# York Region Elementary Schools



## Mrs Cato (Aug 4, 2010)

Hello,

I am a newbie to the posting thing so sorry if this is in the wrong place!

I am moving to Canada from the UK in December and looking at public schools for my 5 and 7 yr olds. We are looking at Stouffville, Newmarket or Brooklyn. I have spent many early hours on the internet and feel I am getting nowhere! Does anyone have any handy hints for choosing a school? Any advice appreciated!

Thank you


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

Mrs Cato said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am a newbie to the posting thing so sorry if this is in the wrong place!
> 
> ...


I assume by "public school" that you mean the government run schools. The reason it's important to clarify is because the term "public school" is used in the UK to denote an independent school NOT run by the goverment (or local government agency). So "public school" in the UK can actually mean "private school"!

Assuming you really mean government run schools, the first thing you need to determine is whether it's even possible to choose a public school in the area where you'll be living. Policies can differ from province to province and even from one school board to the next within the same province. It could be that your public school is simply determined by your street address. In this case, you "choose" your public school by choosing where you live.

I found the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) web site. 

YRDSB - Schools

This page contains boundary maps for elementary schools - which seems to imply that your public school is indeed determined by where you live. However, you can contact the YRDSB to make sure. They should be able to provide information on the performance of their schools.

One other thing to consider - your child's experience at school will depend greatly on the individual teachers. I live in the US and our local elementary school was great for my two oldest children but has been less than great for my younger two. The only difference was that my younger two children had different teachers and a different principal.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

You can take a look here: Ontario | School performance | Fraser Institute


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## davidbw (Aug 31, 2010)

*Newmarket schools*



Mrs Cato said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am a newbie to the posting thing so sorry if this is in the wrong place!
> 
> ...


Hard choice. My brother in law and family live in Newmarket and his kids (3 daughters) all went to Bogart Public school. They had a great time. The schools in this area (I live in Markham, south of Newmarket, but in York Region) are successful if the parent community is involved. You can use the various surveys of the schools (from the Fraser Institute, or the EQAO numbers), but it comes down to the community.

York Region is one of the geographically largest school boards in the province and the schools do vary in their population profiles from north to south and eas to west.

As another poster mentioned some of the schools do have caps on registration - not so much in the elementary level (K-8), but in high school they will. Just call the schools (their #'s will be on the school board web site). 

Good luck - it's a hard choice.

Cheers


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## oddball (Aug 1, 2007)

Education in Canada is rated number 4 in the world , you will not have to worry in that area , however , it would be advantagious to your children for you to be in a local parenting group , to attend all teacher interviews and take the time to make an interview with the vice principal if or whenever a school problem arises for your child , they do care .


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## Mrs Cato (Aug 4, 2010)

*Thank you!*

Thank you everyone! Much food for thought. The Fraser site seems a useful one. I am all about community and working with school as I currently volunteer in reception class and am secretary of the Parent, Friends and Teachers association. It would be great if I could do similar over there too. My children have gone back to school today so I have more time to study the whole location thing :ranger:

Thank you everyone for your input. 

Mrs Cato


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