I just wondering if anyone can give me any personal experiences of Schools in Alberta?

I know the school system varies from Province to Province, but Alberta seems to have one of the better ones. For instance in international tests conducted by the Office for Economic Cooporation and Develpement Alberta's students of secondary school age were coming third and fourth for subjects such as Maths, English and Science. Students from England and Wales were around 19th to 24th or so I drop from 10th in 2002.

Statistics no doubt have their uses but I know it's dangerous to take them on face value. One of mine, and my wife's main concerns about life in the UK (apart from the sworing crime-rate) is the poor standards in the state education system and it's continuing politicalisation.

I'm particularly intersested in primary schools because our little girl starts school next year.

So if you're an parent with kids in school or maybe even a teacher how do you find the schools?

Is the curriculum good? Is the standard of teaching high? Is there discipline in the classroom? Are things any better or even worse than the UK, or is there very little to chose between them?

Thanks to all in advance...

This topic comes up around here with a certain degree of regularity.

Here is a recent thread called Does anyone have experience of secondary school in Canada?. Yes, I know you asked about Alberta and you mostly were interested in elementary school, and the thread to which I've provided a link is about high schools and about the whole of Canada. But it will give you an idea nonetheless.

My kids attended elementary school in Calgary, but we were away in Australia when they were in high school. I was happy with their Calgary schools. I don't know if my kids were unusually lucky, but it happened that they had extraordinarily caring teachers all the way through. There was good discipline in their schools. The school staff kept a pretty sharp eye out for bullying and things of that nature.

My kids' schooling was rather different from my own back in Swaziland and South Africa. I'm in my mid fifties, and in my time we had hours and hours of hand writing practice, for example. My hand writing is beautiful. If you saw my kids' hand writing, you'd think a spider had created the marks as it walked across the page. But so what? They use computers for just about everything, and rarely have reason to put pen to paper.

The main thing was that the school system produced well rounded, decent, articulate, confident young people. They were encouraged to think outside the box, to seek out the connections amongst things, to find innovative ways of sourcing and presenting information. Two examples I can think of were these:

When my older son was twelve years old, he studied genetics in science and the novel, Jurassic Park, in English. His science and English teachers made a conscious effort to collaborate with each other. Thus, the science teacher did not teach only what could be done in the field of genetics, but also asked if it should be done.

When my younger son was ten years old, he and two friends chose to submit an English assignment in the form of a movie. This took a tremendous amount of coordination. They had to borrow a camcorder from one of their parents, make costumes, create a set in the basement of the house of one of the team members, write a script, rehearse, act, film, etc. It actually was a lot of work, but it also was fun. While he was enjoying himself, my son learned an enormous amount about project management.

The same son, now in his mid twenties, can really think on his feet. I'm sure his film project was way more useful in preparing him for the world in which he lives and works than my hand writing lessons would have been.

The kids at our local neighbourhood (state) school also learned how to care about each other. There was a tutoring program in which each kid in the highest grade was paired up with a kid in the lowest grade for reading practice. It was the job of the older kid to provide mentoring and encouragement to his/her younger partner.

Another good thing about the school system here in Calgary is that there are a variety of programs from which families can choose -- French immersion, fine arts focus, science focus, traditional learning, International Baccalaureate, and on and on and on. The same is true of Edmonton. In fact I seem to recall that children could receive instruction in 19 different languages in Edmonton (Mandarin, Russian, and I forget which others).

Here is a Wiki article about Canadian Schooling.

And here is a Wiki article about Calgary Schooling.

The quality of schools in Canada (and even in a given city in Canada) is uneven. You definitely need to research the schools in your destination city, draw up a short list, and visit them in person. A personal visit enables you to assess the vibe (for lack of a better word) of each school. It's impossible to do this over the Internet. It has to be done in person.

But, if you take reasonable care in selecting a school, things should work out well for your child.
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Hi,

A great reply as ever by Judy and of course you need to visit the schools in the area that you choose to settle in to get a feel for them.

Another thing worth looking at is the Fraser Institute Report Card which is fully explained on their web site. Here is the link http://www.fraserinstitute.org/repor...ce/alberta.htm

Good luck

What is the procedure of enrolling / getting a placement for your child in school. Do you go to the school in your area and tell them you have arrived? We just bought a house in Kinkora and I have a 5 yr and 2 yr old.

No, you are not allowed to do that. You have to make an appointment with the Admissions Office at Kingsland Centre, which is located at 7430 – 5 Street SW, Calgary (telephone 403-777-7373). It is strongly recommended that you phone at least two weeks in advance of the date on which you want an appointment.

You need to take the following documents to the appointment:

• Your passport
• Your permit or visa for living and working or studying in Canada
• Your child's passport
• Your child's birth certificate
• Documentation that demonstrates that your family lives within CBE’s catchment area. In your case this would be your offer to purchase your house, but if you were renting it would be a residential lease agreement.

Your 5 year old probably is in the age bracket for kindergarten. It usually is five half days a week. It's not compulsory, but it is free.

Compulsory schooling starts in grade one, the year after kindergarten.

For more information, see the Wiki article called Calgary Schooling.

Your 2 year old is not eligible to enter the public school system. It's common (but by no means compulsory) for 3 year olds to attend private nursery school two mornings a week and 4 years old to attend it for three mornings a week.

For more information about what's available for your 2 year old, see the Wiki article called Childcare Options-Canada (specifically the section called Activities for Children). Also check out the Wiki article called Calgary Fun. It has information for preschoolers and, since you've mentioned you're expecting a baby, information for babies and toddlers as well.
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Thanks Judy for the info.