Strawberry

appreciate that this is a vague question and I have read through the Wiki. Just wondered if there is anything worth noting - other than school uniforms, lunches etc, and how well/or not your children have settled? - mine by the time it all comes through will be 9,10,11 and 17.

Cheers.

Joe_Sleepy

Our girls were 10 & 11 when we arrived & started school at the beginning of the school year in 2008. The schooling here (NS) seems to be around a year behind the schooling in the UK, no bad thing.
You will almost certainly be expected to buy all of the school supplies your kids will need (hit up Dollarama for the bulk of it) and will come across a few "charges" that would seem bizarre back in the U.K. (locker padlock rental for example).
Our two settled very quickly & have made lots of friends with little or no problems. The fierce oneupmanship that seemed so rife in their English school is all but nonexistent here. My (now) 12 year old wears 18 hole silver DM boots to school and is not remotely remarkable. Far less Nannying here, great in reality but does take a little getting used to.
It is worth mentioning French Immersion, Unofficially it is the only option open here in NS to "stream" the brighter kids. We were absolutely against it initially but, after many conversations with other parents and teachers, it was made clear to us that both the Intensive French & Late Immersion programs would afford our kids far more choice further down the road. They both started these programs in September and, whilst a little harder at first, are both doing really well. They had no French whatsoever to begin with.
This is obviously just our experience & I'm sure others will broaden the scope with their own.

Cheers,
Joe

Bailies

Just over one month in and my 7 year old has really settled in well. The school sizes are much bigger than we were used too, we had to choose between the Catholic and Public - the Public had 650 pupils and approx 4-5 classes per grade and the catholic had 350 and 2 classes per grade. The classes are only 20-25 pupils which is pretty good compared to UK and the kids stay in elementary school until they are 14.

My son had to go into Grade 3, his birthday falls end of December so one of the schools was considering Grade 2 but wasnt overly happy with this as he had completed Primary 3 and had already done alot of the Grade 3 work.

The kids are extremely nice, we were worried that he might get bullied because of his accent but it has worked in the opposite, all the kids are copying him trying to be irish too!! We have him in hockey too which has helped settle as a few of his classmates are in the team also.

Good luck when you arrive

TheCanary

I'm getting really confused, can you clarify the following for me. with regards to the Canadian school system. I assume that Elementary can go straight through to 14.

Elementary School ages 6 to 11
Middle School ages 12 to 14
High School ages 15 to 18
University ages 18+

Lychee

There is no universal Canadian school system, hence the confusion.

Education falls under provincial jurisdiction so the ages/grades for elementary school, middle school, high school, varies quite a bit depending on the province. It can also vary depending on the school board. So there is no one rule to Canadian schooling - it simple depends on the province and the school board.

For example, I'm familiar with the Vancouver school board and in Vancouver elementary school begins with kindergarten (5-6 year olds) and finishes in grade 7 (12-13 year olds). There is no middle school in Vancouver - you go straight from elementary school to high school (also called secondary school). High school goes from grade 8 (13-14 year olds) to grade 12 (17-18 year olds).

While this is the norm in Vancouver (and many BC schools), this is not the norm in Ontario or Quebec or Alberta. It really varies across the country.

Edit: A note about university - most students are 17 or 18 when they attend their first year of university in Canada.
However there are some variations, again, depending on the province.

I remember up until about 5 years ago Ontario students were required to take "grade 13" - an additional year of high school before attending university. They got rid of grade 13, but no where else in Canada had a grade 13.

I also believe in Quebec students graduate from high school a year earlier than elsewhere in Canada, but they are required to attend CEGEP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEGEP) if they plan to go to university. CEGEP is sort of a stepping stone between high school and university. And because they do one year in CEGEP, they spend one year less in university than other Canadians would. But this is a system exclusive to Quebec.

marimac

I think it depends on the province, so I can only answer for Ontario. There tends to be 2 options, which are:

1. Elementary School - grades 1 - 8
High school - grades 9 - 12

2. Elementary School - grades 1 - 6
Junior high School - grades 7 - 9
High school - grades 9 -12

In the second option, Junior high school & high school overlap (they both have 'grade 9') - some choose to stay for 3 years at Junior High, and some only do 2 and go to the high school for grade 9. I have no idea why the different options exist - probably down to the local school district.

Helen Parnell

There is no 'Canadian education system' it is all done at a provincial level. So the person who wrote about NS and french immersion and late french immersion is not offered the same here in Alberta, we just have french immersion.

In Alberta the public system has elementary going to end of grade 4 and then at grade 5 you go to middle or junior school. In Catholic elementary goes to end of grade 6 like the uk.

As for the 'canada is a year behind the UK' yes they do start later, but you have to stay two years longer!! Your child may be able to read and write at an earlier age than those in canada, but if they are coming into the system at aged 9/10/11 then there are other subjects that they may not have done. in grade 4 they do the second world war and grade 5 do canadian history rather than english history of henry 8th. You may want to consider your child being able to repeat a few things so he can concentrate on settling in and learning a lot of new stuff.

On a last note. This article is into days telegraph newspaper about the education system and starting ages

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education...ns-at-six.html

Lychee

Another thing worth noting - a lot of people are referencing the "Catholic school system" in Canada. Again, some provinces (like Ontario) have a public-funded Catholic school system in addition to the regular public schools, but not every province does. BC does not have a public-funded Catholic school system - there's only one public school system. If you want your child to attend a Catholic school, you'll have to cough up $$$ and send them to a private school.

TheCanary

Thanks everyone, all the info has been very helpful.

Can I also ask about private schools vs public schools in Vancouver. I have the impression that the public schools are very good, do any of you have any advise or opinions in this area.

Lychee

I think that's the case.

I know in BC, up until the mid-90's, many school boards had junior high (grades 8-10) and senior high (11-12) while other school boards just had one massive high school (grades 8-12).

I also find it interesting that what constitutes elementary school and high school varies so much across Canada.

Steve_P

In Calgary which as far as I know is still in Alberta.

The public system has a mix of schools at the elementary level, most are K-6 with the children moving on to Junior High for grades 7-9 and some of the newer built schools using the K-4 elementary and 5-9 middle school model and some are K-3 with 4-9 for middle school.

So really there is no set range for elementary, junior high/middle school in Calgary and I would guess by extension in Alberta.

jimf

In Calgary the most common arrangement is:

G 1-6 Elementary
G 7-9 Junior High
G 10-12 Senior High

Some areas within Calgary are slightly different:

G 1-4 Elementary
G 5-9 Middle
G 10-12 Senior High

There are quite a few alternative programmes offered eg Traditional, French Immersion, Late French Immersion (from G7).

Just wrote a cheque for lunch supervision fees. These are $220 per year for those in the elementary. There are also various deposits, school materials etc to be paid.

For us the Junior High does school lunches but the elementary does not.

In the UK we are used to the middle school system with slightly different ages of transfer Y1-4, Y5-8, Y9-13.

A Canadian High School Certificate in G12 seems to be equivalent to AS level in England or Highers in Scotland. Some schools offer either Advanced placement or IB which provide equivalence to A levels/Advanced Highers.

Chookie

Just a note about the lunch supervision fees - if you live far enough away from the school that your child can get the school bus, you won't have to pay lunch supervision fees - it is assumed that they will be staying for lunch and they get that free. But you will have to pay bus fees instead.

And you have to provide a packed lunch for your child if they are staying to lunch, although they do have some "emergency" lunch supplies (seem to be cuppa soup or noodle type things with fruit pots and cereal bars) that they give them if the child forgets their lunch one day. Last time that happened we got charged $3 for the lunch.

Here in Calgary, for Elementary school at least, you don't seem to need to provide any school materials - they get given those. At least at my kids school they do.

Lychee

Ahh, lunches. Another Vancouver-centric experience: lunches are not included. It's expected that you bring your lunch. Most elementary schools do not have cafeterias or snack shops, whereas some high schools do, but you pay out of the pocket to eat there. On occasion elementary schools will host a "hot dog day" or a "pizza day" which is pre-organized by a parent committee. High schools typically have fundraiser "pizza days" or some kind of event where they'll bring in food. I don't know why I'm mentioning this other than to highlight the variations of schooling across Canada.

Helen Parnell

The Alberta High school diploma is made up of various subjects and various levels. Depending on what level of Math, english, social and science plus option courses depends on what you can do after formal schooling.

For example my eldest is doing all the subjects to the top level. He has to get an average in all subjects over the three years of over 85% to get to the university he wants to do a double major in Math and Physics. My younger son is also going to do the higher level, but will not do any additional sciences and will take more vocational subjects. He could get an average of 85% as well, but due to his subject choices he would not be accepted at university.

So when a employer/university or post secondary institution looks at the high school diploma they look at what subjects and what grades.

in the UK to go to university you have to have A levels. Here it is a High school diploma made up of various subjects and levels.

To say that a high school diploma is only equivalent to AS level is wrong. It could be equivalent of just the UK gcse or A levels.