Private english elementary schools in Gatineau/Outaouais? (daycare, private school tuition)

[tarp]

Does anyone here know of any private English elementary schools in the Gatineau area? Would the nearest private English schools be across the river in Ottawa?

[Acajack]

Not as far as I know. Even French-language private elementary schools are few and far between in this area.

One private school in Gatineau is called Académie Trivium, and it bills itself as a trilingual (English-French-Spanish), but I’d say it mostly caters to French-speaking kids who want to learn English and Spanish.

There are also several Montessori schools in Gatineau and area that have elementary programs, but it appears that most of them are also French first (even the one in Chelsea, which is a municipality that is 50-50 French-English just north of Gatineau), with English taught as a second language.

FYI - though there are several private French-language high schools in Gatineau, the only private English high school in the area is Sedbergh, a boarding school located in Montebello, about 50 km east of Gatineau.

So it appears as though you were right and that for the most part the only truly English choices at the elementary level are across the river in Ottawa (where there are numerous choices), which means mega-bucks, at least by Quebec private school standards.

[tarp]

I guess the only options for an immigrant anglophone family would be to pay for private school across the river in Ottawa (for at least 3 years, after which the child and his siblings would be eligible for public anglophone schools in Quebec, right?), or to place the child in Francophone schools. I am wondering how difficult the adjustment would be, and whether the child would receive sufficient schooling in both languages so that he could go to University in English and work in either language.

The primary concern is that it seems the Western Quebec School Board has immersion programs in French where students take half of their classes in French. The Francophone schools seem to place a lower emphasis on English immersion, so I am afraid the students would graduate lacking fluency in English. Of course, with Anglophone parents the child would have the benefit of learning more English at home.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I would imagine the number of anglophone immigrants to Quebec would be sufficiently low - would the school board even be prepared to deal with a child enrolled in French school who speaks only English?

[Acajack]

1.

When you consider that private school in Ottawa will likely cost $8K-$10K annually, plus the cost of getting the child to and from there, it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to. Especially since after reading the law a few minutes go it seems like it might not even qualify a child for English schools in Quebec if at least one parent is not a Canadian citizen.

Under this scenario, it also seems like private school tuition might nullify the savings from the lower cost of housing on the Gatineau side of the river.

It might be less of a pain just to move to Ottawa, to be frank. Do you absolutely have to live on the Gatineau side?

2.
Regarding anglophone immigrants and a child speaking only English in a Quebec francophone school...

Well, there are quite a few English-speaking newcomers in Gatineau and area, but most of them are Canadians from Ottawa so they can send their kids to Quebec English schools without any restrictions.

On the issue of the anglo child, I would be curious to know what age the child would be arriving in Quebec. Most non-francophone children these days learn their French in the $7-a-day subsidized daycare system, so by the time they start school they all know how to speak French.

My child's class at kindergarten in Gatineau was a United Nations of sorts, with about 10 different nationalities among 20 kids, yet every single one of them could speak French from day one.

So the acquisition of French generally takes place *before* a child starts school these days. It wasn't always the case, but the universal daycare has changed things considerably on this front.

[Attina]

You wrote:

Originally Posted by tarp

I guess the only options for an immigrant anglophone family would be to pay for private school across the river in Ottawa (for at least 3 years, after which the child and his siblings would be eligible for public anglophone schools in Quebec, right?), or to place the child in Francophone schools. I am wondering how difficult the adjustment would be, and whether the child would receive sufficient schooling in both languages so that he could go to University in English and work in either language.

The primary concern is that it seems the Western Quebec School Board has immersion programs in French where students take half of their classes in French. The Francophone schools seem to place a lower emphasis on English immersion, so I am afraid the students would graduate lacking fluency in English. Of course, with Anglophone parents the child would have the benefit of learning more English at home.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I would imagine the number of anglophone immigrants to Quebec would be sufficiently low - would the school board even be prepared to deal with a child enrolled in French school who speaks only English?

I write:
Friend of ours' Mother passed away. The youngest was still a teenager living in Toronto having already had attended several years of school in Ontario. When she came in to Quebec to live with her older brother, she was NOT entitled to go to English school even though she had attended English school in Canada her whole life. They had to send her back to Ontario to live with friends.

[citygogo]

Gatineau is not far from Ontario, I guess. You got more choices here.

My kid goes to a boarding school in London, Ontario and we pay around 12000 a year. For international students, there's a good one in Hamilton called Columbia international college

Hope it helps a lil. By the way why the link I put automatically turned into some text?


Moderator cut: Your link turned to text because members need to reach a minimum number of posts before being permitted to provide links.......sort of an anti-spam measure

[Fred Derf]

Originally Posted by tarp

I guess the only options for an immigrant anglophone family would be to pay for private school across the river in Ottawa (for at least 3 years, after which the child and his siblings would be eligible for public anglophone schools in Quebec, right?), or to place the child in Francophone schools. I am wondering how difficult the adjustment would be, and whether the child would receive sufficient schooling in both languages so that he could go to University in English and work in either language.

There are loopholes in the system. Some parents enroll their children in a private anglophone school for as little as a few months before switching them to the public anglophone system. There is a court case that just completed and the province has a year or so to fix the problem. Apparently the existing language requirements are unconstitutional or something to that effect.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Fred Derf

There are loopholes in the system. Some parents enroll their children in a private anglophone school for as little as a few months before switching them to the public anglophone system. There is a court case that just completed and the province has a year or so to fix the problem. Apparently the existing language requirements are unconstitutional or something to that effect.

I would advise against taking this to the bank. What the Supreme Court said was that it was OK with the objective but that the law was not properly worded. It gave the government one year to go back to the drawing board, which it has said it fully intends to do. So the restrictions are still in effect (as the application of the decision is suspended for one year pending a new legislative wording), and will likely remain so after that, given the intentions of the government.