Hi,

I know some of you out there in Blighty will be looking at websites for the various schools in your intended destination and thinking 'OH God what are these school fees?' I did the same. Well I have just been writing out the cheques. My daughter has just gone up to Middle School (grade 6). I have had to pay:
$50.00 for the upkeep of the bus, text books and supplies
$7.00 (optional) for her agenda - if you pay the money it goes towards fundraising.
$4.00 for new student binder.
$25.00 for Band - that was her option - other options are between $15-$20 per semester (3 semesters).

I have also paid $15 for a school t.shirt for gym - optional and $13 for a band camp thingy for an afternoon. If this school is anything like her Elementary then there won't be begging letters throughout the year like her UK schools liked to send out - hope this puts some of you folkses minds at rest. Night Night - off to bed now!

Oh Before I go - I also have had to supply paper, pens, pencils, geometry set and basic scientific calculater ($6 from Wally world) and other school paraphenalia.

Another fine example of Ralph Klein's "Alberta Advantage".

My son (aged 15) registered at his senior high last week. I wrote a cheque for $230 for the year, broken down as follows:

Mandatory fees:
Instructional resource fee .............. $132.00
Refundable security deposit ........... 50.00

Elective fees:

Lock and locker rental .................. 10.00
ID Cards ................................... 5.00
Technology ................................ 3.00 (these three are "highly recommended"!)
Yearbook (optional) ..................... 30.00 (Of course I want a yearbook!)

He also will need to buy gym kit (not sure how much that is yet), and the usual writing implements and binders etc ..... On top of that we will probably have to get a monthly bus pass at $47 (of which we can claim $15 back as he lives more than 2.4 km from the school.

In Calgary they are running a campaign asking people to fill a backpack with schooly items and hand it in to Sleep Country Canada (I think) for needy Calgarian kids. Quite a good idea!

They will accept post-dated cheques for the annual fees, but they have to be paid in full by the end of December I think.

Just got our daughters school bill. £6000 a term! Good old UK. And that doesnt include music, sundries etc. Mind you, its our choice.

I haven't looked into private school fees here at all.

I wasnt aware of any formal fees here in Ontario, but I am expecting a lot of formal fund raising, which is the next best thing.

I have, just now, and just out of curiosity (see thread about starting school and my disappointment at the class size in the local school).

It seems that the independent schools around here START at around $17,000 per year and that's before all the other add-ons!!!

Maybe there are others less grand, I don't know, but that seemed to be the standard.

Snowqueen

Your right...we've only been here for 2 terms....i've lost count of how many fund raising events we have had....seems like one every couple of weeks :scared:

Rgds
Mans

Our kids are in private school in calgary. there are 12 children in their class and it has cost us just over $8500 for the year

Is that per child?

No, its for 2 children- kindergarden and Grade 2, although the uniforms they needed cost nearly that again

My youngest starts high school tomorrow and I've spent over £300 on uniform, £40 on shoes, £10 for a bag and over £9 on supplies. She doesn't go to private or a grammer school. I know that by December I will probably have spent at least another £150 on school fund, trips, additional items like scientific calculator etc as my other daughter is three years older and in the same school. Then next year she will be offered opportunities to go to France for the day and trips to the theatre etc which will probably cost another few hundred. Although technically these trips are optional they are linked to the curriculum and the work she will be doing in school. If they were to go to school by bus it would cost another £10 each per week for a bus pass as they are charged full fare, no matter what there age, in the morning until 9.30 (bit of a con there if you ask me!).

To be honest I hadn't really thought about it in total until reading this thread.

Class sizes are about 33, lots of supply teachers who don't always specialise in the subject they are teaching and the usual attitude at parents evening - "She so polite and well behaved". In other words she doesn't cause problems, isn't overly loud so I don't really know her that well!!!!!

Once they start GCSE's they have really gifted educators who manage to get to know them well. Of course I'm not cynical enough to think this is because high scores improve the Schools Value Added achievement.

Oh, by the way, I started off working in a main stream school. I do understand the pressure schools in the UK are under to perform well on minimal budgets, it just the whole system here that ticks me off. So if we do get to Calgary and I pay more for the girls education I won't mind so much if its worth it. So is it?

I've got four of my five children in school in BC. Public (state) school supplies such as binders, paper & pens etc. for all four cost just over $450 this year. School fees for Band, gym, agenda's etc for two $275; fees for the younger two in Catholic school per year just over $3700. Other charges amount to just over $400 a year. Cheaper than the UK I expect, but questionable education standards in the public schools in my school district are (for me) a cause for concern.

That is really inexpensive, even for a private school here in Canada. Even $8500 for one child is not expensive.
We sent our children to private schools too because the curriculum was broader and a higher standard so that if we returned to the UK they would not be behind at the high school age. Fortunately they did the IB programme and it was worth every penny. Though I do believe there are some public schools that provide the IB programme now.

What do you mean? Are the school standards in Canada not as good as UK - I mean, standard to standard not private or independent... and what is an IB programme?