “record of landing� documents. If the children themselves have not landed in Canada in May, I’m guessing you won’t be able to submit that documentation, and that may hold up the process. Nonetheless, I still get the impression that it would be worth your while to meet school officials, both at the Admissions Office for Newly Arrived Canadians and at the local school. The secretary at Fish Creek seemed to be very much of this opinion too.

All the best.

Judy

that is fantastic, thank you so much for doing that.
i owe you one!!

Carolyn

On the subject of GATE - you have missed the deadline for admission in Sept 2005 now anyway so its not an option. The deadline for Sept 2006 will be towards the end of Feb 2006.

Riverside bungalow will test your children and determine the appropriate placement from there.

Your children were born in the winter so you will have the option to hold them back for a year if you so choose. In other words your child born in 97 could go into grade three or four - as I was saying previously.

From Judy's post - paying attention to your address is critical for all schools in Calgary. Your address determines your designated school. It will also determine whether you are eligible for a school bus place.

One of the schools in Sundance is rolling out French immersion grades (dont know which grades currently)- that will also impact on your decision.

Mrs G