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-Lycee Claudel in Ottawa- A family members 3 children attended this school and highly recommend it. I like that it is 1 school from pre-k all the way to high school graduation for consistency but do any kids living in Gatineau go to this school, is it too far, would getting the kids there be a nightmare? Is this school so much better that the distance would be worth sending them there even if we live in Gatineau or should we choose to live in Ontario for a school like this?
It's more expensive than the Gatineau private schools (think 8-10,000 a year) but cheaper than most of the other Ottawa private schools.
Transportation is also a headache from Gatineau as you have to make your own arrangements. Either drive them yourself, find a carpool arrangement, or send them on city buses.
Yeah, the only ranking for elementary schools in Quebec is a socio-economic ranking where you can see if kids come from poorer or richer backgrounds. It's only somewhat useful as it's pretty obvious just by looking at the neighbourhood what kind of families the kids will come from.
There is very little skimming to private schools at the elementary level in Quebec so all of the kids (strong or weak) are in the same schools until Grade 6.
Things change in high school though.
So does this mean elementary/primary goes to Grade 5 then High school starts at Grade 6?
For example, my kids could attend Du Vallon K-5 and then high school 6-12?
Our system is elementary school is in one building (K-5) then you go to another building for middle school (grades 6-8) then you go to another building for high school (grades 9-12).
It's more expensive than the Gatineau private schools (think 8-10,000 a year) but cheaper than most of the other Ottawa private schools.
Transportation is also a headache from Gatineau as you have to make your own arrangements. Either drive them yourself, find a carpool arrangement, or send them on city buses.
Côte-D'Azur is one of the nicer neighbourhoods in Gatineau. There is traffic going to and from Ottawa there during the rush hour but outside of those specific times you can be in downtown Ottawa in barely 10 minutes. Which is much quicker than most Ottawa suburbs and even certain parts of central Ottawa.
As for the language issue, there are a number of implications involved. It all depends on the person (as in you). Some people don't care and can get by fairly easily. The majority of service staff you will encounter in Gatineau will be able to speak English to some degree. In some cases it will native speaker level, in other cases very broken English but you can muddle through with them. That said, initial contact is almost always in French and some people are not comfortable with demanding people make a language switch just for them (into their second language) with virtually every single interaction of their daily lives. Another thing is that while there is some bilingual signage and such, not nearly everything is bilingual. For example, I am dealing with my natural gas provider on a maintenance issue right now. You have the press 9 option for English on the phone but in many cases it leads to a voice mail that's only in French, so you may have no idea what it means. (Though often the person on the line can speak English when you get to talk to them.)
Or like signs on the highway for road work that say: DEUX VOIES DE GAUCHE FERMÉES, GARDEZ LA DROITE / PRENDRE PROCHAINE SORTIE POUR ACCES A-50 or something like that. I suppose that after living here a while you figure things out.
So it all depends on your personal comfort level with living in what is truly a foreign language place, in spite of the high level of potential functionality in English - when it's absolutely required.
Personally, I like that kind of challenge. But not everyone does.
You mentioned Cote D'Azur is one of the nicer neighborhoods, could you recommend any other neighborhoods that are similar?
Simply put, the ONLY thing holding me back from choosing Gatineau is the language, it makes me a bit nervous but I also would love to be bilingual and have the kids be bilingual. I would be lying if I said I will never be uncomfortable but I have a feeling I may feel like I took the easy way out by living on the Ontario side only because of language reasons... I do enjoy a challenge and I am a very intelligent individual, my "weakness" is wanting perfection and shying away from things I'm not absolutely sure I could be perfect in.
Given all the information about our lives I included, what is your personal opinion of our situation and the decision we will have (Quebec vs Ontario)?
Also, I have had several recommendations for Aylmer and the Plateau section of Hull, I have briefly visited those areas once and they felt further removed and less central than say Cote D'Azur felt to me... Would living in Aylmer or the plateau section really be that much better for us simply because of the language? Any other advantages to living there?
Just out of curiosity, if you feel like sharing with me. I'm assuming you live in Gatineau, were you born and raised there and french is your first language?
Do you have any personal experiences with bilingualism with either your own children or family friends you may have with their children?
I couldn't be the first or only person that would be moving to Gatineau without knowing any french right? I'm not sure how many (if any americans) but assume there's anglophones from Ontario with no knowledge of french that move to Gatineau?
So does this mean elementary/primary goes to Grade 5 then High school starts at Grade 6?
For example, my kids could attend Du Vallon K-5 and then high school 6-12?
Our system is elementary school is in one building (K-5) then you go to another building for middle school (grades 6-8) then you go to another building for high school (grades 9-12).
High school here starts in what you would call Grade 7. And runs for 5 years - to Grade 11 basically.
Just out of curiosity, if you feel like sharing with me. I'm assuming you live in Gatineau, were you born and raised there and french is your first language?
Do you have any personal experiences with bilingualism with either your own children or family friends you may have with their children?
I couldn't be the first or only person that would be moving to Gatineau without knowing any french right? I'm not sure how many (if any americans) but assume there's anglophones from Ontario with no knowledge of french that move to Gatineau?
Yes, several thousand people who speak only English live in Gatineau. Some of them are happy and some are not to happy,
You mentioned Cote D'Azur is one of the nicer neighborhoods, could you recommend any other neighborhoods that are similar?
Simply put, the ONLY thing holding me back from choosing Gatineau is the language, it makes me a bit nervous but I also would love to be bilingual and have the kids be bilingual. I would be lying if I said I will never be uncomfortable but I have a feeling I may feel like I took the easy way out by living on the Ontario side only because of language reasons... I do enjoy a challenge and I am a very intelligent individual, my "weakness" is wanting perfection and shying away from things I'm not absolutely sure I could be perfect in.
Given all the information about our lives I included, what is your personal opinion of our situation and the decision we will have (Quebec vs Ontario)?
Also, I have had several recommendations for Aylmer and the Plateau section of Hull, I have briefly visited those areas once and they felt further removed and less central than say Cote D'Azur felt to me... Would living in Aylmer or the plateau section really be that much better for us simply because of the language? Any other advantages to living there?
Aylmer is the most anglo part of Gatineau, with about a third of the people anglo. It's mostly French first in terms of people approaching you but the switch to English is more automatic. Those situations I described above can and do still happen in Aylmer though.
The Plateau is considerably less anglo than Aylmer. Maybe 10 or 15 percent.
Just out of curiosity, if you feel like sharing with me. I'm assuming you live in Gatineau, were you born and raised there and french is your first language?
Do you have any personal experiences with bilingualism with either your own children or family friends you may have with their children?
No, I am not from Gatineau. Both my wife and I are French Canadians (native French speakers) from "English Canada". She is from Ontario and we were both living in Ontario (her in Ottawa, me just outside Ottawa) when we met.
We've been living in Gatineau for about 20 years.
Our kids were born in Gatineau. They've never lived anywhere else.
Both my wife and I speak near-flawless English. I also speak basic Spanish and my wife speaks basic Spanish and basic Italian.
We've never spoken English to the kids. Only French. They've always gone to French school.
The English they've learned has been mostly through school, popular music, travel and through the activities they do. (Their activities are coached/taught in French here locally, but we sometimes compete in Ottawa and southern Ontario so this takes place in English.)
As a result my kids have been able to understand English reasonably well for a number of years now (they are pre-teens).
The eldest speaks heavily-accented English that's actually pretty good. And is able to read novels (think Harry Potter/Percy Jackson stuff) in English now as well.
Except for their friends who have one francophone and one anglophone parent (who tend to be really good in English), my kids are probably among the best of their entourage in English here in Gatineau.
A lot of their friends (in the 11-15 age range) speak very little English, or can only muddle by in very basic stuff.
No, I am not from Gatineau. Both my wife and I are French Canadians (native French speakers) from "English Canada". She is from Ontario and we were both living in Ontario (her in Ottawa, me just outside Ottawa) when we met.
We've been living in Gatineau for about 20 years.
Our kids were born in Gatineau. They've never lived anywhere else.
Both my wife and I speak near-flawless English. I also speak basic Spanish and my wife speaks basic Spanish and basic Italian.
We've never spoken English to the kids. Only French. They've always gone to French school.
The English they've learned has been mostly through school, popular music, travel and through the activities they do. (Their activities are coached/taught in French here locally, but we sometimes compete in Ottawa and southern Ontario so this takes place in English.)
As a result my kids have been able to understand English reasonably well for a number of years now (they are pre-teens).
The eldest speaks heavily-accented English that's actually pretty good. And is able to read novels (think Harry Potter/Percy Jackson stuff) in English now as well.
Except for their friends who have one francophone and one anglophone parent (who tend to be really good in English), my kids are probably among the best of their entourage in English here in Gatineau.
A lot of their friends (in the 11-15 age range) speak very little English, or can only muddle by in very basic stuff.
I apologize for the delay, a nasty stomach bug just went through our house the past few days and it's been quite rough.
Anyway- you've given me a lot to consider and I appreciate you taking the time to give me such detailed information and advice.
Thanks again!
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