JBJ14

Hi all

Just looking at schools some more and have been looking at the Fraser Institute Report. I have a friend that is a teacher in Alberta who tells me to totally ignore it, but I think that may be because they don't like the ranking their school got?

As I have been looking in the NW area, I noticed that I couldn't find all the elementary schools in the Rocky Ridge / Royal Oak areas (which appear to be nice suburbs on the surface). Anyone know why they wouldn't appear on the report, perhaps the schools are too new?

And on another note, whats your feel on this fraser report, would you give it much credit? Hard to find the right school and a report like this, if accurate, would be helpful.

Less than 100 days to go until we're there

Thanks
Wayne

Novocastrian

Totally ignore it.

JonboyE

I can't think of anything to say that would be any more useful than Novocastrian's post.

Oink

The people who might be accountable for their practice/performance will tell you to ignore it. Although to be honest, the rankings are quite weak and I wouldn’t necessarily choose my child’s school based solely on them. What's needed here is an independent OFSTED type organization, to both inspect and rank, but this is Canada, they don't like accountability and they don't like change. They're worried they might have to reach certain standards and have their pay and promotion linked to their performance. It's symptomatic of the wider culture, where they'd rather hire and promote their 'buddies' than someone more suited and qualified for the job.

Krr607

Novocastrian, how then do you choose a school? Wayne has less than 100 days and I am in a similar situ. Maybe it's different over there and they are all good? But I know when I chose my boys current primary school the OFSTED was very reliable and helped you avoid the poor performing school (and there were many)

Oink

It'll depend where you live. I'd suggest once you've found a house, visit the school and the school district head office and talk to the head, teacher etc. The quality of the schooling will depend what your expectations from the UK are but I'd say the public/state primary schools here are fine for most immigrants.

cjones

If you're a bit unsure about the local schools, you could always try home schooling? It's aparently quite popular over here.

Shard

It's the same in the UK really, OFSTED is an indicator, but it's only one view (and a fairly bureaucratic view at that). You need to visit the school and speak to the head/principal to get a feel for what it is like and how well it will suit your child.

Pancakes

Whereabouts are you going? - sorry, re-read - Calgary.

We looked on the school board website - there was a bit of blurb about each school - I found it helpful to get an idea of what their ethos etc was supposed to be. We made email contact with a couple and then visited on our recce trip.

I didn't find the Fraser Institute reports that useful tbh.

Martyn and Wendy

I would also say to check out the Calgary Board of Education website, each school has their own profile/website and some have teacher/principal blogs which are interesting, once you know where your going to live check out the surrounding schools - its a hard decision to make, I will be doing it soon enough for my 9 and 5 yr old boys too!! Good luck

ExKiwilass

If you have time, go and hang out around the playground and see what's going on - are the kids supervised adequately, etc. Talk to parents who are waiting to pick up their kids. that's what I did.

Novocastrian

Choose an area you'd like to live. Talk to people who have kids in the school(s). Visit the school and interview the principal and, if possible, the classroom teacher for the relevant grade. Use common sense. Choose another area if dissatisfied.

If you are addicted to more or less meaningless "rankings", in Ontario this lot

www.eqao.com

are at least not promoting a rightwing pro-privatization agenda

HGerchikov

I am in the 'ignore it' camp too. And before people come in with the 'that's because you don't like the ranking your kids school has' comments, their high school is ranked 6th in Ontario. I just think this kind of ranking is extremely limited in its value. If you can, visit the school, if that is not possible then the school board website (as suggested) can help but also the schools will likely have their own sites. I found these very useful as they gave a sense of the community at the school.

Almost Canadian

Sorry, I am confused, is this a good or a bad thing?

Oink

If you're going to take that approach I'd suggest she does it rather than her husband.