We are moving to Victoria in July and have children in Year 2 of the Uk system, which means that in September they will be going into Grade 2 in Canada, can anybody tell me if they will be way ahead of their peers and if so would it be advisable to put them into Grade 3?

The school will assess them and they will put them in the right grade but yes, it will probably be higher.

I live in Ontario so it may vary according to province, but a friend of mine asked for her son to be moved to a grade higher and his school wouldn't do it. The children are put into the grade according to the calendar year, not academic year, so they may end up in a grade higher anyway, depending on when their birthday is.

As it takes a while for them to settle in, also consider being in a grade lower than they may be academically gives them time to settle in without too much pressure. Also as they move through the school system, they could well end up in classes with kids one or two years older, so the social aspect is another consideration. In grade 11 a lot of kids will be driving, those bumped a year or two will not, which is good news for the parents, not so for the kids. They are also perhaps going to be 15/16 hanging out with 17/18 year olds and all they get up to. It may seem a long way off, believe me it's not. With kids around the days may seem long, but the years are short.

Once they get into grade 11 & 12 the pressure is quite high and the work load extensive. Is there anything to be gained from them being a year or two ahead, other than they may graduate a year or two younger?

Would agree with Surrey Expat. Our kids were academically ahead when we arrived but enjoyed the easier start to the school system, it gave them time to settle in and make friends. We also worried about moving our kids up a grade because of the issues Surrey Expat has pointed out and are pleased (and our kids are) that they have stayed with children their own age group.

Absolutely totally agree with you. We kept our eldest with his age group which meant grade 5 uk, grade 4 here for one term and then grade 5 again. He is very bright and could have coped moving up but did not want it.

Now he is 15 in grade 10 the pressure is on with work and he is so glad we kept him with people his own age.

Another observation, you move your child up a year, so they leave school at 17 instead of 18, they go to university and leave at 20 and go to work. They work till they are 60. So they have a 40 year pension instead of 39

One of the biggest observations that society say is that children are growing up too fast too soon, then parents go and put their children a grade higher to mix with older children.

Be well aware that if they are used to doing "more stimulating work" they can indeed become turned off. Believe me, they may be smaller class sizes and stuff, but the teachers dont want kids who are way above others, as then they are having to prepare work just for them etc. And I have direct experience of this, as have other people I know......... so be careful, and check your school out massively.

Spoken from bitter experience
Mrs M x

Depends very much on the child aswell. Both of mine are the oldest in their classes, and if born a few days earlier, would automatically have been put up a grade. D'oh!

My 10 year old has been bored silly at school since September - only a few of the classes were new or challenging. It's only in the last few weeks that she has been stimulated to learn again as the maths and literacy catches up with her. I agonised over whether to move her up - and for many of the reasons above, decided not to move her up with older kids. I am very glad we left her with her peers. I did feel we were lucky with her teacher though, who has proven to be so approachable, helpful and flexible with her methods.

My 8 year old has happily sailed along, just doing whatever is asked of her, repeating lots of stuff but couldn't care less; it's been easy-ish and I think that has boosted her confidence hugely.

I recall someone advising me at the time of my mini-trauma about the schooling, to just leave them where they were and let them settle in to school and to Canada. It seemed harsh to me at my sensitive moment! But there is definitely some merit in it. If your child is average to bright but repeating work, you can still do a lot of stuff to keep their interest and focus. However, if your child is extremely bright or super intelligent, then get them assessed and see what the Head says ..... best wishes

we were torn by this, being in the exact same situation. we recently had a parent/teacher evening and were pleased with the results. we kept our daughter (8) in grade 2 for her age when her ability could easily have put her in 3, some classed in 4. she has settled as she is with her age group, and yes repeated some work. However, there are plenty of things she has done which are new, some of these important projects which carry over from grade 2 to 3, so if she had started in 3 she would have been way behind.
i am sure your child will be ahead, as mine was, but i think it is important to remember that the age difference is very important to consider and the curriculum is different.

And more to the point every child is different, and I think it's crucial to let them have that settling in time, where their confidence builds. I don't regret keeping the wee fella in his class at all of the peers of the same age (I just regret not moving him from his old school sooner)....

If you are a switched on parent, you will do right by your child, we always do one way or another,

All the best and trust your instincts, they are never far wrong

Mrs Miggins x

Hi NMH:
I'm a high school teacher who was trained and tested in the UK. I work in Quebec where the HS system is slightly advanced compared to the BC education system, especially in the sciences (Quebec curriculum is comparable to that of Ontario).

As far as the junior grade system vs. the UK year system, the UK has an advantage over most Canadian provincial curricula - this is because the UK Key Stage 1&2 tend to be more aggressive and better defined (a better focus?) than most of the provincial education approaches used in 2008. I'm not an expert in the junior fields - but have friends who teach at those levels, etc. I suggest you place your children in one grade higher than their current year (i.e. 1 -> 2 , etc.) .

That said, the high school systems are quite different, and currently the provincial education systems in Canada appear to have a serious qualitative edge over the UK GCSE system - which is bordering upon disaster. Many pupils in the UK are not meeting minimum requirements established in the National Curriculm, especially at Key Stages 3&4 (ages 11-16). The GCSE system needs a close examination as the success rate is very high - sounds good? Nope. The standards for success in the UK have been severely dropped since 1992 allowing more students to attend university - in short order, a political move to cook the books and raise the university attendance rates for the UK (looks great on paper). Almost all Canadian provinces have raised the difficulty levels for high school leaving - and increased the specific content in the important courses (core languages, sciences and math). This has led to an increase of students attending university in Canada and graduating (not just enrolling and attending). It may seem a case of comparing apples with oranges, but when you have a fast growing and well managed country like Canada, and a faded flag nation, like the UK, it makes sense. I don't use stats to back up my point, but you can easily find the per-capita spending for Canada vs. the UK (last I checked Canada spent 15% of it's GNP as compared to the UK's 5.5% in 2006-07).

My advise: go with grade 3 and offer your children all the love and moral support you can offer once you have moved - it's going to be very hard on them for a while. Good luck.

As someone already said it depends so much on the child.

Our daughter at age 5 went into grade 1 rather than kindergarten when we arrived here and it was definitely the right decision for her then as it still is now even if some of her classmates are nearly 2 years older than her.

I don't mean to divert the topic of the thread, but carrying on from what dthomas said, it sounds as though high schools in Canada are more challenging than those in England. Is that correct? A friend of mine was told by UK universities that her daughter would have to do an extra year because she was educated here in Canada. That doesn't make sense does it?

Given that, does anyone know how the private schools compare against the public schools here? Are you paying for bells and whistles or is the standard of education much higher in the private sector. I'd be interested if anyone has any thoughts.

Canadian HS leaving (grade 12 all provinces; or 1st year CEGEP in QC) is acceptable by all UK established universities. Nobody need complete an "extra year" for entry.

Private school education in Canada is generally better than public, but they can be exorbitantly expensive; private schools are usually "better" mainly because of smaller class size (student to teacher ration of 1:10 elem and 1:20 HS is decent), less discipline problems (private school problem kids are BOOTED!), better funding, and better facilities/upkeep, etc. If I had the choice ($$$) I would send my kids private.

However; there are some excellent public schools throughout Canada. Word of mouth is usually the best method to litmus test most schools; other means of comparison do exist . . .

I have looked at private schools in Canada and although we have decided to send our children to public school it was not about the cost. You may think that private schools are expensive, but they are about half the cost of private schools in the UK.