I am also in the same boat as you are. I am planning to move canada with my kids who go to elementary here in USA. When I called the school their, I found that my kid who is in 3rd grade here in USA, is actually a year behind according to them so. If I go their in May after completeing the term here, as it ends in may here and june in canada. They will acess him for 1 month and and then they will admit in 5th grade . So I think kids start school earlier than age 5 in canada. As in USA they take 5year kid in Kindergarten.
But now my worry is how do they access him. Shall i take report card to school and let them know he was in 3rd grade or just tell them the age of kid and let them admit in 5th grade. Shall i start with last month of school over their or start sending them after summer vacation like in september.

Just speaking from experience. It will have cost me $20,000 in the last 18 months just on realtors fees. God that sounds a lot when you put it down on paper.

Not a bad idea, but I'd check out the 'good' part of it and also the hidden costs of renting. No expert on the subject but I bet there's plenty of people on here who do have the knowledge.

I wasn't really counting kindergarten, but in Alberta, children will start in grade 1 if they are 6 years of age by September 1st. Kindergarten, where it is offered, is not compulsory I believe.

http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/parents/handbooks/

Other provinces may differ. My apologies if anyone feels I am providing mis-information. I think I may just let people find their own from now on. I am fed up with being jumped on.

In any case, a simple telephone call to a prospective school would clarify the matter.

I didn't migrate in the international sense as a Canadian kid but my family moved a lot and moving from one province or territory to another, education wise, is similar to moving to another country. I went to school in Ontario, the Yukon, Alberta and BC as a kid and yeah they were all very different education systems BUT my family normalised it. I had no idea until I looked back on it as an adult that my formal education was disrupted several times but it never felt like it was - while I was growing up everything was A-OK because my parents didn't make a big deal of moving about (because it really was and still isn't seen as a big deal in my family). One of my friends has lived in the same house since she was born; nearly 40 years! -- I personally see that as very weird!

I guess my point is - you don't have to make a big deal of it. I went to eight different schools, in four different provinces/territories during my K-12 and I turned out ok .

In most provinces, kids go into JK at 4, SK at 5 (JK and SK are half days only) and Grade 1 at 6. I don't think the atlantic provinces have Kindergarten. They have Primary and then Grade 1 etc. I'm sure some one will correct me if I'm wrong. That is what I can remember from when we were considering moving to Halifax. It was certainly a different type of set up to the rest of Canada.

Chris

hmmmmmm........!

In Atlantic Canada junior and senior kindergarten does not exist. It is simply called kindergarten or primary (the terms are used interchangeably). Children enter kindergarten/primary at age 5, then grade 1 at age 6, etc.

Morwenna, I did not intend to come across as jumping on you, sorry if I did. I was born and raised in Canada and had honestly never heard of a province where kids started school at age 6 instead of 5, and wondered where you and the original poster had gotten that information.

Mom?.....

In Quebec children have to be in grade 1 at age 6 although most of them start at 5 in kindergarten. The cut-off date is 30th September.

Look carefully at the curriculum of the school though as the 1st school our daughter attended at 5 so in kindergarten was doing stuff she had done at age 3 in a state nursery in UK. She was therefore very bored and very unhappy and the school board would not allow her to move up a grade. We had to send her to a private school with an advanced curriculum which would allow her to go up a year in order for her to be happy.

We are therefore worse off here than in UK as we are now paying private school fees which we weren't in UK.

Just some food for thought!

Canada is such a VAST country, as you know of course, and the provinces run themselves so independently in all sorts of respects. Even if one is Canadian, one might not have really looked at the differences unless one had either moved between provinces or considered doing so.

I have spoken to people in Toronto who did not really seem to know where Calgary (or indeed Alberta is)!!! Sometimes somebody who is researching different parts of the country with a view to choosing where to live may have a better insight into certain aspects than even somebody who originates from that country. Eh?

The OP is looking at Calgary area schooling anyway. I accept your apology but I am feeling grumpy and edgy today anyway; it's not just your post ....it's over a year since my AOR and people with my timeline are beginning to get news ...... sorry

That's because they are easterners...I wouldn't expect any different


Hope you get some good news very very soon!!!

Thanks for your advice and information everyone. It has been a great help.

I will look into renting and compare it to buying a condo with "good" rental potential - once I find out what "good" amounts to.

I will probably try to move the best time to suit the kid and probably avoid putting him in to school until we're settled, (unless of course we start running into our eighth month), especially if the local school confirms he will be at least a year ahead.

I don't want him to be the new kid twice - some kids respond well to change, some don't. My first certainly does not. My 2nd is as laid back and chilled out as you like and if he were of school age we could move daily for all he cared.

I was more concerned with the official side of sending kids to school. Wouldn't want to be deported for not abiding by the legal system!!! Not too bothered about the Kindergarten age as this is usually not mandatory - and appears to be the same in Calgary. Phew!

Don't stop the advice ANYONE pleeeeeease, even if people respond with something that might offend. Afterall, everyone should know, including me, that forums are really more about getting opinions and personal experience. All information should be checked with relevant organisations. Unless of course we're hearing from the likes of Mr Miller et al. I admit I was being lazy, no, impatient and thought I'd get a quicker response talking to you guys than calling a school in Calgary. And I did. Thank you!

My anniversary since our AOR is this Friday and my veins are filling with itching powder. Also, just had "neighbours from hell" move in next door, playing "bashment" and screeching about what "Shaniqua did to Asha and when his baby-mother got banged up for GBH because she found out that Unique was best-friends with Kaneeshka!"


I'M NOT A CITIZEN!! GET ME OUTTA HERE!

Thanks again everyone!!!

In Calgary the cut off date for school admission is 28 Feb. If your child is five by the Feb in the middle of the school year he can start Kindergarten the previous september.

If he is six by the feb in the middle of the school year he MUST start school the previous September.

This means some children are five when they start and some are four.

The complication with Calgarian schooling comes from the "right to hold your child back for an extra year". Children with birthdays in the Nov - Feb range have the "right" not to attend school for an extra year. My initial thought was that these held back children would go straight into grade 1 - but no - they have the right to go to kindergarten a year late. The effect of this is that every class has a two year spread of ages in the room. Your split years have a three year spread of ages. My son started grade three at 7 but is in the class with children who are 9 as they were held back for that extra year. Some of the grade 2s are older than my grade three child.

If your child is past grade one already he will be given a test by the CBE to establish the correct placement.

Hope this helps.

Mrs G

Good grief....these local rules!!

....Just goes to show ............ something or other.

Wow! Brain hurts! That IS complicated! I suppose I just have to get there and see what the outcome of the test is. But it does help to know. At least I can plan around it.

Thanks!!!

Leila