shrekpatel

I need some help in identifying which school type should my son attend; One day we will return to the UK (Secondary school), and wanted to know how parents have felt about public schools, we live in Somerset, and so registered for grade 1 at Somerset school;

I am a great believer that a strong education will support you in the future for a job, more so private schools tend to be more disciplined in their approach;

I noticed there is Private schools, TLC's, and then Public; Can someone assist me on this problem; Is a TLC like Lei Roy Daniels good? and also how is Somerset School?

Thanks

Judy in Calgary

Lots of people don't know what abbreviations stand for. I assume that, by TLC, you mean Traditional Learning Centre.

For the benefit of everyone else, the TLCs are public (meaning government-funded) schools in Calgary, but they specialize in a traditional approach to teaching .

LeRoi Daniels School is a TLC that is located at 47 Fyffe Road SE, and that serves children from kindergarten to grade four in Areas IV and V. Here is a map of Calgary's School Areas.

I know nothing about LeRoi Daniels School. This is the first time I've heard of it. I might note that it is located in Fairview, which is a modest residential neighbourhood close to commercial / industrial zones. That in itself wouldn't bother me so much. A couple of things that you may experience as challenges are the fact that the school is located rather far from Somerset (although I suppose bussing would be provided) and the fact that Areas IV and V are huge and that your child probably will make friends with children who live far away (which makes it more complicated to shuttle little people to birthday parties, sleep overs, etc.).

I've heard of Somerset School, but haven't really heard anything about it that is of particular note (that is, neither good nor bad). Somerset is a nice area, so my intuitive guess is that it has a nice school.

Although LeRoi Daniels is a TLC, it is part of the regular public school system. The schools that some people regard as falling somewhere between public and private schools are charter schools.

Like public schools, charter schools are essentially tuition-free. However, they operate according to their own independent charters, so in that sense they are set apart from the regular public schools. Also, I believe that most of them, if not all of them, have school uniforms, which is something that would help your child to prepare for the UK.

The charter school that operates on a traditional model is Foundations for the Future Academy. It is located on Heritage Drive, near the intersection with Macleod Trail, and is only a few blocks from LeRoi Daniels.

The BE Wiki article on Calgary Schooling lists all of the private schools in and around Calgary, provides hotlinks to their websites, and provides brief statements describing what the focus of each school is.

When it comes to both public and private schools, you may want to check their rankings according to the Fraser Institute's School Report Cards. You would be shocked at some of the private schools. Some of them score very well on the Fraser Institute's list, and some of them score surprisingly poorly, worse than the average public school. And they cost an arm and a leg on top of it.

The article on Calgary Schooling, which I mentioned before, has more information about the area's schools.

Hope that helps.

Edna Bucket

In the UK 'private' schools and 'public' schools are both fee paying. If you want to use the ordinary non-fee paying schools they are usually referred to as 'state' schools.

Novocastrian

Sorry to do this, but the pedant/New Canadian in me is coming out.

I am a great believer that a strong education will support you in the future for a job, more so private schools tend to be more disciplined in their approach;


Is education's only goal to support you for a job?

The clause following the comma is conjecture (and ungrammatical).

I noticed there is Private schools, TLC's, and then Public;

That'd be "are". Also, no semi-colon.

Now, I'll editorialize: public schools in Canada are just fine. People who send their kiddies elsewhere are mostly either misguided or religious misfits, or both. Education begins at home.

gryphea

Our son will go into public school kindergarten in Calgary when we arrive in October. We are likely to go back to UK for secondary education too. Did you go around Somerset? What were your views on it? Did you like it , did you like the head? I have a feeling one of our posters has a child at that school, he may reply.

To me it sounds like you want a very traditional learning format, one that is very much tutor led and gives children few educational freedoms. This is pretty much at the opposite end of the spectrum from what I would wish for my children, but I do understand that some people want it and I think its brilliant the way that the Calgary system can theoretcially offer choices. You need to read all Judy's wiki links, and suggest you try the traditional learning schools and there is also a charter school that may suit. Chances are that these, along with any private school you consider, will be full though - but you might get lucky. I went around one private school that may suit you, although not altogether convienient for you, River Valley School. I think it may closely match your educational philosophy.

I did briefly consider private schooling, more because it would have sorted childcare issues out for my work, but I think its probably not necessary. In UK private may buy you smaller class size, in Calgary you have that anyway! The private schools are all new, unlike UK ones, so they do not have the endowed history and hence facilities of UK ones. In other words their physical facilites are pretty much the same or marginally better than the state ones in Calgary. etc etc. I suspect the Calagary private schools are stuffed full of expats as it appears the Calgarian philosophy is that the public system is fine. From what I saw, 4 public schools, it was fine


Gryph

gryphea

PS

Some people seem to experience that upon coming to canada from UK their children are ahead of canadian children so I guess the question 'will my child be behind when I take them back to the UK?' is a valid one.

I think for me the answer may be 'he/she might be but they will catch up due to having acquired the foundations for learning , through enquiry based learning, rather than through pure curriculum knowledge'. I think if you give children the right tools, an enthusiasm for school and set up the right home culture, that when they return back to UK at 10/11 , it won't matter what they have covered, more that they have acquired the right learning tools. To me a traditional approach doesn't set them up as life-long learners OR give them enthusiasm, but each to their own.

This is my current thinking/stance- but I have selected schools I think will support this..

Gryph

gryphea

Completely forgot. I have met the new head of Somerset school, she has just transferred from another school and is fabulous (that said she is not a traditionalist by any stretch of the imagination).

Gryph

oxon5

Can anyone shed any light on the 'state' vs 'Catholic' schools - particularly in Ontario. I know that both are state funded but is one 'system' better than the other. Are there any real differences apart from the title?

Kevin

Novocastrian

The Catholic kids mix a little incense with their ganja.

dingbat

That's OK. We get them to reconcile afterward and all is well.

dbd33

It's not so simple. There are four state funded school systems in Ontario. As well as those mentioned there is the French Ganja system and the French Ganja and Incense system. Both of these blend in garlic.

Judy in Calgary

I'm in Calgary, Alberta, not in Ontario. But, since my children attended both Catholic and public schools in Calgary, I feel qualified to comment (at least on my family's experience).

We found both of Calgary's school systems to be good, and we were happy with them. We thought they were pretty similar to each other.

The Catholic school's curriculum included some religious instruction, whereas the public school's curriculum did not.

The Catholic school was slightly more oriented towards philanthropy (collecting money for poor people). However, that ethic was not absent from the public school either. For example, at both the Catholic and public schools, the kids were invited to collect money for UNICEF at Halloween. But, in both cases it was voluntary, and was not forced on the kids.

Our family was very lucky, and our kids had very dedicated teachers throughout their schooling in Calgary.

Anyway, to answer your original question, we found little difference between the separate (Catholic) and public school systems in Calgary.

iaink

God is present in the Catholic board schools..prayers and readings in the morning, occasional church services, etc. Chatechism might be covered?

Rumour has is the catholic schools are a little more disciplined, dont know if thats true or just a stereotype. Catholic Senior schools usually have uniforms.

In terms of educational results, some people seem to thing the catholic schools do better (but there is not much in it), and rumour has it that a lot of kids from non practicing christian families have the catholic trappings thrust upon them for that reason. Poor buggers, doesnt seem worth it to me.

dbd33

It may be worth it if your child has "special needs". The Catholic boards are allocated funds in proportion to the Other ones according to the number or pupils, this goes for regular funding and special ed. funding. In the years of interest to me, that is the past fifteen or so, there has been an amomaly whereby the Other and English Catholic boards have been short of funding for special ed. whereas the French Catholic board has not had enough disabled students to use up the money. Thus it only made sense to declare a non-verbal non-sentient child legally francophone and Catholic; the religion couldn't harm her and the dedicated staff and facilities could benefit her.

In less specific cases the difference between boards is less clear cut. If I had it do again I expect I'd lie about religion again but I don't think choosing a Catholic school proved as important as choosing a Bac school.

destinationnovascotia

Does anyone know if there is something like the Fraser Institute report cards for schools in Nova Scotia? I cannot appear to find any info remotely like this for that province.