Edo

How about North Vancouver. Do you think it is equally risky?

JonboyE

Each school district will have its own vagaries.

In the public system in Surrey, where junior went to school, you were expected to pay for some school supplies and some extra activities. For example, exercise books and stationary. If a child wants to play in the school band the parents have to pay for the instrument rental. Expect something like $500 a year each. The tuition is free.

JonboyE

No.

Even within Delta, North Delta is not subject to the (very small) risk.

scilly

So your eldest would be going in Kindergarten (the September of the year in which the child turns 5), followed by Grade 1 (Sept of the year in which a child turns 6). As Jonboy said, education in the state schools (called public school here) is free, but parents have to pay for a lot of extras that used to also be free, such as notepaper, pens, pencils, coloured crayons, band, possibly choir, etc.

Plus, the school your child will attend is determined by the area in which you live, ie, the catchment area. You cannot choose the school yourself.

On arrival in Canada, you get a place to live, then you go to the local school or School Board Office and register your child.

FYI ............ as of today, schools in Surrey are way over-subscribed and have been for years, new schools are being built but will be over-filled by the time they open next year or in 2018 ........... this is because there is so much housing development going on. The problem here is that if the school is too full, then your child will be assigned to a neigbouring school that does have room, and that may be 1 km away or 6 km away.

Your younger child will need daycare if your wife intends to work .......... costs for a child age 3 seems to be around $1000 a month IF you can find it. Preschool is from age 3 to 4 and to 5 in some areas. Kindergarten in most of BC is as I said, the year the child turns 5, but some areas do have a pre- or Primary Kindergarten that starts in the September of the year in which the child turns 4.

This might interest you, for Surrey School Board .......

https://www.surreyschools.ca/Analyti...er%2015-16.pdf

Drthorne

Thanks very much. So we are planning on coming out to Vancouver shortly to take a look around some of the recommended places and start looking at schools ect. Let's see how things go.

Drthorne

Cheers all for the advise. So really like the sound of maple ridge and hoping to get out to look around. How feasible will a 110k salary be to initially support a family, esp as I don't understand the tax system.

My wife is highly skilled in the probation area and Happy to work if required. Also are there any issues enrolling children in school when in Canada on a work visa