Hi there

We are moving to Halifax NS next Spring and as we have three small children (age 4 and 2) I wanted to know what the facilities for children were like. We are hoping to live in the South End but are not totally sure yet. Any feedback would be great as am a bit nervous about the move.

Many thanks

Hi

Welcome to BE

There are lots of people on here who are either in NS already or planning to move there.

We are hoping to move next spring/summer, depending on when we get the visas, fingers x

We have 2 children 6 and 2 and from what I have seen there are lots of families.

Have fun on here and hope you get to make some really good friends

Good luck

Hi cpgirl,

You will find that you have plenty to do in NS.

We live in a small village and the kids have loads to do so i would guess it would be better in HRM.

Not only that us adults have quite a bit to keep us occupied so again HRM would be better.

Good luck with your move

and dont worry if you want it bad enough you will make it work

Check this out for things on offer over Fall/Winter http://www.halifax.ca/recreation/

There will be another one out for Spring/Summer. This is just what the local authority puts on, there is lots of other stuff too

Thanks for your help guys. Will check out the website.

Why the South End? For that money you could have a mansion just 15-25 minutes drive away, just interested. Is it job related?

There's lots to do in Halifax for kids. Swimming lessons are always good. There's daily lessons for different age groups at Dalhousie University, at the Dalplex, which is in the south end. There are lots of playgrounds around the south end as well. My nephew who is almost 2 goes to a kid's gym somewhere in Halifax, and I am sure it's not the only one. There's a really good dance school called halifax Dance that has classes for the 4 year old. There are gymnastics clubs as well, in both Halifax and Dartmouth. Music lessons, especially piano, is available all over the city. You can find a list of registered music teachers through google. I will think of more things and add them later.

Are you moving to Halifax permanently? Are you planning to place your 4 year old in private school or public school? Have you considered french immersion? I recommend the french immersion.

Hi all,
Thank you so much for your feedback. It's been really helpful and gives me more of an idea of what to expect

Bimchick, we are hoping to do the French immersion thing and are currently looking into it.Do any of your children currently do it?

Will keep you posted on any developments.

Thanks

I have a son in French Immersion (grade 1 of elementary school) and another son in regular elementary. They're both at school in Fall River. But I understand Bedford and Halifax schools run French programs too.

I personally think its great and its an opportunity you would never get in the UK. Our son has been in it for a year and a bit and already speaks really quite reasonable french. I would imagin in another year or two he will be fluent.

You have to consider if your children are suited to it. Its more demanding than regular elementary and we know it wouldnt have worked for our other son.

If theres anything more specific you want to know please let me know.

South End Halifax is noce by the way but as Poppy2 says if you can live with just a 15-20 min commute you will get twice the house for the same money outside Halifax.

Good luck!

cpgirl:

I have not yet had the fortune of having children :P But both my brother and I were in french immersion, and when I move back to Halifax I plan to be teaching french immersion in the city. It's a great program and most of the children who do french immersion perform better in high school after years of doing another language, compared to those who didn't do the french immersion program.

Basically, the way the program works is the children do all their subjects in french (excluding music and Phys ed.) in french. in grade 3 they do 1 hour a day of english until grade 7, at which time they do half the subjects in french and half in english and then by grade 10 they do a minimum of 3 subjects in french the rest in english. The students learn to speak french fluently over the years, tho for some it takes a bit of time, which is fine.

Have you found a place or area yet to live?