Oooh I have tied myself into a knot over this immigration thing!

At the moment I am living in Cornwall, which I moved to in an effort to give my kids the safest environment that I could to grow up in. Unfortunatly as they are getting older the downside of the total lack of work is starting to stress me, I hate the thought that there will be no choices for them, they either stay here on the dole or getting paid £5.50 ph, or they have to move about 250 miles away. I am not in any way against them moving away of they WANT to , but it upsets me tha to have a future they will HAVE to.

That led me to decide to do a final move somewhere that they will be able to have the outdoorsy lifestyle that they love, yet still be able to get a job when they reach that stage.

I looked at Australia and it was my first choice as I have friends there already but I am under enormous pressure from my family not to go that far away

I guess what I am asking is what opportunities are there around the Toronto area for kids and teenagers? How friendly are the local kids to incomers? Can the teenagers get part time jobs - I only mean your Mc Donalds type of work, you cant even get that here! When they are older are there a wide variety of career choices?What is the education system like?

The weather sounds fantastic to me, snow in the winter and hot summers sounds perfect after 39 years of grey skies! My kids are into surfing at the moment, do they do things like skiing and snowboarding near Toronto in Winter?

I am lucky that I am in a position that I can live anywhere in the world ( that will have me!) and not have to work as I own a sustantial shareholding in a successful company, and the lack of shops etc that I have seen people talk about cant be that much different to Cornwall! This move is for my kids, I just want to give them the best possible start....

Sorry for so many questions I am just trying to get my head straight

Thanks in advance!

Hello

You might want to try looking at the wiki section as your first port of call while you are waiting for people to get back to you.

I would also run a search on all the subjects that you have brought up from past treads or just go on google.

If you don't already know have a look at www.mls.ca for houses.

Me and my husband are considering Calgary so we can't really help you. I would like to welcome you to the site.

I hope I have given you some information that you can start with, good luck.

Also there is also a Canadian Expo on in London and Leeds.

Here is the link http://www.expo-canada.com/

Thanks Cassie!

I have tried searching but it seems to search for ALL the words seperatly IYKWIM so when I typed in 'teenagers jobs' it found every post that had either word in......it was a LOT of posts

What made you choose Calgary if you dont mind me asking?

Hello, Nina, and welcome to the BE forum. Wow, Nina, this country has six time zones, but you're just asking about Toronto. I'm not saying anything against Toronto. Maybe it would be a good place for your family. What I am suggesting is that you slow down to a gallop, as I often say tongue in cheek, and do some more research on Canada's various regions.

Canadian kids usually think British kids are cool. They like their accents, for one thing (although those accents of course may diminish with time). The general experience on this forum is that Canadian kids accept newcomers.

Yes, part-time jobs are available for kids. But, and this is a big but, if you come to Canada on a temporary work permit (TWP), your kids are not entitled to work. Since a TWP is the shortcut into Canada for many people, this can be a substantial challenge, in the beginning, before the family gets permanent resident (PR) status.

Yes and no. Yes, you can do well in Canada. But you have to use some street smarts in terms of the career that you choose. Not all career paths are created equal.

It depends what you want. In my opinion, the Canadian school system creates a decent, confident, well rounded person. But, when it comes to literature, history, geography, the school system does not create depth.

If you have a child who is very academic, he/she probably will be better served by a school that offers the International Baccalaureate program. In Canada's cities there are public (state) schools that offer the IB.

At the university level, Canada is more or less on a par with any other First World country.

I don't get the impression that Toronto is a premium location for those activities. I understand there is better skiing to be had in Quebec, and there certainly is in Alberta and British Columbia. It's a 4-hour flight from Toronto to Calgary, to access Banff, and a 5-hour flight from Toronto to Vancouver, to access Whistler, for example.

That is an enviable position to be in, but not one that is all that helpful towards immigrating to Canada.

If you want to find out about Canada, your best bet, I believe, is to start out with the Canada section of the BE Wiki.

You can use the Wiki's search function (on the left hand side of the screen once you're in the Wiki) to look for articles on topics that interest you.

Edited to add that it's easier to search in the Wiki than it is to search in the forum. The reason is that, if you search for a specific keyword in the Wiki, only a half a dozen or so links will come up. Let's use the example of the term "teenagers jobs" for which you searched in the forum. If you search for "teenagers jobs" in the Wiki, only two articles come up. As you've discovered, a search in the forum may bring up dozens or even hundreds of previous discussion threads.

In addition to that, you'll notice on the main Canada page of the Wiki that there are subcategories that group similar articles together. For example, it sounds as if the Children-Canada section would be of interest to you.

Because you seem to have been so quick to zero in on Toronto and because I think there is merit in doing more exhaustive research before you focus on one region, I recommend that you read the articles in the Where to live section.

Edited to add this: If you decide that Canada may be the right country for you and your kids, it will be critical for you to figure out how to gain access to Canada. An article that will get you up to speed with the basics of that issue is Quick Guide to Canadian Immigration. Because you're financially independent, Nova Scotia's Community Identified Stream may be feasible for you. I'm not saying it is the right solution for you, but I think it's worth looking into.

Once you're explored the Wiki a bit, you'll be able to ask more focused questions.

I hope this has helped you.
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Hi Judy,

I actually did quite a bit of research before I decided that I like the look of Toronto, I looked up the relative crime rates for all the regions, climate, affordability, and then factored in the flight time from the UK, it was a mix of these that led me to Toronto.

I like the fact that while the inner city is compact and high density, if you pick the suburb carefully you can still get the best of both worlds with good rail/bus networks with more of a country feel. Although I hate city living I do understand the importance of being close to things for the kids and as there are 6 of them if we dont get public transport tied down we become unpaid taxi drivers I have to say though that all this information has been tracked down by internet research, looking at bus schedules, city plans, school websites and so on so I dont know how accurate it will be!

Also I would like the kids to have the opportunities that I had if they ever want to start their own business, access to highly motivated staff, good transport links, etc etc I have found that people who suit high pressure work tend to gravitate towards the cities. To be honest if I wanted to 'do it all again' I would need those things also!

I am fortunate enough to qualify as an investor, we have built our company up to the point where it has 60 staff and a very healthy turnover, so I meet all the criteria requested under the Federal Investor Program. I will leave the company in my sisters capable hands and become a silent partner. The visa is a PR from day one so hopefully the elder kids will be able to get grafting not long after we get there!

I hadnt thought of the IB route, I guess I will have to do some research on how much it would cost to put them all through a school that has the program Oh I just read your reply again, you have STATE schools that offer that program from day 1??? That is fantastic!! I bet they have huge waiting lists though!!

Thankyou for your help Judy, I am reassured that the kids will be accepted, and I will look up Calgary and some of the other regions!

Fair enough. The reason I said what I said was that I have seen hundreds of starry-eyed newcomers arriving on the forum and asking the kinds of questions you asked. If you have in fact done your research, my comments don't apply to you.

That's great. It sounds as if you're good to go, then.

Well, now that I understand your situation more fully, I'd say, "Don't bother." From your point of view, Calgary is close to downhill skiing in the Rockies. Also, it does have non-stop flights to the UK (albeit the flights are slightly longer than the ones to and from Toronto). If you wanted to start another business, Calgary would be one of the least suitable cities for you. Because of the oil boom, there is a huge shortage of labour here. It is very difficult for companies, especially for those outside of the oil and oil-services industries, to attract and retain staff.

If you want an effective way to search for previous discussion threads about Toronto, use the tip in the Wiki article called Searching for Canadian cities.

Also, if you want to attract posters who would be able to answer your questions about Toronto, it would be better to create a new thread called "Toronto neighbourhoods," or something like that, and post it in the main Canada forum. Some people only read threads that they consider relevant to their area of interest / expertise. People who live in Toronto may or may not open a thread entitled "Please help my head is spinning!!" in the Meet and Greet forum.

Also, it would help to give as much contextual information as possible. I recommend that you say you already have figured out the immigration route that you'll use, you've already researched regions of Canada, and you've chosen Toronto as your destination. Say that you now want to zero in on which communities in the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] will be most suitable for your family. Say that you have six children, and state what ages they are. State what kinds of amenities and community vibe are important to you. State that commuting to work will not be an issue to you. (If you don't state that, people are likely to ask you where you'll be working, as that would help them to help you in determining the most suitable area. So it would help them to know, up front, that they don't have to worry about that.)

I can see why you thought your head was spinning. In fact your head is not spinning. When most newcomers arrive on this forum, they don't yet know if Canada is the right destination country for them, they don't have the foggiest clue about Canadian immigration, they don't know what employment opportunities there are for people in their occupation, and they don't know which region of Canada will be most suitable for them. Because all of that is out of the way in your case, you're actually at a reasonably advanced stage of the research process.

Because you haven't participated on this forum before, you weren't to know that. You also weren't to know that posting a thread with a title of "Please help my head is spinning!!" would identify you (in the eyes of at least one forum member) as a very new newbie to the topic of Canadian immigration.

But onwards and upwards, eh?

If your kids want to get involved in the research and planning (something I advocate), they might want to participate in BE's Youth Club (a no-post zone for adults).

In addition to asking questions about Toronto on the forum, you'll probably want to read the Wiki articles in the following subcategories:

Children-Canada

Moving Logistics-Canada

Roy Boyce (ZapOne on the BE forum) is a British real estate agent in Toronto who has contributed some of the information in the BE Wiki articles about Canadian Housing and Mortgages.

Well, Nina, I hope that further clarification has helped you.
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Judy you are a star!

The protocols of different forums can be hard to master, I will take on board what you said about how to word the questions, I can see exactly what you mean about getting the information that I need by asking the question in the right way.

In the meantime I will go on the links that you provided and see what I can work out for myself!

Again thanks, the clarification did help enormously.

Children tend to have to go to the local school allocated to their postcode in Canada, so it is less an issue of waiting lists and more a case of living in the right school district.

That generally is true, DNS. But, with that having been said, the number of places in a given school district's IB program tend to be limited, and there often is competition to earn a place.

For example, here is some information on the Middle Years International Baccalaureate Program at William G. Davis Senior School in Brampton, Ontario. It appears that 50 new spots are available each year. Students are selected from a combination of their school report cards, references from teachers, and a written test administered at the school.
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There are obviously limited places for this programme in this school. The diploma however is more widely available than the middle years and it is good grades in an IB diploma that will get you into the best universities.

The advantage of doing the middle years prior to the diploma is that you go into the diploma familiar with the learning style of IB. That said, most students first experience of IB is at the diploma level in the UK or Canada and generally it is still successful.

Okay, forget the middle years thing. It just happened to be an IB application that I found when I did a Google search for one. Perhaps it's unfortunate that the first one I stumbled on was for a middle years program, because the middle years aspect had the potential to be a distraction.

Here is the IB Application Form for Henry Wise Wood High School in Calgary. This is a senior high school, not a middle or junior high school.

The student has to answer a questionnaire about various aspects of his/her life. (I'm curious to know whether a part-time job would fall on the plus or minus side of the ledger, but that's another matter.)

The student's parents have to sign a residency declaration, verifying that the family lives in the geographic catchment area for the Area V International Baccalaureate Program.

The final part of the form is a confidential recommendation from the student's junior high school (and the student's marks for grades 8 and 9 have to be attached).

My point is that, whereas a conventional public (state) school is obliged to accept any eligible child who lives in its catchment area, an IB program is not obliged to accept any child who is entitled to schooling in that catchment area.

Usually a school that offers the IB program also has a conventional stream. I know that's the case at Henry Wise Wood High School, because it's the high school for my own catchment area. Henry Wise Wood High School has to accept the children in my neighbourhood who are eligible for public schooling.

But the IB program that operates within that school sets standards for admission to that program.

The original poster mentioned waiting lists. I don't know what she meant by waiting list. The picture that the expression conjures up in my mind is putting a person's name on a list, and then waiting (perhaps years) for admission. For example, I have heard of prestigious private (public in the UK) schools that have such long waiting lists that parents put their children's names on those lists at birth.

The difference between that picture and the way in which the IB program in a public (state) school in Canada is that there is an application process. My understanding is that the student is either accepted or rejected. So the process is, in that sense, competitive. But it is not what I think of as a waiting list.

Another thing is that I thought your previous post implied that a student would be accepted into the IB program if he/she lived in the program's catchment area and if he/she wanted to enroll in the program. I wanted to point out that living in the catchment area and wanting to be in the program are not enough.
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I did not imply anything. I said that most Canadian children go to the school allocated to their postcode and I believe that this is true.

I have considerable experience of IB and I am aware that different educational institutions choose to deliver it in differing ways. Some do deliver 2 courses in parallel, other deliver only IB. Some deliver it in a highly academic way, others are more inclusive. The "service" aspect of IB can be used to widen it to be appropriate to very broad academic levels. One international IB school I have links with does 100% IB diploma and gets 100% pass rate even though it is not a selective school.

You are right to point out that there is not likely to be a "waiting list" as such, but that some schools may be selective in which pupils access IB as they deliver a more academic model of it. The OP will probably have a good idea if his/her children are academically inclined and I am sure will bear this in mind when choosing a school.