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A few months back I posted about the possibility of moving to Ottawa ad it has now solidified, though I am still somewhat hesitant. Our main concern is schooling (2 kids, 1 in grade 2 the other in grade 4) and while we would love to send our kids to Waldorf, it's financially not feasible... Are there similar schools in the Ottawa area that are more affordable for mere mortals?
We quite like the concept of addressing the whole person as they progress through school rather than the typical style of teaching - so any school that has an approach such as the Waldorf school would be ideal...
Seeing that our kids would be going into Grades 3 and 5 by the time we do move there, we have time and we are not decided on any neighbourhood (though work is in Orleans) but would like to avoid living "in" Ottawa and much prefer the outskirts (20-30 minute commute).
A few months back I posted about the possibility of moving to Ottawa ad it has now solidified, though I am still somewhat hesitant. Our main concern is schooling (2 kids, 1 in grade 2 the other in grade 4) and while we would love to send our kids to Waldorf, it's financially not feasible... Are there similar schools in the Ottawa area that are more affordable for mere mortals?
We quite like the concept of addressing the whole person as they progress through school rather than the typical style of teaching - so any school that has an approach such as the Waldorf school would be ideal...
Seeing that our kids would be going into Grades 3 and 5 by the time we do move there, we have time and we are not decided on any neighbourhood (though work is in Orleans) but would like to avoid living "in" Ottawa and much prefer the outskirts (20-30 minute commute).
Thanks for any hints, tips, suggestions...
You probably have researched Waldorf schools in Ottawa - there are a few but none of them in the Orleans area.
Generally, Orleans has about 100,000 people but private and alternative school options are not very well-developed there. Many kids from Orleans go into Ottawa for these types of education.
Some of the local school boards may offer special programs within certain schools at little or no extra charge.
Note that in Ontario there are four publicly-funded (free) school systems: English Public, English Catholic, French Public and French Catholic. All four have numerous schools in the Orleans area.
As far as commuting goes, living in rural or semi-rural areas in the general vicinity of Orleans and working in Orleans is totally feasible and pain-free. The traffic only really gets bad once you try to get from Orleans into Ottawa.
I was researching special ed. schools and OurKids list only 2 in Ottawa; looking elsewhere on the internet I found that Ottawa has 4 more. This makes me think that OurKids is not as comprehensive as the glossy pages make you believe. But it is a good start, especially for those schools with solid reputation and not upstarts.
A few months back I posted about the possibility of moving to Ottawa ad it has now solidified, though I am still somewhat hesitant. Our main concern is schooling (2 kids, 1 in grade 2 the other in grade 4) and while we would love to send our kids to Waldorf, it's financially not feasible... Are there similar schools in the Ottawa area that are more affordable for mere mortals?
We quite like the concept of addressing the whole person as they progress through school rather than the typical style of teaching - so any school that has an approach such as the Waldorf school would be ideal...
Seeing that our kids would be going into Grades 3 and 5 by the time we do move there, we have time and we are not decided on any neighbourhood (though work is in Orleans) but would like to avoid living "in" Ottawa and much prefer the outskirts (20-30 minute commute).
Thanks for any hints, tips, suggestions...
So you have decided against Gatineau?
Did you know that almost all Ottawa elementary schools offer early French immersion (starting in kindergarden), and some offer middle French immersion (starting in 4th grade). I don't know how bad you want your kids to learn French, of course.
That OurKids catalog gives you tuition for each private school and also tips on paying, including the possibility of presenting a part as a charitable donation for tax write-off: http://www.ourkids.net/school/pay-fo...ol-18-tips.php
My kids have been in French immersion since commencing school, so we are definitely enrolling them in a school which will further their French language.
Here is the thing - we don't want to live in the city - we enjoy small town living (as that is where we reside now) and want to keep that way of life. We're also huge into Organics and Holistic Medicine and if we could find a small town within ~30mins of Ottawa (Orleans side) that has an organic store and offers small town living, then we will explore the schools in those towns and base our decision on that.
...now, if there is an area closer to the city that offers the small town feel (including in Gatineau) we'll definitely explore that option as well.
My kids have been in French immersion since commencing school, so we are definitely enrolling them in a school which will further their French language.
Here is the thing - we don't want to live in the city - we enjoy small town living (as that is where we reside now) and want to keep that way of life. We're also huge into Organics and Holistic Medicine and if we could find a small town within ~30mins of Ottawa (Orleans side) that has an organic store and offers small town living, then we will explore the schools in those towns and base our decision on that.
...now, if there is an area closer to the city that offers the small town feel (including in Gatineau) we'll definitely explore that option as well.
Thanks
Most of the villages and small towns within commuting distance of Ottawa-Gatineau have the feel of commuter towns near a big city. They are certainly not like living in the city, but they are not really like a small town in the Maritimes either. The pace of life is a bit faster and more city-influenced.
It is probably best to live somewhere in eastern Ontario if (as you said) your job is going to be in Orleans. Living on the Quebec side is not the best if you are working anywhere in Ottawa except the most central part of the city.
I don't know what you mean by small town but the only real town close to Orleans is Rockland. It is part of the larger municipality of Clarence-Rockland which has 25,000 people but Rockland itself probably is a community of 12,000 or 15,000. It is still small but is rapidly becoming a suburb of Ottawa. In a sense, it is the "next Orleans".
Between Rockland and Orleans along the river is the village of Cumberland. It is probably the prettiest community in the area, but of course it is more expensive. It is literally 10 minutes from Orleans. Navan is not dissimilar from Cumberland though it is some distance away from the river shore and its setting is not as picturesque.
Aside from that, the towns get much smaller and many are more like villages. Clarence Creek, Wendover, Bourget, Hammond come to mind. These are all fairly accessible for someone who works in Orleans. Traffic between this area and Orleans is not bad at all.
If you go further south (towards Embrun and Russell) the road access is not as direct or easy, though not too bad either.
You should note that this area is very bilingual with a French-English mix and many of the places mentioned (Rockland, Wendover, Clarence Creek, Hammond, Bourget and Embrun) are majority French-speaking. Cumberland, Navan and Russell are more predominantly anglophone.
That said, most anglophones do not seem to feell the need to learn to speak French in this area, even if they move to one of the majority francophone towns.
Thank you once again for your reply, it really is appreciated.
Navan and Cumberland are quite over my budget (and I thought I had a healthy budget!), so we are looking at Embrun, Russel, etc.. while neither I nor my wife speak French, we are both enthusiastic about learning it - and both my kids are bi-lingual, so they will easily integrate.
..now to keep looking at properties until we sell our house
On another note - does anyone have input on the public schools in Rockland, Russell, Embrun, Cumberland, Osgoode/Greely, Manotick, Navan, etc? Good / Bad experiences? Those are the communities we are exploring at this point (in no particular order). Again, we want our kids to have a very positive experience moving to a new province, school and friends... which towns/villages would you say the folks are the friendliest and most welcoming to newcomers? Bearing in mind that neither my spouse nor I speak French but both are more than willing to learn...
On another note - does anyone have input on the public schools in Rockland, Russell, Embrun, Cumberland, Osgoode/Greely, Manotick, Navan, etc? Good / Bad experiences? Those are the communities we are exploring at this point (in no particular order). Again, we want our kids to have a very positive experience moving to a new province, school and friends... which towns/villages would you say the folks are the friendliest and most welcoming to newcomers? Bearing in mind that neither my spouse nor I speak French but both are more than willing to learn...
Thanks
Overall I think the schools are fine. I don't have time to look but the Fraser Institute or an organization calls OISE do rankings of schools in Ontario. If you google a bit you should be able to find something.
Be cautious of the Waldorf schools here. We had our child at one and our child fell so far behind in reading and could not relate to any other kids because of the pressure around tv and computers and toys so we left. It was really expensive too and there were lots of fundraisers they want us to do. We had some trouble with bullying too that the teacher wouldn't do anything about. I heard the French school board in Ottawa uses some of the Waldorf stuff but teach more of the other things like reading.
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If it is not too late
