Hi all,
With the move encroaching rapidly (with any luck) things have started to suddenly hit home for my 2 brothers (15 & 12) and i (16). We have very few, if any worries about settling in and the like, and are all really looking forward to the transition, a return to normality and distinguishable seasons to mention but a few of the fringe benefits.

There was however, one recurring question that entered the minds of me and 'the middle one' : Will our efforts over here count for anything in BC? Over the past few days i've trauled the forums looking for threads about education/similar experiences to ours, and have even tried looking at some education boards' websites - all to no avail. Whilst everything i've found has been useful, there's very little i've found that actually applies to BC, and as Mum and Dad have probably let everyone know we're headed for Kelowna.

To finally stop beating about the bush, my question is whether anyone on here has any information or stories that i could relate to, as each province has very different procedures. My brother accelerated a class andhas 1 GCSE in french at a 'B', and i recently got 1 A*, 3 A's, 5 B's and 2 C's last August, will any of our grades count towards anything in a BC schooling system?

Any sort of help would be greatly appreciated, as finding out as much as possible means one less strain for mum and dad in the long run.

Thanks in advance, Tom

Hi Tom,
As a parent of teens when we moved over to Vancouver I have some knowledge of the transition. We found a general lack of interest in previous education in the UK. However as you start accumulating credits toward graduation in Grade 10, anyone coming into higher grades (age 15 = Grade 10) will need to get their prior education recognised as much as possible. It is likely that you would need to sit the Provincial exams if you miss them as I don't believe that you will be able to get credits for such Canadian topics as "socials" (lot of Canadian history/geography).
If you know what school you are going to, then I suggest contacting the counsellors directly as they are the ones who can help with course selection and getting prior education recognised.
We also have information on schooling on our web site: http://www.relocation2bc.com/schooling.htm
and you may also want to read our kids diaries as they wrote them about adapting to life in Canada and in part on their experiences at school.
http://www.relocation2bc.com/teendiaries.htm

If you have any specific questions I or any of our kids could help with then email me directly. We'd be happy to help.

Warmly,

Frank

no help for bc , but we are in ontario , my 15 year old has gone straight into year 11 , his year 10 grades were assessed and was given 16 credits , his A grade lessons like maths and english , he is doing university maths rather than college , he was given alot more choice of things to do , it is more like tech college than school , he made friends immediatley , been invited to parties etc and has only been at school 3 weeks , you would think he had been there from the start. being a parent i was really worried about him fitting in as he had so many friends at home , but he had no trouble at all. My 18 year old went to college to do another cnc course , he has already done 2 years in the uk. again he has fitted in well , he stayed initially with some friends , their children included him in everything , i hope you all have the same kind of welcome my boys had

Hi Tom,

We lived in Kelowna for a short while 2 years ago. Our boys are now 12 and 15 and didn't have a problem with school there. Geography and History were tricky though. They settled pretty quickly and were ahead in many subjects but there were some things missing in others.

We are thinking of returning to Kelowna next year.

Have you got friends there, why did you choose Kelowna? Do you know which area you are hoping to live in?

Lindsay

Hello Tom,

I live in Calgary, Alberta, so cannot answer your question about Kelowna.

However, after relocating a few times, I believe it will be helpful if your brothers (or your parents) request detailed curricula from your brothers' British school(s) before your family leaves the UK. If your brothers can show their new Canadian schools an outline of the material that they've covered in each course, it will help the schools in placing your brothers in the most appropriate grades. This is more important for core subjects like math(s), English and any other languages they may have studied, physics and chemistry.

As far as your own case is concerned, you may find it helpful to read this previous thread entitled Education, GCSEs for Canada.

Hope that helps.

Thanks to everyone for the help, put my mind at ease.
No friends or family over there, short of those met on Expats at any rate.
Mum and Dad needed a change of scenery, and Dad got a job offer for the PNP track - hence the hasty(ish) process.
Will use all the resources up until departure so i'm not going in blind, so to speak.
Cheers again,
Tom