sueuk1

Hi all, this is my first post, my OH has a job offer in Ontario and my first thoughts are of our children[ plus many other questions of course], can anyone help with which year they would start in i have searched but can't find anything. my daughter is 12 at the moment, she will be 13 in December.
my son is 15 now and 16 in august. would love to know which year they would start in.
Thanks in advance Sue x

iaink

Welcome.

A wiki for all occasions

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/School_Age_Categories

Note that there is considerable flexibility for jumping up grades if they are advanced for their age.


Your best bet is to contact the school boards in the area you intend to live, as education is on a district by district footing here, rather than uniform across the province.

christmasoompa

Hi Sue and welcome to the forum. As Iain has said, hopefully the Wiki will be able to answer lots of questions for you.

But congrats on his job offer! That's great. Whereabouts is the job based and what is your timescale for moving?

sueuk1

Thanks for the welcome, job offer is north toronto area, we are still not sure yet whether to go for it or not. Lots of decisions to be made, you know what it's like. Thanks for your help
Sue x

christmasoompa

Have you been over there? If not then it might be worth a visit to check the area out and see if you can see yourself living there. Some love the GTA, some hate it! Would the company he's got the offer for pay for a visit if you haven't been already?

Has your hubby got the LMO? If not then I wouldn't start planning too much just yet!

sueuk1

Hi, I have never been there, but OH has, he used to work there before we got together. He would be doing a company transfer, it's a bit complicated but he's dealing with that end of it. We are very much country people so we would'nt live in the GTA, but would try and find a town within 45 mins commute, I have searched google maps and looked at real estate, but you are right it would be good to see it for myself. Have you been around that area and if so any ideas? We need a town with a high school, a few stores and something to keep the kids amused, but not living in other peoples pockets, do you know what i mean, a few acres would be nice. All of that for not much money!!!, am i dreaming.

Sue x

christmasoompa

Hi Sue,

In which case, this Wiki article may be useful reading for you..................http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Intra-...ransfer-Canada

As for areas, I'm not a fan of the GTA I'm afraid (and from my recollections, if you want to be within 45 mins of the centre of Toronto at rush hour then it will have to be the GTA - anywhere more rural will be more time than that I think) although I've visited it many times (ex-boyf was from Toronto so used to spend several months at a time out there).

Probably your best bet is to start a new thread with something relevant in the title so that people who live in the Toronto area can see it and give you advice. If you tell them the sort of area you are after and the budget you have to spend on housing then you will usually get some good suggestions. One of them may even be able to suggest a more rural area within 45 mins of TO!!

Good luck.

Oakvillian

Iain's advice is spot on, as usual (hear me suck up to the mod!). Schools are regional rather than provincial, and as you'll see from the Wiki articles there are typically 4 school boards in a region - French and English boards for both Public and Catholic schools.

Where you'll find within a 45 min commute depends very much on where you mean by "North Toronto" - how far out of downtown and in which direction. If you can let us know where your OH's work will be, there'll be personal experiences from folks on here of a number of options in small towns all round the GTA within reach. dbd33, for example, is properly rural (tractors, horses, chickens, etc) and we get increasingly civilised from there

Ginger3710

Hi, we're also hoping to move to Toronto over the summer for a September school start. I emailed the Toronto Catholic District School Board asking the same question for our 3 children and received a reply within a few days. Our son turns 14 this November and will start Grade 9 this Sep, so your daughter would most probably start Grade 8 and your son Grade 11. I was told the age cutoff is 31st Dec. These grades will put your children in the correct grade for their age, but since British children are a year ahead of Canadian schools, you'll need to decide whether to hold them back or not.

If you google Toronto District School Board, or the Catholic Board you will see the email address for new students.

Tanah

Hi Sue

The school years ( in relation to school age)here are slightly different to the UK - they run january to dec rather than Sept to Aug.
So to try and explain in simple terms a child in year 7 in the uk born in sept -to dec will go into year 7 in canada a child inyear 7 in the Uk born Jan to August ( of the same school year -so the younger ones) will go into year 6 officially. This happened to my son as he was born in May - but I spoke with the school adn they moved him up to yr 7

so your daughter who is a Dec birthday will go into the same year as in the UK But your son who i presume is one of the youngest inhis class in the UK - will go to the previous year to where he is now - but like i said this is negotiable
hope this helps

clynnog

Our daughter is 12 now and will be 13 (yikes, I'll be the father of a teenager) in November. She is in Grade 7 now and will be in Grade 8 in September. Typically, schools in Ontario go from JK (Junior Kindergarten) to either Grade 6 or 8 for the first school, then either Grade 7 or 9 until Grade 12 for the remainder. There are some stand alone Grade 7/8 schools.

Your son would be going into Grade 11 in September I believe. However, he may be put forward or back one year depending on his school results and his grasp of the Canadian cirriculum. Once you get to Grade 9 many students have to take a core of subjects and then they can choose 'elective' courses.

I think others have asked but when you say 'north Toronto' where do you really mean....where is the job location. If it is say Aurora or Newmarket then there are rural properties within commuting distance. If 'north Toronto' means Yonge/Eglinton then a bucolic oasis isn't in the cards I'm afraid.

sueuk1

Thanks for all the replies, the job offer is in Markham, OH is happy to commute 45 minutes ish, i've been looking around Uxbridge area, does anybody know about this area and what is the commute like[congested roads etc]. Also the schools around there do they have a good reputation, have looked at websites, but of course they all look great would love some personal viewpoints on that.


Thanks for reading Sue x

Hollis Family

Hi Sue

We are moving with a 12 and 15 year old too - to Cambridge which is SW of Toronto. I believe (someone correct me if I am wrong here!!) that our soon to be 13 year olds will not be in Secondary school but be in grade 8 at elementary doing there final year before Senior school and the soon to be 15 year olds will be going into grade 11.

Where are you thinking about settling? If you have any other queries or want to hook up please feel free to PM me.

Michelle

sueuk1

Hi Michelle, thanks for reply, I hope you are right about school years would like her to do a year of elementary first then go on to high school, the school seem huge over there , abit daunting[her and me]!! At the moment she's in her first year at high school there are only 500+ students, so to go into a new school with 1500+ would be scary, i think.

We are still only considering going there, we have been talking about moving for years as my partner has been lucky enough to work in many countries around the world, and he loves the u.s but all his work contacts say jobs there are not available, so he contacted his old employer in Toronto and they have said a job would be available, this is after us starting the visa process to go to Australia[ where i would prefer really only because of the weather!!], australian immigration is getting more difficult and lengthy due to recent changes . So we are back to looking at Canada, again.

It's a scary thought doing it, with thinking about, is it the right thing for kids etc, but most of the time i have the ' only got one life' philosophy.
When are you moving, and are your children exicited or worried?

SUE X

Hollis Family

My OH's start date for his new job is end April so he will move out then with us following mid-June, our 15 year old is sitting his standard grades and last exam is 3rd June.

The kids vary from day to day my 13 year old son is really excited about the move and looking forward to a bit of an adventure! Our 15 year old son on the other hand is facing up to the prospect of leaving his girlfriend of 16 months - so not too happy! Some days he is ok and says the only reason he is unsure about going is because of his girlfriend. We have reached a compromise with him that if he stays until he is 18 (and gets his citizenship) and still wants to come back then we will help him do that. We are obviously clinging to the hope that by the time he gets to 18 he will have changed his mind!

Let us know how you get on! Best of luck!

Michelle