Thanks for the reply,karma sent.
Had not thought about the age thing in future years! mind you she does have older friends here. I was just thinking about the fact that she is in grammer school here but will end up repeating a year. Have looked on the internet at the George Bonner middle school. ANyone have any good/bad comments about this school?

Hi this may have already been answered, sorry if it has!! What is the normal age for children to start school? Is it the same as UK? My daughter is 3 and a half and due to start nursery at the school this sept and then proper school next sept so would be 4 and a half? Will this be the same when in Canada?

Can't help as all i know is that the school years are a year behind ours age wise.

People start school here (Kindergarten) at 5 years old. Or they turn 5 generally before the February, or turn 6 after March. I was 4 when I started Kindergarten, and I turned 5 in the December.

Where is "here"??

My eldest daughter is still only 3, wont be 4 till November. She start JK in Ontario in 3 weeks.

Exactly - that's JK (Junior Kindergarten) right? Which is what I said. She will be five in the November of regular Kindergarten.

"here" is Victoria.

Again it is very confusing for Brits coming to Canada with children- education systems are different in each province and then there are also the local school board influence and control. I think the only national standard is Grade 1 to Grade 12 and even the age cut off dates are different. Kindergarten in Alberta is not compulsory and it is only half a day. However, in Nova Scotia there is no kindergarten year it is a Primary year and it is compulsory- the birth dates are different March 1 in Alberta, December 31 prior in Nova Scotia.

If I remember- half day/full time depends on school board I think- one of mine went full time that is 9am to 3 pm. Didn't go with the Alberta Public Schools kindergarten because our children would have been almost 2 years behind their cousins back in the UK and I did not want them to be behind if, and when, we ever returned to the UK. The age date has changed though and now the kids would only be 1 year behind- that is a good thing- I couldn't believe that my kids were still in nursery school at the age of 5 back then and 6 in Kindergarten.

Kindergarten in Alberta, from our experience, was only an extension of the nursery school programmes and if your kids are going to a good nursery school then a non-compulsory kindergarten year may be a waste of time. The Nova Scotia compulsory Primary year was like the British system and really is the same as Grade I in Alberta.

Don't have any other personal knowledge of elementary schools - but there are plenty of websites for each school board to check out and will give you up to date information

Yes, but she will be 4 when she starts Kindergarten, and 3 when she starts what she is calling "Big School", so she will be 3 when she enters the school board system here, although most of the kids will be 4.

AFAIK there is no legal requirement to start schooling till grade 1 anyway.(which in this area would begin in Sepember of the calendar year you turn 6)

Right...but that's what I said - if they're not 5 already they will normally turn five during the year - before february - which your child does (Nov). I did as well (December). or they are 5 to begin with and they turn 6 after march - generally speaking

I have friends who turned 5 in April, and May.

In Montreal they have to be 5 BEFORE they start kindergarten so my son who turns 5 in November won't enter kindergarten until next august.

Same here, there is no legal requirement for them to start before grade 1 so in our case he would be almost 7 before entering the school system!!!

Eh? You said ...
I guess its not that important, 3, 5 whatever. At three we are a bit more worried about how exactly she is going to handle wiping her own bum at school than we would be at 5. Apart from that though shes raring to go.

In Victoria/Vancouver Island it's generally accepted that children start school at 5 years old. Your child will be turning five in the November....which is what i said "Or they turn 5 generally before the February". At some point during the school year, the kid will be five. generally speaking - there are exceptions to everything.

There are 10 months in the school year, which mean's that the majority of birthdays are going to happen within that time, meaning that there are people who are obviously going to be starting school at four (here) - of which i'm referring to Kindergarten (as previously insinuated by brackets).

If your child turned 5 in november that's still means that the majority of the school year she is 5. She's starting junior kindergarten this year at 3 which makes sense. How about this (since all provinces have grade 1)...most children are 6 in grade one...at one point or another.