We are considering moving to canada and wanted to know if any one has already gone who has young children, our boys are 4 and 6 yrs. How have you found the schools and settling in? Are the schools anything like english schools? Have you been able to make friends? Would be grateful of any information, this is just one of very many questions. Thanks K

My kids were born here so no experience of British schools other than what my friends and brothers tell me

My eldest was only 3 (soon to be 4) when she started Junior Kindergarten (every other day) here. Your 4 YO would be in JK, and the 6 YO in grade 1 (full time)

Its pretty similar to the UK, but less emphasis on the dreaded tests / set curriculum. French Immersion is a nice option to explore too.

Kids make friends far easier than the grown ups, dont worry about that.

Schooling in Canada is set up on the basis of local school boards, so what goes for one area does not necessarily apply elsewhere. There are of course National and provincial standards, but its not as all consuming as in the UK, so the teachers have a lot more freedom to generate well rounded kids rather than automatons trained to do well in the standardised tests and nothing else.

I much prefer the Canadian system to what I hear of the UK one. None of that insane focus on having your kids in the "right" school at the age of 5 or face the prospect of them "failing" in life. Kid have a chance to be kids, and by the time they leave school at 18 are consistently at or near the top of every international literacy and numeracy comparison I've ever seen, and are generally nice young people too. Most of the potential problems come in trying to match up the levels of existing kids further into their schooling as they go one way or the other across the atlantic.

They are called Elementary schools here. Here in our part of Alberta, children can enter Kindergarten in September as long as they turn 5 before the following March.

For example, my son can go in Sept 08 as he turns 5 in October. (Only half days here for Kindergarten though, but some schools offer full days) Some kids may be as young as 4 1/2 if they don't turn 5 until Feb/Mar.

Schools here are more informal. No uniforms. Slower to get going academically I find. Your 6 yr old may find he is repeating the basics again.

On the whole, our schooling experience has been very nice. My 8 yr old is happy, likes school. The Mums are all very friendly and welcoming and the English accent makes them think I am very posh and intelligent !! (hee hee)

I wouldn't worry too much, you'll all be fine.

When we landed our children were 7 & 2 years old. Our 7 year old daughter started Grade 3 in the local elementary school within 3 days of landing and loved it from day 1. 3 weeks after landing it was her 8th birthday and she asked if she could have a birthday tea, we could not believe how many kids wanted to come and 5 months later they are all still good friends - our daughter has also picked up the Canadian accent !

Our 2 year old son started nursery 2 1/2 hours, 3 times a week once he turned 3 in December. He loves it. He starts JK in September (Mondays & Wednesdays and then each alternate Friday) and he can't wait to get on the school bus with his sister.

We had our reservations with schooling but our daughter has never been happier. In UK she went to private school as we felt that the local schools were not up to scratch - she was under a lot of pressure with the SATS and competitive, pushy parents however here she is much more relaxed and her school work has improved dramatically.

I have two boys grade 7 and grade 3. I have just finished reading their school report. Can anyone translate for me. The teachers must feel they have to use a different language to get their point across. I will now have to sit with a dictionary and try to work out if we need to lock them in their rooms for ever or celebrate with a tims cookie.
Ok, Tims it is....
My two have never looked back since starting here, and confidence has increased with every year.
There, I can say something positive about living here.

Our son was 7 when we moved here in August 2007 and had finished Year 2 and his first SATs in the UK. When we moved here we met with the School Principal and Guidance Counsellor and discussed his options. We could have placed him in Year 2 with his age and social group or Year 3 with his academic group. In the end we went for Grade 2 and he hasn't looked back.

His teacher and the GC were very helpful and supportive, especially during the first term and he has settled very well. He has received two report cards already and while he is ahead with the basics, his other work is up to par and I guess the geography, social studies etc are different enough to keep him interested. He has made a load of new friends and one other thing we really like - if a class mate has a birthday party they have to either invite the whole class or no one at all; no one feels left out.

I'm sure they will be welcomed by the school

Not sure where you might be heading, but we put a 7 yr old into Gr 2 and a 9 yr old into Gr 4 last year. Both were made to feel very welcome, a very friendly but extremely relaxed informal attitude (which was a bit hard to get used to, to be honest) and lots of new friends.

Kids that have already done any UK schooling will very likely repeat work here. I feel the curriculum is virtually the same, but just run approx one year later (at the same age).

Our 7 yr old (now 8) is thriving - did wonders for her self-confidence and coming out of a bit of shyness and enjoys her work very much. Repeating some work was not an issue, and was helpful in many ways.

The 9 yr old (now 10) was bored stupid for about the first 5 months - and to be honest we were really worried about her ! But this last month or so, the work seems to have 'caught' up with her and she feels interested and challenged again. Her reports cards are excellent.

They both have a good circle of friends - really nice kids - and you, as the parent, slowly get to meet the various parents as they all swap playdates and sleepovers! However, due to the school bus routine here, you do not get to stand in the playground gassing with all the other mum's !

But, just to contradict myself slightly - with the young ones at kindergarten, you will meet the other mum's in the school grounds 'cos they only do short days and usually the parents do the dropping off and/or picking up !

Thanks for all your replies it has set my mind at rest, that is untill the next question pops up!