Does anyone know what the Thornhill Heights sub division in Maple Ridge is like ? There appears to be quite a few new builds for sale there that look quite attractive, but i know there are a couple of areas in Maple Ridge that are best avoided

Hi

We live in Maple Ridge and there are lots of new builds appearing all over the place. If you let me know the street location, I can go and have a look for you, but from what I have seen here, there are hardly any dodgy areas. New builds tend to be in desirable locations with mountain views.

Ditto to Mel's response. I'm close to Maple Ridge, I would avoid the Hammond area, and south of Lougheed at 224th. Also what used to be called Country Lanes, which is at 240th and Lougheed. The rest is fine. Thornhill is expensive, but probably not by your standards bringing in UK pounds, if you've sold a house over there!! Good luck.

Do you know what the local secondary schools are like? Is it true Maple Ridge High School is pretty oversubscribed?

Be happy to tell you. Maple Ridge school district 42 has been trying to fix the problem of overcrowding in certain schools, this year especially. Samuel Robertson Technical Secondary or SRT as it's known, is heavily oversubscribed at 156% capacity. The idiots in the planning dept. thought about building a new school several years ago to accommodate the growing population so they built it slap bang in the middle of(or on the edge, at least) a huge development (Uplands/Maple Crest) with a brand new sub-division (Thornhill) right above it. The powers that be decided to build a school for the THEN demand of some 600 places. After building, the school opened in Sept 2005 and people flocked to it from neighbouring schools - Garibaldi, Maple Ridge, Thomas Haney etc. Now TH and G are both suffering lower populations and SRT's numbers will have to be capped from next year as there is no more funding for any extra space the school desperately needs. This brand new school is excellent, but it already has 12 portacabins, affectionately called 'cottages'. I should know because I live in one of them in the 'village' - beyond the main new building with its French Chef, technical trades and great sports facilities. It's a great place to work and the kids are so much easier to teach and get along with than those I left behind in the UK. This said, it's not all wonderful. There will be job cuts if the district can't find the funding needed to make the school a 1,000+ as it needs to be. G and TH schools are operating at 80 & 90% capacity and this is causing all sorts of issues, too. From what I hear, MR is pretty good, as is SRT. If you want private, go to MeadowRidge and pay $10,000 per annum (I think). Living in the catchment of SRT won't guarantee a place either, although you'd stand a better chance than most.

Cheers,
Lousid

Thanks Louisid, that is really helpful information. From what I read on-line it sounds like Maple Ridge is expanding very quickly, too quickly for the authorities to cope. We are going to visit next year and have a look - it does sound like a lovely place to live. Perhaps by the time we get there things will be settled school numbers-wise.

May I ask one more thing? With the increasing population, is finding a doctor/access to healthcare easy?

Lara

Hi Lara

With regard to doctors; I've been here 2 months and when I went to my local walk-in clinic I asked at the desk about finding a doctor and they gave me a list of local doctors taking on new patients. There were 4-5 doctors on the list which I thought was pretty good, as I had been told there was a shortage.

HTH
Mel

Hi
I live in Maple Ridge too, been here 2 years.
Its exactly as Mels123 says, but I would add, you dont actually need to be registered here with a doctor, we just go to the walk in clinic, if we need to see a doctor. if you do end up in MR, I can give you the name of a fantastic Brit Doctor, shes great.
I have so far been really impressed with the health care here, my child had a problem with her eye, and she got referred within 24 hours!!!!!!! cant imagine that in England!

Thanks Mel and London7

Healthcare sounds great! Thanks for that. Would def be interested in the British lady doctor if we get there.

Lara

Hi London7


I'd be interested in the name of the British doctor, we haven't got round to registering with any yet, would you mind pm me with her name and number?

Many thanks

Mel

Me too! Thanks.

Hi!
will PM you both

Hi we are moving over at the end of june, we have been looking at maple ridge as one of the areas do you now whether there are houses to rent? want to have a look around before we buy. thanx.x