My family and I have just been the go ahead to move to Canada, hopefully Calgary, however we have a 9 year old daughter who would like to know from other children what it is like moving, living and going to school in Canada. We hope to moving out by February 2007 and boy are we looking forward to it. We look foward to hearing from you.

I have an 11 year old daughter (she was 10 when we got here) although we are not in Calgary if your daughter wants to PM my daughter i'll get her to reply!

My experience is quite dated, I moved to Canada from Fiji back in 1986 (dad's job had us globe trotting most of my young life). It was a bit wierd to some of the kids I went to school with (last year of primary for me when we arrived in Canada), while most approached me as a peculiarity after the first couple of months the novelty wore off and I was just "me" warts and all... it was slightly more akward for me the first school year in Canada because my father was in hospital then passed away, and having a parent die is far more "freakish" then any country your from.

Kids can be cruel though, I had to develop a sense of humour to the wierd pronounciations I used (to the other kids) and be asked to repeat a word over and over so that my friends could have a laugh. But it went both ways as there was things the Canadian school friends I had were far more ignorant on then I was.

I had one incident of bullying the first year I arrived, to this day I'm not exactly sure what I did to provoke it... went out in the school yard during our break and got a fist in the stomach from a lad in my grade. I didn't even know his name at the time, my classmates told me who he was afterwards and I discovered he was a "troubled" kid from a broken home & had aggresive "issues" ie; his dad beat the tar out of the kids & wife.

The best part is though, the older your children get, the "cooler" they become because they're from somewhere else... it got far easier for me to socialise & make friends during secondary school & college then it had been the initial first year in elementary school.

Bear in mind, from what I've seen here in the UK, there's probably more chance of your kids getting bullied in schools here then in Canada for being "different" the worst they might get is relegaded to the "oddball" cliques of the school instead of the "popular" and "in" crowds... thank god I didn't get sucked into those even when offered during the "cool" period of secondary school... those peeps on HS reunion websites seem to not be doing very well in their lives!

Anyway, I'm 30something now so obviously tainted by my old age, but your kids should treat this as an adventure, many kids & people they meet in Canada will honestly think they are "cool" because they come from the UK and will have millions of questions for them. Best thing to do, answer the questions and ask some yourself... Canadians love to yakity yak (as evidenced by my long response, sorry!) *edited for clarity*

Sorry it's taken a little while to reply, that would be great, She is away with her school this weekend so we shall email next week. Look forward to emailing/ getting to know you all.

Hi, many thanks for you lovely response, I will tell my daughter what you have said, I think she will be o.k. she is really looking forward to going to school in Canada even though it will be a big thing for her. If the truth was known, i'm nervous for her Bullying is big here in Britain, I think alot is brushed under the carpet so to speak, and the truth of how wide spread isn't really known. She has a strong character although can be a little shy at first but i'm sure she can handle it, oh gosh now I'm feeling worried
I know what you mean about accents, where we are in the UK alot of people have a strong accent, when I first moved here over 20 something years ago!!!! I was told that I sounded posh... ha ha ha ... oh well, we look forward to coming to live in Canada. I will keep you posted.

Is your daughter in any groups like Brownies/guides, I contacted the local group in the area of Canada that we are going to and the brown owl there is making arragments for the brownies over there to email my kid so that she is all ready known before she walks in the door of her new brownies in canada..


I`m sure any group that your daughter was intrested in would love to make contact with another person from another country...(the oldest one said She would kill me if I done this for her Karata......) :scared:

Hi there, we live on the Bruce Peninsula, about 3.5 hours from Toronto, rural based! Anyway, my daughter is 9 in November. We also have a son who is 6, they love school here! We moved here in 2004 for a year, moved back to Southampton, England for a year and now we are back here for two years now on a work permit. If you would like to chat, let us know.

Your daughter will be fine, but the more you do to get her involved with activities that she has in common with the kids in Canada, the better... it bridges the continental gap when both parties have something in common to talk about. Whatever she's interested in, have a search for local Canadian equivalents for the area your planning on moving to... she might not "get" why you're signing her up for it when there's so much new stuff going on for her, but it will certainly help her expand her social network so she's not just restricted to her local school class to make friends in.

My mum openly encouraged me to make friends and when a shy girl from my class had a birthday party, I was amongst only 3 other kids at her party. She was a lovely girl and her parent's had emmigrated from England too! spent alot of time with her the first year I'd moved to Canada, then lost touch once we went on to different high schools.

From that I realise in hindsight how much worse off I could have been, my first birthday party had 7 classmates (I barely knew for even a year!), it can be very difficult if your child is shy. I've always been a bit brazen, or maybe I'm just thick and don't get when people dont like me & try to tell me... or maybe I just ignore them *lol*

In any case, if your child is in a group in a field that she's comfortable with (sports, arts, whatever!) then it will make it that much easier for her to turn the other cheek if her classmates are "ignoring" or "ostersizing" her... she'll have another peer group to fall back on.

Hi Sandy

Just though I'd say Hi as I noticed ya from Southampton. I'm from Pompey and just coming to the end of ma emigration Process (meds in a couple of weeks). Were looking towards a place called Barrie which is about a hours drive north of Toronto but it looks like my kinda work is in the Toronto area so may have to reside there.....How is life over the Pond for you?. You thinking if emigrating permenantely?

just to butt in , but we are from the pompey area , have a business in southsea , just had meds to get work permit ( don't ask ) and are due to go soon to newmarket , husband has job in richmond Hill.


sorry to go off thread with the above posting , but to get back on track , i have two boys 15 and 18 , my 18year old is already in Canada, to start college and is staying with my husbands new boss , ( strange but they offered to put him up ) he does not make friends easily , but they have a 17 year old daughter and she has gone out of her way to intragrate him into her circle of friends , on his first night there , she had invited a group of mates over to help him settle in and not feel out of place. i felt that was extremely nice of her , he has really settled in and has made some good friends. that just leaves the 15 year old to start school , he is very sociable and i hope he fits in, i must admit i think i shall worry about his first day / week at school like i did when he was 5.

Hi,
Our boys have just started school here in Kelowna, they're a bit younger than your daughter, but they love it. The eldest is 7 and I was more worried about him fitting in than the younger one because he's a bit shy. But even though he's only in his 2nd week, he's been over to his various mates houses for dinner (must stop calling it tea!) and he's got one coming over tonight. All his mates love the way he talks and he's more happier than I've ever seen him.
So tell her not to worry

We moved from Nottinghamshire to Nova Scotia 6 months ago. Our 8 year old daughter did not want to move and was worried about starting school in Canada. She never really enjoyed school in the UK and was still a little clingy in the mornings. What a difference since we got here. She catches the school bus with no problems and walks back from the stop on her own. She really enjoys school and never complains about it. In fact yesterday she said that she likes the school here so much more because the older children are kind to and have respect for the younger children. Children here are so confident and polite. Our daughter is definitely gaining more confidence here. She has even gone straight from school to a sleepover party tonight which she wouldn't have done in the UK. Any time you ask her if she wants to go back to the UK she says no way. I don't think your daughter would have any problem making friends as the kids here are so friendly. I myself moved from USA to UK when I was 9 and found it hard but I was picked on because of my accent which I tried to lose as fast as I could. Our daughter hasn't been picked on and is viewed as being interesting and different because of her accent. Good luck with your move.

Hi

Did you have your meds done in Horsham or Winchester?. We have ours in Horsham in 2 weeks, what are they like?

Hi
we had to go to Knightsbridge , to cut a long story short my eldest son went ahead of us as we are waiting for our permits , we had a letter last tuesday , thought it was the permits , but no , it was a meds request for hubby. we are already 3 weeks late to start work ( good job son is lodging with new boss ) i went into panic mode Winchester quoted us november and oxford and bristol the same , horsham had no appointments at all , so i phoned tuesday at 5 the knightsbridge surgery , thay gave me an appointment wed morn at 9.00am , if no phone call thurs or fri , assume aok and will post meds mon morn. £200 all done on the premises (that is hubby only ).
so i am not sure what horsham is like , i think everywhere varies quite alot if you read the posts , the cost really do vary.

good luck , it is quite nerve racking waiting , and i have not had mine done.!!

Horsham was a complete doddle when we had ours done last year. No awkward questions and hardly "hands-on" at all. I felt quite cheated!

Xrays are done at the hospital afterwards. Remember to take cash to pay for the meds; they don't accept cheques or credit cards, but they'll often give a discount for a family!