Hey guys
I am about to move to Calgary in July with my husband and 2 kids. He has got an expat deal with his current employer so we wont be picking up the tab the for move thank god lol
I am coming over next month to try and find a rental house and we have been assigned a management company that will do everything for us however i do think i should be doing my research too!!
Where is the best place to be living with the best public schools in the vicinity? We have 3500 dollars to spend p/m what should i be getting for that amount? I am more inclined to be staying in the SW of the city but i havent ruled out NW, Okotoks or Chestermere just yet!! How easy will it be to get a rental property that will accept 1 dog and 2 cats (aswell as a husband and 2 kids ), i really cant leave them behind.
What is medical care like compared to the uk? Is there the usual waiting list to get an appointment to see a GP? Also dental is it easy to get a dentist?
I am a bit concerned about the education, my eldest is 6 and is in primary 2 in Scotland. I understand that they are roughly a year behind the uk, is that right? What are the class sizes like and are the kids taught a similar curriculum to the uk?
Thanks for any help you may be able to provide!

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your move to Calgary.

If you look at the top of the screen on the blue line, click on the Wiki and that will answer a lot of your questions about schooling, doctors etc.

There have been lots of threads in the past about the various areas of Calgary and the surrounding towns. Here a couple to start you off:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ive+in+Calgary

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ive+in+Calgary

Good luck!

Lisa

Hey guys
I am about to move to Calgary in July with my husband and 2 kids. He has got an expat deal with his current employer so we wont be picking up the tab the for move thank god lol

Congrats and good luck.

I am coming over next month to try and find a rental house and we have been assigned a management company that will do everything for us however i do think i should be doing my research too!!

Where is the best place to be living with the best public schools in the vicinity?
The public school system is, I believe, very good. (Having taught for 10 years in Calgary, and now having 3 kids in the system) Find an area where you would like to live, and there will be decent schools there.


We have 3500 dollars to spend p/m what should i be getting for that amount?

To spend on what?


I am more inclined to be staying in the SW of the city but i havent ruled out NW, Okotoks or Chestermere just yet!!

All nice/good places. Personally, and I'm always beating this drum, I prefer a community with a lake, because it adds so much to your kids' enjoyment of the summer hols.

How easy will it be to get a rental property that will accept 1 dog and 2 cats (aswell as a husband and 2 kids ), i really cant leave them behind.

They exist, but it limits your options. Some realtors on this board will find rental space for you ahead of time.

What is medical care like compared to the uk? Is there the usual waiting list to get an appointment to see a GP?

You may have to search to find a family doctor, but you can also just sign on wiht a clinic and use the docs that are available. Most clinics have walk-in appointments available. You will have to make an appointment with a doc to see him/her for anything more specific.

Also dental is it easy to get a dentist?

Yep - there's lots

I am a bit concerned about the education, my eldest is 6 and is in primary 2 in Scotland. I understand that they are roughly a year behind the uk, is that right? What are the class sizes like and are the kids taught a similar curriculum to the uk?

Don't be worried. They get educated for the needs of the country as do all kids in all jurisdictions! So some of them end up as as doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, mechanics and plumbers etc!

But joking aside - of course you are concerned, you're probably coming here for the kids and you want what's best.

From MY experience (having been a school administrator and working with Brit parents and their kids) let the kid settle with their own age group. Don't try and push them ahead.


Thanks for any help you may be able to provide!

You're welcome

er.....what he said!
For what it's worth, when deciding on the area/satellite town where you want to live, consider whereabouts in the city your husband will be working. It might make a huge difference to his commute. I work in the south, so it made sense for us to live south of the city too. Just something else to consider.

Congrats and good luck. We are in Calgary (me, my husband and 4 kids aged between 11 and 5), we have been here just over 4 years now.


All schools seem to be much of a muchness and pretty good on average - I would avoid the NE of the city, but anywhere else would me more than likely to have a good school. When we first arrived here we lived in Varsity, and now live in Country hills - both of the schools my kids went to were very good. I would say find the area you want to live in and base the decision on other services that you want and not worry about the school too much.

I cant comment on the SW, Okotoks or Chestermere, but we live in the NW of the city and are pretty happy here. As far as finding the rental property - the kids will be no problem but you may have to search around to find one that will accept the animals - they do exist however.

Medical care is pretty good, but you will probably struggle to find a GP straight away - there is a shortage. There are plenty of walk in clinics however and quite often it is easier to just go to one of those rather than waiting for a GP appointment even if you do have a GP. Dentist is no problem - we just went to the one that was nearest to us and registered with them.
As far as I am concerned, education is pretty good - I certainly have no complaints. At 6, your eldest will be going into Grade 1 - I wouldn't push for him/her to be put any further ahead, it is better that they stay with their own age group as far as I can see. Class sizes are not huge, and while there are differences in the curriculum (Because they obviously teach things based on Canada rather than the UK), they cover all the basics. I really wouldn't worry too much about it.

Thanks guys for all your help!
Triumphguy, we have 3500 dollars to spend on rent per month not incuding utilities! Have found a couple of websites renting houses out and there doesnt seem to be much in this price bracket that accepts pets!
Snoopster, my husband works in the city in bankers hall so we will be needing good commuting in and out, he doesnt really want to travel more then 30 minutes each way, are we limiting ourselves and being realistic?
Chookie, my eldest is 7 in october i thought he would be going into grade 2 in september, am i wrong? Also my younger one is 3 in July how easy is it to find playgroups without huge waiting lists?

Hi there. If your eldest is 7 in September then, yes, he will be going into Grade 2. He won't be one of the eldest in the class like in the UK as the cut off month here is end of Feb I think and not September like in the UK. My daughter has a September birthday and she was 7 and went into Grade 2 when we moved over. She'll be 9 this year.

Finding a pre-school is not really a problem either. I actually live in Cochrane and had no problem getting my son into one. I would imagine it to be the same within Calgary itself; there's plenty around.

I hope you can find a suitable rental for you and your pets. We moved with a cat and dog so understand the traumas. We only went into short term before buying a own property so it wasn't too bad.

With regard to the places you're looking at, I don't really know what the comute times are like. Just as a comparison, we live in Cochrane and my husband works in the NE of Calgary and it only takes him between half an hour and 45 minutes. You don't seem to get the traffic in Calgary like in the UK!

Anyway, best of luck with it all.

I would recommend living somewhere close to a C Train station if you are commuting downtown.

I used to get the C-Train to downtown from Dalhousie Station in the NW and it took about half an hour. If you go one station further up the line to Crowfoot then you could feasibly live in Arbour Lake, which is a lake community, and still get downtown using the C-Train. The closer in to the city centre you go, the older and more mature the neighbourhoods are.

There will also be some nice communities down in the south which are close to the C-Train within your 30 minute commute window but I don't know it as well down that way so others may be able to help. I think Lake Bonavista is one of them (also a lake community).

Good luck!

OP - yes if your eldest is 7, he will be going into grade 2 - I was assuming that he would still be 6 hence my grade 1 comment.

I also agree with the Ctrain comment - it is very useful for travelling around and also for getting to work - parking downtown costs an arm and a leg, but a monthly transit pass costs just over $85 a month and give you unlimited travel on both busses and trains in that month.

The other alternative to teh Ctrain is to try to rent somewhere within walking distance of the BRT routes (ie the rapid transit busses). We live within 2 blocks of the 301 route to downtown which is what Mr Chookie uses to get to work every day. Far easier and cheaper than him driving and having to pay through the nose for parking.

this is the map for the 301 route and from the looks of it, there is also a South-east route as well

I work in Bankers Hall and my commute is less than 30 minutes each way - taking the Bus down Bow Trail from Westgate, which is directly to the east of Sarcee Trail. There is major construction on westbound Bow Trail, which does slow down the evening commute a little, but it is still pretty good. The buses are quite fast but they don't go into the communities, so somewhere near to Bow Trail is a definite plus. A 15 minute walk in -34C is not much fun, so my wife drives me to/from the bus stop when it's really cold. Walking also pushes the total commute above 30 minutes. Lots of bus routes run down Bow Trail east of Sarcee, typically leaving 3-4 minute between buses during peak hours. I'm currently car pooling, which has reduced my commute - on a good day it can be under 10 minutes, but normally it's a little more than that.

No lakes in this part of the city, unfortunately, but we do have good sport and leisure centres, skate parks, playing fields and Glenmore Reservoir is only a short drive away for sailing if you fancy that. It's also really convenient for getting out to the mountains - less than an hour to Banff.

Shaganappi might be a good place to look - it's a nice area with good road and bus links and quite a lot of rental properties from what I have seen. It depends whether you can see yourself living in a place called Shaganappi though! Also avoid being too close to Westbrook Mall (33 St to 37 St between Bow Trail and 17 Av), as that area does seem to attract street crime.

Virtually all of the Lake Communities in Calgary are in the SE with no real direct (walkalbe) access to a c-train station. If you lived in the right part of Midnapore, then it may be possible to walk to a station but, for most parts of most of the lake communities, a bus will need to be taken from the community to a station.

Not much of an issue going to work (as you can time your arrival at the bus stop) and the c-trains run every 6 mins during rush hour.

However, the trip home could become problematic as the buses tend to run every 20 mins from the stations which could be a bummer if the bus pulls away just as you are alighting from the train in minus 30 degrees.

Sounds like if your husband doesn't want a commute of 30 mins to downtown, then a satellite town (like Okotoks or Cochrane) would be a less wise choice than living on the outskirts of the city.
Okotoks is a 20 min drive to Shawnessy and the C Train station in the south, then you'd have to add on the travel time on the train itself. Not sure about Cochrane, but it's probably similar to the outskirts of the west side.

Danfolkstone, shaganappi sounds a very interesting place to live - love the name !!
Thanks guys for all the info, i really appreciate it. Must say i am looking forward to the move, think Calgary is an amazing place to live. Me and the kids went over for a visit a couple of months back and we loved it. Banff and Lake Louise were stunning, we even went dog sledding which was really good fun!
A couple of more questions, what is the tv like over there? Can you get a system similar to our Sky+? Does anyone know of some good summer groups or activities to do with the kids? Oldest one wont have any friends until he starts school in september so would like to keep him occupied, maybe a summer camp?
Thanks again!

I'm still picking myself up off the floor having read the $3500 pm on rent.

I'm still picking myself up off the floor having read the $3500 pm on rent.

Tangram, why is that alot or not enough?