How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

Hello everyone
Could you please let me know if there is a way I could apply for the school without having a permanent address yet. We are not moving not until October and I would like to apply for a school place before we go. Any advice will be gratefully appreciated! Also I'm not sure if you need to pay for the kindrgaden or is it free?
Thank you so much!

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

I'm in Aus so can't tell you how to do it, I just wanted to advise against it. I can't imagine ever signing my children up for a school that we haven't physically visited. An online 'visit' gives you nothing other than pretty words and pictures. The move is a big deal, children need (imo) to be able to settle as soon as possible and placing them in a school you have no real prior knowledge of sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. On paper a school could be phenomenal but in practice could be the worse school in the world for your child.

Good luck with the move. :)

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

When you arrive in town you go to your local school (you can find out what school is in your catchment area) and enroll your children. You don't say what province you're moving to, but as far as I remember kindergarten is free.

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

Thank you for your reply. We are moving to Ontario Burlington or Oakville. I was worried that if I'll apply to late for school there will be places left

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

If you're in the catchment then the school pretty much has to take your child. Do you know where in Burlington/Oakville? It's a pretty big area.

If you haven't been to Burlington/Oakville, feel free to ask me. I'm from there but now live in Australia.

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

Before we moved over 6 years ago, I contacted both schools that our kids were most likely to go to. As above, they couldn't do anything until we actually arrived, but the high school were able to send some forms through ready for us to complete. It did mean that when we first turned up, we weren't completely unknown to them and possibly it helped them to know that we were likely to arrive. It was certainly a lot more casual than the UK though and I don't think things have changed much.

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

Thank you so much for replying and for all your advise. We are planing a visit before we move in so we can have a chance to see the schools before. I'm not sure where to check which catchment area is for which school. I couldn't find it anywhere on the school websites

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

A school will not accept a registration unless you are living in the catchment area, as in physically moved there. As far as I know school districts don't publish catchment areas as the residents know their catchment area schools. The SD can tell you for an address which school is the one to go to.

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

Go to the Halton District School Board site. Covers both Oakville and Burlington. Hdsb.ca they have boundary maps. Also you can type in an address and it will tell you which schools.
For you are in the catchment area then, based on the info they gave me about 4 years ago and I don't think nits changed, they have to find a place for your child.

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

In BC, schools are SUPPOSED to provide places for all children in their catchment area.

In PRACTICE, this may not happen, the school may have filled the spaces in the class, and cannot start another class.

This is a recent problem in the bigger cities as the government has cut back on school funding. A contributory part of the problem is that schools here can accept children from outside the catchment area IF they have spaces left after all local children have been accounted for.

Someone actually living in Ontario may know whether this is likely to happen there.

You cannot however register in advance of arrival, it has to be done after you are physically on the ground and have an address in the catchment area.

Re: How to apply early for the school without beingthere yet?
 

Hi,

From what I remember (9 years ago and in the Hamilton Wentworth school board) we had to have a permanent address before we could actually register our daughter for JK. You'll also need a copy of your child's birth certificate, some sort of documentation proving your legitimate reason for being in Canada ( in our case study permit and permit for our daughter to accompany us to Canada), a copy of vaccination record and some sort of proof of the permanent address.

You should be able to connect with someone at the school board over the phone during the summer and chat with them about what is required. Once you have a permanent address I'd recommend popping in to the school and arranging a face to face with the principal to introduce yourself. I think it was the school secretary who provided us with the registration form after our little face to face. And then we took the completed form and supporting docs to the school board office in person to cut down on time and chances of things getting lost/delayed.

Overall it was pretty painless.
There's also often a staggered entry into JK from September so your child hopefully won't feel too left out if she/he starts in October. JK is pretty relaxed too.

Good luck!