Farmboy1892

Hi Folks,

My Wife and I are going on a whistle stop tour to Ontario in about 10 days time.
I hope to network with possible employers there at a large Agricultural show.
Is it possible for us to visit a local school whilst we are there for a guided tour so that we can contrast and compare our current education system here in Northern Ireland??

Aviator

Depending why you want to visit. You would have to contact the school and ask. Not sure a school visit will give much of a comparison of the education systems.

Farmboy1892

Hi Aviator,

Thanks for your prompt reply.
The visit is more for my Wife as she is more the unsure one about our move.
I feel if she was to get the opportunity to be shown around a school of our kids age and was impressed with what she saw it would make her feel more at ease.

bc2015

One thing to note is that unless going private, you don't have much choice in what school your child is sent to. Your home address will determine the school that your child is sent to (assuming there's room - otherwise it's the next nearest school).

I would also not see any value in visiting a school as it won't give much insight at all.

Farmboy1892

Thanks bc2015.

Roberto1980

Yeah I have previously contacted an elementary school in hamilton and arranged with the principal to visit. My thinking it cant do any harm?..
Can see first hand the facilities and go along with any questions you have.
May also be good for the kids to have a look around and may help them feel more confident about starting.. (On the flip side it might do the opposite and traumatise them! Lol )

Farmboy1892

Hi Roberto,

Thanks for your response. I kind of agree with you and thought it would do no harm at all as it is all part of our research. Others on here thought it would be of any benefit and I can see their logic as ultimately it will depend upon the area yo relocate to etc. etc.
I think we will give it a whirl anyway!!

Decisive moment

Yes you can absolutely do this, and I can completely understand why it might make your wife feel more comfortable with the potential move over.

One of my BIGGEST concerns with emigrating was how it would affect the kids. To the extent that we went against a lot of advice on this forum to 'try before you buy' and my husband took a solo trip over to look for and purchase a property. We then all moved over a few days before the house completion date.

One of the main reasons for wanting to do this was so that we wouldn't face moving the kids school after say 6-12 months in a rental property. Its true that they will be allocated a place at school based solely on catchment area (unless you are paying for schooling of course)

During my husbands 5 day whirlwind trip he found a house and then visited the catchment school. He rang and asked if he could visit and an hour later he was given a complete school tour by the principle. Not sure that would ever happen in the UK!

The boys are due to start school on Tuesday. We went to visit the school yesterday and it looks fantastic, and much more relaxed than their (very sought after) UK school.

I guess I withhold my true judgement until they actually start, but so far I'm impressed and it has made me feel more positive about our move.

Hope this essay helps!!

enak

Visiting schools helped us gain confidence in the move and to figure out where to live. We have kids at different ages so I visited a lot (including the private ones that we couldn't afford anyway).

A couple of high schools didn't want to show us around much (although I suppose you get a flavour by turning up, viewing behaviour in the corridor and visiting the office to ask questions about the school!), but the schools with magnet programmes were happy to oblige.

The junior schools in the areas we looked at were very happy to show us around too when we said we were considering moving to the area. They have a bit of fairly healthy pride about their area and their schools which is nice.

I learnt things from the principals that affected our choices, so would definitely recommend such homework! All the best for your plans

Farmboy1892

Many Thanks Enak & Decisive Moment.
I feel as though you are thinking exactly like me. I definitely like to measure twice and cut once as this is no small decision to make!!

Regards

Farmboy

Roberto1980

Fully agree. That's my concern also. Many people loosely use the term 'kids can / will adapt'.. Well I'd rather not have to make them 'adapt' more than once if I can help it. My oldest has only just started primary school here in the uk and I don't really feel comfortable with putting them through potentially a further two more school changes in the near future??

keep us updated on how you all get on

Geordie Lass

This was a huge concern of mine. There is a way around it tho. Our son ended up in the Catholic system (the local school was full and we were strongly advised against the overflow school by everyone around us) and the Catholic system has a whole division of the city as it's catchment. We moved communities and he could stay no problem. Just something to consider.

Catholic wasn't my first choice but talking at home to balance some of the ideas he hears at school works out just fine.

Allie73

My twins had just started school in the UK when we made the move to Canada. They were 5 shortly after we got here. My eldest was 6. In November, we will have been here two years. I'm happy to say my kids have all adjusted well. When we got here, we stayed with family for a year and the kids went to school near there. We bought a house and they had to change schools. I was worried about changing their school, but they have all been fine. We did go to their current school and ask questions and were shown around. You can PM me if you have any questions about our experience so far.

Decisive moment

My boys started their new school on Tuesday and so far its been (surprisingly) a really easy move. I asked my 8 year old tonight how he would rate his new school on a scale of 1-10 and he gave it a ten!

The school assigned him a 'ambassador' on his first day to show him round and be his lunch time buddy. This has worked great and my sons new friend has already introduced him to a wider network of kids. My younger son has started as an SK (Senior Kinder), he's settled really well too and is fast developing a Canadian twang!

The school bus system was a worry for me, felt very weird putting my 4 year old on the bus at 7.45am, but they are loving it, and as we live in a rural location, they are getting to know some of the local kids too which is great.

So far so good. Everyone has been really friendly and welcoming. Fingers firmly remaining crossed!