5 things you should know about schooling in Canada

1. There is a Welcome Centre for new students in Ontario; when you move to Canada there are many things to do like finding a home then you can find what is your region then make contact on the website based on your region in terms of booking an appointment. I remember when we moved to Canada I was kind of confused about what I want to do. First of all, we find a home and then I called Welcome Centre in Richmond hill and they were very helpful considering they help me a lot in job searching, improving my English language skills, getting familiar with Canadian culture, finding friends and so many things for my all family. They can provide all the information about schools in the area
2. Kids start school the year they turn four; don’t worry many children have come over to Canada and integrated into the system. It can be a little bit hard at the beginning especially if you have 4 years old child but don’t worry you can get prepared for that before your moving to stop any struggles for your kids. Children can read from the age of four and letter recognition from even earlier, they mostly focused on the letter name and sound, making a sentence with 3 words, … one of the best practice is making a flashcard for them.
3. Types of schools in Canada are private, public(catholic, French immersion), and homeschooling. Public school’s admission is free but you will pay for an extra program like sport, …, children don’t wear school uniform and 95% of Canadian children are going to public school. Private school is better for those parents who are looking for special activities or programs or they don’t like crowded classes like public school, the tuition fee is $2000+ per month so for private school parents would pay for school uniform+ transportation+ extra activity+ tuition fee. Now, you can decide which one is appropriate for you based on your priorities; also, you can check school rankings here for better decision making, don’t forget that choosing a school depends on the area you live so if you have kids it’s better to consider school ranking before renting or buying home. I’d like to mention there is great support for special needs children that you can find here and here. How is the admission process? It’s easy on Google just search for your region name then type school board, for instance, I live in Richmond hill and after I searched for Richmond hill school board I got this link result http://www.yrdsb.ca/Pages/default.aspx
4. How is the grading system? Junior Kindergarten(JK)- grade 6 ->> Elementary school |grade7-8 ->> Middle school |grade 9-12 ->> High school. School starts in September till Jun and kids have a lot of breaks during this time.
5. Schools have before and after school program so don’t worry if you need to go to your work earlier than your child cause you can register for before school program or if you finish your work later than your child you can register for after school program; what you are paying for these programs are reasonable.

I’d like to mention that I literally like the schooling system in Canada considering in my back home there were many strict rules but here kids are free to express their thoughts and the environment is friendly so children like to go to school cause there is so much fun.

I hope that I can help you with this post. Please leave me a comment and share your experience about schooling system in Canada.

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