Nishama

Hi again,
I have another question. In Australia the school year starts in January and finishes in December. In Canada the school year starts in September and ends in July. We were planing to move to Edmonton after the winter around March next year. My daughter is in grade 4 now. (Born June 2002) but if we move in March in Canada the children will be already 6 months ahead because they started grade 5 in September. Now the questions are,

Is not good to move in March ? If so when do you recommend ?
Will she have to stay in grade 4 again ? (We are not happy to do that)
Do normally schools only go according to DOB ?

Please share your experiences. I am pretty sure some parents in the forum can advice us some thing.

Thanks a lot

Novocastrian

In the long term (weeks not years) it makes not one iota of difference.

Stop stressing.

London Mike

If your child is born in June, it really doesn't matter - they'll be mid age-range for their class group and can either catch-up quickly or won't be too far advanced. Kids enter grade 1 according to the calendar year they turn 6 (in Ontario at least). So this acaemic year, your child would be in grade 5 here.

comet555

She will most likely be put in the grade according to DOB, so judging by her birthday she should be in grade 5 right now. You'd have to check where you are moving because in Ontario the cut off is Dec 31st.

For example my daughter is started grade 4 this September and her birthday was Dec 2003. Your daughter is born in 2002 so she should be in grade 5 right now, think you've sorted this out already though!

We made a similar move to you from Australia to Canada when she was in grade 1. We timed the move so that we arrived in the summer months (July/August) and then started the year with her class mates in September. She started grade 1 in Australia in Jan/Feb, did half the year and then started grade 2 in September. She adjusted with no issues, although it helped that I told them of the move a year in advance so they were letting her work ahead to get ready for the skip.

Ideally the best time to move would be so that she could start the new grade with her peers rather than jumping in part way. It's not always possible to do it that way so if you're planning a move in March then I would just look at the curriculum in Alberta and then try and catch her up to where she should be. If you work with her before hand then it'll have ease the transition and give you a stronger case (if needed) that she should stay with her age group.

Oink

Coming from an Australian school she'll be put with her age peers here unless you have substantial reasons not for her to do this. Call the local school district and they'll help you.

Kaye5

Our 3 kids have moved "back" and "forward" grades several times on moving between the Scottish and English systems.

When/if we move to Canada, two will stay in the same year and one will move "back" a year (he is in the 2nd year of high school - he will do the 2nd year of high school again from September 2013).

From our experience, the kids adapt fine. Our daughter was a little ahead in the first few months from moving England to Scotland, as she repeated a year, but they soon level out. However, my son moved "forwards" a year - and this caused problems as the school failed to recognise that he had missed a whole year of the English school curriculum (despite knowing his background) - this was in the final year of primary school however, so he had no time to catch up. He was being given revision for exams on topics he had never studied.

We have also enquired with a Canadian school - the answer was that they will keep them in the correct year group by age, irrespective of where they were in their previous school - so I cannot see her being kept back a year. We also asked if our eldest son would be kept back, as he won't do the Canadian grade 10 - the answer was no, he would have to catch up credits throughout Grades 11 and 12 (or receive credits for Scottish examinations), but it may mean staying on another 6 months to get enough credits to graduate (but this would be in Grade 12).

Certainly at grade 5 level, I doubt this would be an issue as she has a long way to go before graduation.

Don't worry about it!

Snowvolks

Hi,

I am a teacher from Edmonton and have lived in Australia for 1 yr now with my 3 children. They started school third week of the last term when we arrived. Your daughter will be finE whenever she starts. The cut off date though is March 1st in Edmonton Alberta not in October. So yes she will be placed in yr 3. From my experience as a teacher and parent this will be best for her as it will give her a chance to adjust and familiarize with her new surroundings. Don't worry about it she will be fine.

gryphea

Not sure how she would be in yr 3?

My son, born Sept 2002 is firmly in grade 5. Someone born in June 2002 would sit in the middle of the age cohort for gr 5, possibly slightly older than average.

Snowvolks

Sorry I read born in 2004 not 2002. To my knowledge the Edmonton schools cut off is March 1st; if they arrive in March 2013 the child will be in yr 5. The child will be fine. If it becomes a big deal for the parent it will probably become a big deal for the child. Like someone else said does it really matter in the long run?

Nishama

Hi Everyone,
We can not thank enough to each person for the valuable posts and your time. We do appreciate it so much. It makes the move more comfortable. You feel strong when you have such a nice team to support.

We learnt few new things and one was the cut off time March 1st. It's true repating a class is not too bad in the long run but we would like to avoid it if possible. We will plan to move in the beginning of February. We have not confirmed the flights yet. But need to do ASAP. Then we will have a month to look around to find a school. My work place will be in south Edmonton. So we will try to find a school and a home not too far from work. We will try our best to find a school in a walking distance from home. I read public schools are very good in Edmonton. So it should not be too hard.

Again, thank you all for all the replies. I still like to hear more inputs if you have.
Thank you.

gryphea

The cut off time refers to the birthday, not to some magic time after whcih you can't register or have to repeat. If she showed up in April or may they would still let her into grade 5

Nishama

Thanks for the clarification. Anyway we thought earlier the better. At least it reduces the gap.
Thanks again.

Nishama

Thank you so much for explaining everything in details. Appreciate it a lot.

Oink

I agree. Although nobody from a developed country moves to Canada for the education, rarely does anybody leave because of it.

ann m

You shouldn't need a month to find a school..Your kids will go to the local school for where you live. So unless you have very specific needs for a particular education, religion, etc, and you are happy and able to drive them in each day and pick them up, your kids can probably start school a week after you arrive.