I am having another panic about schools in Calgary. We are moving out to Calgary a month tomorrow!! We are renting a property in Okotoks for 3 weeks and hope to be able to find an area we want to live in that time. We have 2 school aged children - a 10 year old, who I am not too worried about as I'm sure he will be fine fitting in to school. We also have a 17 year old daughter who has just taken her AS levels here. I think she will be in the last year of high school, but I am so worried about the curriculum there as she has only studied English, French, Spanish and Art this year as she chose these for A level. I understand that in Canada, pupils mainly study a much wider curriculum than in the UK and am concerned that she will be way behind others her age in a lot of subjects. Has anyone any advice or suggestions?

Also, as we don't know what area we will eventually be living in, I haven't contacted any schools yet. Another problem is that when we arrive (15th July) I think the schools will have finished for the summer, and so the children may not be able to start in Aug/Sept with the rest of the pupils.

Any advice would be great as this is ANOTHER thing that's keeping me awake at night! (along with the house sale, packing ad clearing out belongings, stress from my parents and sister who don't want us to go, as well as having no jobs, house etc etc to go to!! :scared: :scared: :scared: )

Haven't figured out how to link to other threads in this forum but "Judy in Calgary" seems to know a lot about schools in Calgary. There's a post a few pages back - Secondary Schools & Bright Kids - that has a helpful post from her.

Don't panic. You'll be in Canada soon. Your kids will get into school. Your daughters will cope. Go and worry about something else - your panic list must be as long as mine!

Schools finish toward the end of June - in my school district, the last day of school is next week for Grade 11 kids and June 28 for the rest. Your daughter will probably be way ahead - not behind, don't worry. Students may study a range of subjects, but the depth of most Grade 11 and Grade 12 subjects is stunningly superficial. With the exception of perhaps Math 12, Chem 12 and Physics 12, it's all memorised stuff designed for multiple guess exams that practically no one can fail. You need to get your daughter registered as soon as you land at the address you will be staying at. It might be an idea to make a few phone calls to the school board in the Otokoks area before you leave Blighty. It's easier to transfer a registration across the school boards than it is to turn up in September and expect them to know where to place both kids. Your daughter's GSCE and AS level may be enough for her to graduate anyway, so she may not need to do Grade 12. It would be advisable to get her exam results assessed for equivalent credits immediately...as you may end up wasting time. Your ten year old is going to be the problem, as he will be in Grade 6 in September if she turns 11 before December. That is the last year of elementary school in most places and he will also be way ahead. He may get placed into Grade 7 if he's bright, a choice you can make but there will be a peer group issue to think about. Someone in Alberta will be better placed to give you specifics.

Thanks for the replies. My son was 10 in May of this year ,so won't be 11 until 2007. He is currently in Year 5 of Uk education system (would have another year to go before high school) He is quite bright for his age and has some lessons with the Year 6 class in his current school. I've heard that children can't go up a grade until they've passed the current one, but would this extend to going to high school ahead of his peers? Also, does anyone know how this would be assessed?

I have seen adverts for firms that will assess UK qualifications but they seem to charge a lot! I assume that we will all have to have our qualifications assessed in that case?

Suebed, I found the thread you recommended, thanks. (There seemed to be some rather unfriendly people posting on it!!)

First thing is .... don't worry! They'll fit in just fine here.

To give you an idea of the curriculum in Alberta, take a look at this:

http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/...lum/bySubject/

What your 17 yr old will most likely be able to do is have her GCSE's and AS levels assessed. I believe she can get high school credits attributed from these. You could make contact now and discuss that if you know which school she's likely to be attending. Just email, or call them up!

Will you plan to stay in Okotoks? It is a different school board to Calgary, I think.

We arrived 3rd September and registered our son (14) with calgary board of education within a couple of days, then contacted the school nearest where we were staying. The school didn't start til later that week, and there was nobody there to talk to until one day before, so we went the first day, had a tour around and a chat with the principal, and filled in some forms, then he started the following week.

I don't know much (anything!) about Okotoks schools I'm afraid.

I just saw you say your son is in yr 5 in UK? Well he'll probably be put in 5th grade here next year, so he'll have 2 yrs in elementary before junior high. Okotoks may have schools where they have middle school and then combined junior/senior highs, not sure!

Here you go ... if in Okotoks they will be in Foothills schools division

http://www.fsd38.ab.ca/public/frameset.cfm

and if in Calgary they'll come under the Calgary Board of Education

http://www.cbe.ab.ca/

Thanks Morwenna, I'll get in touch with some schools and see what they say.

We are not sure where we will stay! We were originally coming over for a 3 week research trip (never been to Calgary before!) but sold the house to the first people who came to look. :scared: They want to move in about 3 weeks, so we decided that rather than come back after our trip, we'd stay out in Calgary. Things have happened far faster than we ever thought and suddenly our 4 year wait is over!

The rental in Okotoks is through the Canilink people, but we only have it for 3 weeks, so we will have to find somewhere fast! I've just been reading other people's posts of where they liked etc and then researched the areas a bit more. However, i know that no amount of research is enough, you have to see the place to really know what it's like. We also have to find a balance, as our 2 elder children (19 and 17) want to live near the city, and we want to live somewhere outside!

The places we have earmarked so far are Okotoks, Cochrane, Airdrie - the usual ones I guess! but we may find somewhere else when we visit.

Here's to another sleepless night!!

We love the northwest. Just moved to Arbour Lake. From here you can easily get into the city via bus and or light transit. Otherwise your kids are going to want to drive their own cars!!! :scared:

Hi
Can sympathise with the stress levels, we are meant to be moving over next month!!!
However, to reassure you Okotoks have some very good schools. If you look at www.fraserinstitute.ca/ they grade all Alberta schools, kind of like our league tables. This will give you a little insight. As a teacher here in the UK I liked what I saw in the two Okotoks schools we visited (both elementary) and I am sure you will be too.
Good luck with everything
wallace

You are aware that the Fraser Institute is a right wing think tank?

If your daughter turns 18 this year then she's off the School hook and on her way to Uni.
Also if she is eligble for Uni in the UK then she will be able to apply here and then only pay canadian rates not forgein student rate. ( you don't have to be 18 to start, you just need qualifications). ( son 19 august finished yr2 uni last month)

Not beign here for end of school year isn't a problem you could probably start in the new school within the 1st couple of days of the New year in the area you eventually settle in.

Does you boy play Sports -- Soccer? There is a chance he may be able to join a team as soon as you get there. this will enable you to meet people findout about different areas and give the kid chance to see he isn't losing his sport.

Would be very interested in more info from you Wallace. I am also a teacher in UK (primary) and am hoping to get a job as a classroom assistant or similar when we move. We are moving over on July 15th and renting a property for 3 weeks,hopefully we will be able to find something else or extend the rental!
How old are your kids? What in particular did you like about the schools, and how do you think they compare to ours?
Have you found jobs/ place to live etc? When exactly are you moving?

Rachel

Thanks for that,I didn't realise that our daughter would be eligible to go to uni straight away without paying the foreign students rates, and I also didn't realise that you didn't have to be 18 to start! I was just assuming that she would have to graduate high school in order to get into uni. She will only have AS level qualifications, but is a bright girl, do you think she would be better going straight to uni?

Son is in our local football (oops, I mean soccer - will have to get used to that!) team, and would love to get involved in a team over there.

Thanks again for the help!

Rachel

She would have to get her GCSE's and GCE's assessed for equivalency by any uni she applied to. My lad was found lacking in the level of chem and physics he needed and has been doing top-ups at Chinook Learning here to get chem and physics 30 in order to reapply to uni's for engineering.