Hi all looking for a bit of expat knowledge, we have secured a property in Oakville ready for us arriving in June, the school our children will go to is steps away which is perfect. I've looked on line to try and find out if we get in touch with the school to secure a place or if we get in touch with the district school board but cannot seem to find the answer can anyone shed any light on this. Any advice appreciated thanks.

As far as I know (ie, if things are the same in Ontario as here in BC) ....

you contact the local school board, they will require that your children be tested to determine the level of education compared with here. This is where they may decide to advance the child a grade and you have to decide whether to keep them with their age group.

The school board largely determines which school your children will go to depending on the school's position relative to your house, but also on whether the school has a space. It may be that you do get to send your children to the nearest school

You do realise that the school year in most places in Canada ends in mid- to late June ............. so the chance of your children being placed and attending school before the end of the year is quite low. Here in BC, school is basically out by June 15, in Nova Scotia it is usually June 28/29

Look for the District School Board - there will be a registration form for you to complete.

https://www.hdsb.ca/parents/Pages/Re...or-School.aspx

If you don't have PR status (or Citizenship) your child will usually need a Visitor Record - you can obtain one for free at the border when arriving in Canada.

Hi thanks was hoping to contact them before we came over just to give them a heads up of our situation. My 2 will go into Elementary as I would prefer them to stay in age group daughter is in yr 8 here and son yr 4.

Thanks we will take a look and get things moving (the best we can) before we move.

Have a look here: Education - Halton Region

There's two school boards in Halton region, HDSB (Halton District School Board) and HCDSB (Halton Catholic District School Board). Can be a little confusing sometimes!

Here's the registration link for HCDSB https://www.hcdsb.org/Parents/Tax/Pa...to-Canada.aspx and HDSB https://www.hdsb.ca/parents/Pages/Re...or-School.aspx

When we moved to Oakville (some years ago now). I spoke to the school prior to arrival so they had a heads up that the boys would be attending. We came in August so just before the start of the new year in September there was a registration day at the school and we went then and filled out the forms. I had a conversation with Halton School Board a few years ago and they told me that if you live in the catchment then they will have to take your child into the school. You can just turn up with the kid on the first day of school with no warning whatsoever and the school has to take them (they will not be happy though so I don't recommend taking this approach).

I was interested to read that!

This certainly does not apply in many parts of BC .............. elementary schools in cities and towns are often so full that they cannot even take younger siblings, let alone newcomers to the catchment area. Schools in Surrey for example will have many portables and still be unable to take children. Most Vancouver elementary schools do not have portables, but parents find they have to take children to another school.

I'm now confused ............ how old are your children??

Year 8 here is usually either Middle School or High School, age 13/14 years old

Year 4 is Elementary, age 9/10

They are August babies so youngest in their Years over here.
​​​​​I am led to believe my daughter will be grade 8 (born 2005)
my son grade 4 (born 2009)
The school in the area we are moving to goes to grade 8.

When we moved here, we looked on the website for the school board, found out which school our kids would go to based on our address, then went into the school to register them. We didn't have to an appointment or even let them know we were coming in. The kids started school a few days later. It was a very easy process. In Ontario, they go into the class based on their year of birth. My December 2008 born twins are currently in Grade 4 and they are the youngest in their class. My 2007 born son is in Grade 5.

We moved to Ontario last summer. We emailed the principle of the school (found address on school website) and then registered the kids on the registration day just before school started.
There was no testing of the kids or discussion about which school, they go into the year group for their age and always get a place at the school for their catchment.
You can register at another school as an out-of-catchment pupil if the local school isn't the one you want them to go to, but that school has to have spaces available.