kateodonnell

We are hoping to get to Nanaimo early Sept on a Temp visa, will need to register our kids for schools there, anyone in that area with any recommendations for Elementary or Senior High ????
Kate

maddhobs

Hi, just bouncing this up again for you and hoping that the lovely Bananahammock will see it

bananahammock

Hi Kate, there are 5 'regular' high & 31 elementary schools here ... do you know which part of town you'll be living in?
www.sd68.bc.ca will give you more info. I work for the school district & have worked in quite a few of the schools here my baby is about to start grade 12


Lovely? first time anyone's called me that for a while! ... are we still having a meet-up?

maddhobs

Hey Jo, unfortunately we haven't had time to organise anything as we were not sure if we would have to take a trip to Europe due to a close friends illness (they were due to visit us in September), so probably not at the moment. Thankfully things are looking better for him now so we took a well deserved break down to the States instead!

kateodonnell

Hello,
We are hoping to be around North Nanaimo, have had Dover Bay suggested for a 16yr old, but nothing for Elementaries near there for a 9yr old.

Any suggestions appreciated. Particularly schools who are good with children with Autistic spectrum disorders such as Aspergers?? Big ask I know as the schools here just about cope!

thanks again x

bananahammock

We live in north Nanaimo

Dover Bay is more pleasing to the eye but I would also definately give Wellington a look. I worked at Dover last year in the 'skills for life' program which is a class for kids with ASD, FAS, Down Syndrome & behaviour issues ... every week we went swimming, horseriding & to a 'music mayhem' program plus visits to the shops/library & a cookery class! All students except for one were also part of the regular classes, with support.
Most of the students with Aspergers are in regular classes with the SFL class as a place they can come if they need some time out, or just maybe to eat lunch with their friends. McGirr Elementary is the nearest to Dover but Rutherford, Seaview, Pleasant Valley, Randerson & Frank J Ney are all in the catchment area.

Wellington runs a very similar SFL prog to Dover but has less students ... the building is older & looks a little more run down but IMHO is a caring school. Rock City Elementary is the closest but Uplands & Departure Bay are local too ... plus all the ones I've forgotten

Dover has a great fine arts program if your child likes Cookery or Drama ~ Wellington has a fantastic Jazz Academy so again, it depends what your kids are into

I know someone from BE who recently moved here & who's 15yr old recently started high school, I'll PM you with his name

Good luck

kateodonnell

Thanks so much, we will check out both schools when we get there, hopfully later in Sept. We were more worried about my 16yr old, as he has just done his GCSE's and wanted to go to college here in the UK, so having to go back to 'school' is a wrench for him. We want it to be a good move for him (especially with his AS) but he being great about moving and seeing it as positive so fingers crossed. It really helps to have some suggestions from you guys over there. Our youngest is so outgoing he will fit in anywhere!!

What is Nanaimo like as a place to live, we have spent time in Victoria and other parts of Canada but never been to Nanaimo?

thanks again
kate

bananahammock

That's a very similar situation to us when we arrived in late Sept 2005. Our daughter was just about to turn 17 & wasn't keen to go back to school at such a late stage but did it, bless her, more for the social aspect & the chance to be involved in Grad & prom & to make a few friends
She then went on to VIU & is about to start her 3rd year there.

As far as Nanaimo as a place to live ... I see it as a cross between The
Truman Show & Salems lot ... It's interesting shall we say

It's very easy to drive through Nanaimo & wonder why on earth you're here, certainly not as pretty as some parts of Victoria ... pretty ugly until you spread your wings a bit ~ I'm repeating myself here but you really have to spend a bit of time, away from the highway, car showrooms & strip malls to see the nicer parts. I took us about 4 months to find an area we wanted to buy a house in.

The upside is you're never more than 15mins from the ocean, Vancouver is easy to get to although that beautiful ferry ride wears a bit thin after the zillionth time Victoria is 90 mins, Tofino is a daytrip & IMHO it's pretty safe & friendly here ~ there are lots of parks & trails & the weather, especially the summers are great ~ It's very green, darn that rain eh? (not gonna mention last winter tho! )
The kids (17 & 20 actually!) love it here & have a very different lifestyle from the one we had in Bristol so in that respect, this place has lived up to our expectations

Saying this, if I had a penny for every time the OH & I have thought about throwing the towel in I'd be a rich woman but that has just been our circumstances & I honestly can't blame Nanaimo.

Swings & roundabouts ~ we're still 'chipping away' at this place, tis a great experience though!

emmabell

Couple of days off being in Nanaimo for a year now and we love it, as Joe says you are so close to lots of lovely places, one of our favorites is Nanaimo Lakes, which is about 15/20 mins drive from downtown. Every time we visit there we find a different trail to explore.
Then there's Parksville and Quarlicum which are beachy type areas, then inland again beautiful country and lakes to explore.
Good luck with your trip.
Regarding meet up:
I would of loved to of done a meet up, but we have still not sold in the UK so still residing at mother in laws. Perhaps next year fingers crossed, when hopefully we get some acreage and a house...

Eastbound

[QUOTE=emmabell;7878592]Couple of days off being in Nanaimo for a year now and we love it, as Joe says you are so close to lots of lovely places, one of our favorites is Nanaimo Lakes, which is about 15/20 mins drive from downtown. Every time we visit there we find a different trail to explore.
Then there's Parksville and Quarlicum which are beachy type areas, then inland again beautiful country and lakes to explore.

Happy canniversary Emmabell , we have just celebrated our 2nd year here in Nanaimo and agree with both posters on what a beautiful place this can be .Will keep an eye out for a meet up

kateodonnell

It all sounds good to me, once we get the boys to school i think i will be happier and we can explore away, being so near the ocean is a bit driver for us to choose Vancouver Island. We almost landed in Calgary a few years ago, but although the rockies are nice we would have missed being near to the sea. I hope you dont mind me asking a few more questions, its much better getting info from you guys than trying to find stuff out on the internet.

Are there good furnature shops there? we are spoilt here i think with the choice and im making decisions about what to sell and what to take.

Do you have a good choice of TV, cable or satelite?

Is it realatovely easy for my son to get his learner licence, he will be 17 in oct and would have been able to learn here in the UK, he is desperate to start lessons, so im hoping he can still start to learn out there?

thanks for your replies they are a really big help.

kate x

bananahammock

** ** No & no

To be honest, I've not bought furniture here as I shipped my own so don't really know where's good or bad ... there are lots of shops to choose from though ....
http://www.leons.ca/lang.aspx
http://www.la-z-boy.com/ plus places like the Bay & Sears ~ there's also the Brick but have heard stuff about there! Personally, I would bring as much as you can with you.
There are quite a few of us from BE in Nanaimo so hopefully someone else can help but as for my cable, internet etc it's not great ... puter has good days & bad & the TV is repeats & adverts most of the time ... it makes the weather/outdoors all the more appealing coz you really don't want to be sat around the telly watching the 1st episode of the Vicar of Dibley for the 1000th time

Kids can get their L at 16, the practice test is here http://www.icbc.com/driver-licensing...riables._frag_ ~ when we took our tests we had to have our PR cards so it's worth giving Driver Services a call when you get here to find out what he needs to bring ~ the online test is good practice but only maybe a couple of questions will be on his real test ... Driver Services is right beside the Woodgrove centre at the north end of Nanaimo. My son is almost the same age & had his 1st lesson a couple of weeks ago (I've been teaching him for the last year ... he's not built for speed! )

Good luck ......

SarahBC

Hi guys,

I'm just chipping in with my views on Nanaimo too.

I would echo what others are saying that it's a safe place to live and there's lots of access to the outdoors (as demonstrated by the opening of Wholesale Sports near my house - your one-stop shop for all your huntin', fishin', campin' needs).

It's very easy to drive through Nanaimo and only see gaudy retail. However, we've just had friends over from England and they loved it. Our activities included:

- camping at Rathtrevor Beach for 2 nights.
- walked round Englishman River Falls provincial park.
- they walked up Mt Benson (we left them to it!)
- lots of visits to the harbour (it's the harbour city!!)
- swimming in Sooke Potholes
- visit to Victoria
- visit to Port Alberni
- walked round Newcastle Island provincial park, and returned on a Pickle Boat
- dinner at the Dinghy Dock pub on Protection Island
- swimming at Westwood Lake
- visit to Coombes (witnessed terrified kids with randy goats on the roof)
- visited various English - style pubs including Fox n' Hounds

So we had a fab time on our staycation, and our friends did too.

This summer has been spectacular. We began swimming outside in May, and the weather has been remarkably dry since April.

We had a light dusting of snow around December which let up around Good Friday. It was a memorable winter but not typical.

As with any move, get involved in activities and try to meet people.

Good luck,

Sarah

kateodonnell

Oh im getting really excited now, just need our Temp visa's through and we are there!! it was hard sending the kids back to school for what is only a few weeks(hopfully) but will be worth it in the end i hope.
We have the removers in tomorrow to make sure everything will fit in a 20ft container, so i finally feel like things are moving in the right direction.
thanks you for all your comments, ive been showing the kids to get them excited too. xx