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I am permanently moving with my husband and a 2-year-old daughter to Ottawa in April 2020.
I have read some old posts online from 2018 that the preschool will be free from September 2020. Is it going to be the case or was it just an election promise conditioned on the winning of the Liberal party?
Also in my home country, the 1st grades start at age 5. But I saw that in Ontario the 1st grade starts at age 6. Is it possible to enroll the kid early at age 5 for the 1st grade?
I really appreciate any help the locals can provide on this.
I am not an expert but I have an idea of what is going on.
Grade 1 starts at age 6 as you said. Prior to that you have kindergarten which starts at age 5 - you have this in every elementary school and it is free.
I believe almost all elementary schools in Ontario have junior kindergarten for kids aged 4, also in elementary schools and also free. In some cases it's half a day but I think it might be almost all full day at this point or moving towards it.
If this is what you mean by "pre-school", then the answer is yes.
Anything before age 4 though is not generally covered by the government. Unless you are low income and qualify for subsidized daycare spaces, but there are often long waiting lists for these.
Daycare otherwise is generally private and quite expensive, though you can deduct part of it from your taxes.
Is it possible to enroll the kid early at age 5 for the 1st grade?
.
I am originally from Ontario but have only ever raised kids in Quebec.
I don't know 100% if this is the case in Ontario (though I assume it probably is) but generally speaking if you want a child to start school earlier they need to be assessed by a professional like a psychologist. Who will then make a recommendation - yes or no.
One of our kids was quite advanced and close to the cut-off limit for being old enough to start school, so we had an assessment done. The assessment was successful and we were told there would be no problems with starting school one year earlier.
In the end we decided that our child would not start early, and followed the program as prescribed by the rules. We do not regret it.
One thing I've noticed is that the Canadian school system is closely aligned to the American model instead of being based on the European model, which has most people only getting academic educations until they complete 8th. grade, then moving to strictly specialized vocational training after that. There probably isn't much difference in the primary grades.
One thing I've noticed is that the Canadian school system is closely aligned to the American model instead of being based on the European model, which has most people only getting academic educations until they complete 8th. grade, then moving to strictly specialized vocational training after that. There probably isn't much difference in the primary grades.
Not sure what you mean by this. Unless I am reading it wrong, this isn't the way high school works in most of Canada. "Specialized vocational training" isn't something that begins until after high school is completed. If you want to finish high school you need credits in science, math, languages, social sciences (geography, history), etc.
Yes, there are more advanced enriched streams and more basic less challenging streams. And yes the latter is where you find most of the people who are destined to "trades" and such. And the former is where most of the kids destined to university are found. But everyone learns the basics if they want to graduate. Grade 8 kids are about 13 years old in Canada. No one is going to school full time to be a plumber or an electrician at that age in Canada.
Not sure what you mean by this. Unless I am reading it wrong, this isn't the way high school works in most of Canada. "Specialized vocational training" isn't something that begins until after high school is completed. If you want to finish high school you need credits in science, math, languages, social sciences (geography, history), etc.
Yes, there are more advanced enriched streams and more basic less challenging streams. And yes the latter is where you find most of the people who are destined to "trades" and such. And the former is where most of the kids destined to university are found. But everyone learns the basics if they want to graduate. Grade 8 kids are about 13 years old in Canada. No one is going to school full time to be a plumber or an electrician at that age in Canada.
Vocational training does not start before passing the high school. Vocational training after 8th grade does not make any sense either in American educational system or European. There is some misinformation here. The enrollement is free for kids in Ontario state, same is the case with th fee.
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