Hello,
Me & my husband have a 'let's move to Canada' discussion every year or so. We have downsized to Scotland from England already, but now we have a 16 month old and are sure we don't want him going to school here, or anywhere else in the UK. My question is what is the education system like in Canada - specifically BC/Vancouver Island?? Are kids happy in Canada (generally!) or are they hanging around drinking with nothing to do like they do here in the UK?

there is a few recent threads on schooling posted.

Have a look in the main forum, and you'll find them. Or do a search with the work 'school'.

by all accounts it seems their 'free' schooling (state in UK / public in Canada) is better.

I don't have kids though so can't really comment more than that.

Welcome to BE, I've found it sooo helpful for so many of the questions that arise.

Bandit!

Hi
Just thought I would add some personal observations to the discussion. We have been in and out of Canada for over two years now and have found kids over there to be respectful of all things official and of their peers and adults. They seem to retain their childhood for longer too, not seeming to be in such a hurry to grow up. Canada has crime, but there is not the same fear of crime as there is here, which results in the kids being given more freedom to play and grow. There is such an oudoorsy culture that I have not met a bored one yet. Personally we are looking forward to bringing our children up in a much more grounded society.
Hope this helps.
Stef

hi and welcome

i have got 3 children
a 5 and a half
a 4 years old
and a 3 month old(born here in PEI)

we landed end of March
my 2 older one have spend the summer playing outside with their new friends
to start with i was forever keeping an eye on them but soon i realised that they were fine!and it does not worry me at all now to let them go outside to play

i am sure bad thing happen everywhere but i have to say that i would not have let them free like that in the UK.........i am in PEI though a very small island (compare with the rest of Canada!!!)and don't know if it is the same in other provinces

good luck to you
vee

We have 2 in the BC school system. One 16, doing very well in academics, A honors, however she is socially challenged. The other is 9 and sees school more as a social club, where work is a bit of a necessity to be with your buddies.

The school system is geared to academics and preparing the kids for the real world. The 16 year old goes into an apprenticeship program in 08 as part of the high school curriculum, she gets credit toward graduation and cash if she sticks at it for 6 months after graduation. A mercenary child.

The 16 year old has some physical challenges and the schools have been very accommodating. She is a horse nut, and the horse riding counts toward her phys ed credits.

The one thing I would like to see schools teach is personal financial management in the middle & high schools.

There are bullying problems and drug problems in the schools, but in our experience there is zero tolerance if the school find out about it. We have our share of less desirables, like anywhere. Some kids are less respectful, then so are some adults.

We are not immune from the problems other countries face. Saying that I would not want to live anywhere else.

I live in North Vancouver.
I'd have to agree with the other posts in that our kids have been here nearly all their lives 18/16, and have turned out as well as I could have hoped. Schools are generally pretty good, most kids are rarely bored as we have ice skating swimming beaches skiing and mountain biking all around us. The weather is pretty mild, and though there are always going to be drug and the usaual problems that kids face it is to a lower degree than in the uk I think.
I'd also agree that they stay longer as 'kids' which is no bad thing!

Hello,
We are in the process of applying to move to Canada with my job as a nurse but i am beating myself up over the dilemna of when is it best for my children age 13 and 9.Who are both happy in good schools here. Is it going to be really detrimental totmove my child who will then be 14 into a school system that is possibly quite different to the UK or is it quite similar.
Any body with any opinions/experience in a similar situation would be gratefully received.It is VAncouver we are possibly moving to.
Thanks Ali

The opportunity for French Immersion sounds pretty useful too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_immersion#Canada

Where in Canada did you live? This is far removed from the situation in most cities I think. Well, definitely in Toronto where I live.

Whereabouts in Toronto do you live, AdrianTO?

regarding cities- Edmonton- went on a 'hay?' ride, round the block in a horse and cart basically, yesterday as part of the christmas lights switch on in Edmonton, which was very good by the way, anyway, as we passed the steps of an office block on the route, 5-6 kids around 13-14yrs were skateboarding off the steps. horse driver type man not happy, and told them in no uncertain terms this may scare the horses and to clear off. not only did they do it, with not a single 'f' word, but they actually said 'bye' to us all on the cart, waved and did one. just an example for you. i was flabbergasted.

Hi, we live in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island and absolutely love it. We have 2 children who are in the school system and they are both doing well at school. They are also involved with sports and clubs out of school and their is plenty for them to do to keep them occupied. Someone asked me a while back to describe Canada in one word and the word I use is "Opportunity". This is for us as adults and our children. We certainly have no regrets.

Hope this helps

Hi
We moved to BC - the Okanagan - in June. We have a 12 year old who was in private school, then passed her 11+ and went to a great grammar school. We were worried how she'd fit in back in elementary school for a year, having been to a demanding grammar school, and had concerns initially that she wasn't being challenged enough. (I know typical awful Brit parents!)

Anyhow, she loves her school, has made a set of great friends, both boys and girls. I'd say they are generally politer than the kids back home, and my daughter is loving it. Her teacher has amended the curriculum slightly to ensure she doesn't get bored, and switch off. We've swapped her hour's bus journey each way to school for a ten minute hop. She is more relaxed and happy than ever, and she's getting good grades too. She's been on two sleepovers in as many weeks, trips to the movies etc and there's lots of outdoorsy stuff too. We're skiing for the weekend in two weeks.

I know there's crime amongst some kids downtown, but in our sheltered neck of the woods she has freedom to roam like she never had in the UK. She knows dozens of people and we all feel that little bit safer.

It's not perfect here, nowhere is, but on the whole I'd say I'd rather raise her here than back 'home'.

It isn't better. It is absolutely not better, by any stretch of an experienced parent's imagination. It is different, it is frustratingly dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, until you hit Grade 11 and can choose to be with the thinkers.

Recently performed experiment: Put an A Honours BC Grade 12 grad next to a kid who has just got a reasonable (but not stunning) set of A levels from the UK. Sit back, watch and listen. Make up your own opinion about which education system benefits which type of child.

Well, that's a very badly planned experiment dingbat. Sample size one from each population, metrics entirely subjective. You fail comparitive anthropology 101.