Schooling
General: In Calgary, there are both Private schools and Public schools (paid for by tax payers). Shell Canada will pay the fees for Kindergarten and lower grades. HR will provide specific details on exactly which age groups are covered.
The following notes are specific to the Public and Catholic School systems. For information on how the Private sector operates it is suggested you go to the websites or phone numbers provided at the end of this section, since there are many different sorts of Private Schools, with quite variable structures and Mission Statements.
Public Schools are in two separate school systems. There is the Calgary Catholic School District www.cssd.ab.ca (The Separate School Board) and the Calgary Board of Education www.cbe.ab.ca (CBE). In order to have a child enrolled in a Catholic school, the child or at least one of the parents must have been baptized in the Catholic Faith, and be able to prove so. Occasionally, if there is space in the school, a non-Catholic family may be able to get their child a place in a Catholic School, but they will have to re-apply each year, as their spot is not guaranteed. High School students who do not have both parents baptized in the RC Church will not be able to attend an RC high School, Except for Religious Instruction, the Catholic schools teach essentially the same subjects in the same way as the Public schools do. Alberta Public Schools are consistently ranked top in Canada by Independent Education Analysts. If you end up purchasing a home in Calgary, you must direct the Education portion of the annual Property Tax to the School Board you are utilizing. If you opt to put your child into Private School, you cannot opt out, but can still choose whichever Board you prefer. Families with no children also have this tax levied on them.
Normally, in both school systems a child attends the neighbourhood school. If the school is not close by, elementary children are bussed to a designated school. Children who are bussed have to stay at school for lunch, unless the parent comes to take them home. Children must bring lunch from home, to eat in supervised lunchrooms (usually classrooms taken over for the lunch period), and elementary schools have no cafeteria. Neither do they have facilities for heating up food from home, as this is seen as a safety risk (young children spilling hot food on themselves or someone else, over-enthusiastic heating resulting in a burn etc) This attitude towards removing potentially harmful situations that could result in injury and lawsuits is very typical in North America. Only in Junior and Senior High are there cafeterias.
In both school systems there are also French Immersion programmes for children who want to learn French, Fine Arts, IB (both English and French) and programmes for gifted and talented children (GATE Programme) and dedicated programmes for Deaf, Blind or physically and mentally challenged children. Spanish Immersion is on offer in the Catholic school system. In order to go to GATE, children have to be tested by a Registered Clinical Psychologist in Calgary, recognized by the School Board. Fine Arts and IB placements are only available after schoolwork and the appropriate department at the School Board offices has reviewed records. The CBE also runs full time dedicated French School, for those children who have a native French-speaking parent (because Canada is officially a bilingual country).
Kindergarten: Age 4 to 5 years. Currently four to five half-days a week. Pre-reading and pre-maths skills covered. Formal education starts in grade1 the following year.
For UK nationals, since formal education starts at 4 years of age, Shell Canada will reimburse families for the education of children 4/5/6 yrs old. Shell Canada expects that families will integrate into the public system at Grade 2 ie age 7. For Dutch nationals, Shell Canada will pay for one year at 4yrs old. After this, the Canadian and Netherlands system integrate at Kindergarten level ( 5 years of age) so Shell Canada will not reimburse after age 4. It is recommended that all other nationalities check with HR on the policy pertaining to them
Elementary School: Age 5 to 11 years, Grades 1 through 6. Children may start Grade 1 in September if they were five years old at the first of March of that year. Most elementary schools have Kindergarten till grade 6 in the same building. In elementary schools, the emphasis is on academics, as one would expect. A child is expected to do homework, which will take approximately 10 minutes per grade. In grade 3 and grade 6, children have to write a Provincial test in Maths, Science and Language Arts. Test results are made publicly available by School (not child), and can be obtained from the School Board website (see later).
As soon as a child is ready to attend Grade 1, he or she will need a student visa. This is obtained by taking you documentation to the Harry Hayes Immigration Building and the School Board. It is a time consuming process (half a day going from one office to another) but not a problem.
In both school systems, children who do not speak English at home will be referred to as ESL-students (English as a Second Language). There will be an itinerant additional teacher who will give those students extra help if needed.
Most schools use volunteers in the classroom to read with a small group of children, to help on field trips or with odd jobs like decorating the classroom on special occasions. Furthermore, schools need volunteers in the library, to help children with computers, for street crossing patrol-duty and more.
Junior High: Age ~12 to 15. Grades 7 through 9. Students attend a designated Junior High, which is specific to where you live. The only exceptions are if your child is in a certain programme (e.g., French Immersion, GATE, Fine Arts, Deaf and Hard of Hearing) School Bussing will be provided by both Boards for Junior High Students, at a small cost to the parents, however if your child is in the Separate School Board and attends an 'exceptional' Programme, then he or she will be expected to use Public Transport. Each school has its own cafeteria for purchasing subsidized cost lunches (pizza, hot-dogs, burgers, sandwiches, even salad) or eating packed lunch. There are usually microwaves for the students to heat up food from home.
Senior High: Age ~15 to 18. Grades 10 through 12. Once again, students attend a designated Senior High, which is specific to where you live. The only exceptions are if your teen is in a specific programme, only offered at certain schools (e.g., French Immersion, GATE, Fine Arts, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, International Baccalaureate) Students are expected to get to and from school under their own steam (Public Transport, parent driver, shanks pony, whatever) Lunch arrangements are the same as Junior High.
General: In Calgary, there are both Private schools and Public schools (paid for by tax payers). Shell Canada will pay the fees for Kindergarten and lower grades. HR will provide specific details on exactly which age groups are covered.
The following notes are specific to the Public and Catholic School systems. For information on how the Private sector operates it is suggested you go to the websites or phone numbers provided at the end of this section, since there are many different sorts of Private Schools, with quite variable structures and Mission Statements.
Public Schools are in two separate school systems. There is the Calgary Catholic School District www.cssd.ab.ca (The Separate School Board) and the Calgary Board of Education www.cbe.ab.ca (CBE). In order to have a child enrolled in a Catholic school, the child or at least one of the parents must have been baptized in the Catholic Faith, and be able to prove so. Occasionally, if there is space in the school, a non-Catholic family may be able to get their child a place in a Catholic School, but they will have to re-apply each year, as their spot is not guaranteed. High School students who do not have both parents baptized in the RC Church will not be able to attend an RC high School, Except for Religious Instruction, the Catholic schools teach essentially the same subjects in the same way as the Public schools do. Alberta Public Schools are consistently ranked top in Canada by Independent Education Analysts. If you end up purchasing a home in Calgary, you must direct the Education portion of the annual Property Tax to the School Board you are utilizing. If you opt to put your child into Private School, you cannot opt out, but can still choose whichever Board you prefer. Families with no children also have this tax levied on them.
Normally, in both school systems a child attends the neighbourhood school. If the school is not close by, elementary children are bussed to a designated school. Children who are bussed have to stay at school for lunch, unless the parent comes to take them home. Children must bring lunch from home, to eat in supervised lunchrooms (usually classrooms taken over for the lunch period), and elementary schools have no cafeteria. Neither do they have facilities for heating up food from home, as this is seen as a safety risk (young children spilling hot food on themselves or someone else, over-enthusiastic heating resulting in a burn etc) This attitude towards removing potentially harmful situations that could result in injury and lawsuits is very typical in North America. Only in Junior and Senior High are there cafeterias.
In both school systems there are also French Immersion programmes for children who want to learn French, Fine Arts, IB (both English and French) and programmes for gifted and talented children (GATE Programme) and dedicated programmes for Deaf, Blind or physically and mentally challenged children. Spanish Immersion is on offer in the Catholic school system. In order to go to GATE, children have to be tested by a Registered Clinical Psychologist in Calgary, recognized by the School Board. Fine Arts and IB placements are only available after schoolwork and the appropriate department at the School Board offices has reviewed records. The CBE also runs full time dedicated French School, for those children who have a native French-speaking parent (because Canada is officially a bilingual country).
Kindergarten: Age 4 to 5 years. Currently four to five half-days a week. Pre-reading and pre-maths skills covered. Formal education starts in grade1 the following year.
For UK nationals, since formal education starts at 4 years of age, Shell Canada will reimburse families for the education of children 4/5/6 yrs old. Shell Canada expects that families will integrate into the public system at Grade 2 ie age 7. For Dutch nationals, Shell Canada will pay for one year at 4yrs old. After this, the Canadian and Netherlands system integrate at Kindergarten level ( 5 years of age) so Shell Canada will not reimburse after age 4. It is recommended that all other nationalities check with HR on the policy pertaining to them
Elementary School: Age 5 to 11 years, Grades 1 through 6. Children may start Grade 1 in September if they were five years old at the first of March of that year. Most elementary schools have Kindergarten till grade 6 in the same building. In elementary schools, the emphasis is on academics, as one would expect. A child is expected to do homework, which will take approximately 10 minutes per grade. In grade 3 and grade 6, children have to write a Provincial test in Maths, Science and Language Arts. Test results are made publicly available by School (not child), and can be obtained from the School Board website (see later).
As soon as a child is ready to attend Grade 1, he or she will need a student visa. This is obtained by taking you documentation to the Harry Hayes Immigration Building and the School Board. It is a time consuming process (half a day going from one office to another) but not a problem.
In both school systems, children who do not speak English at home will be referred to as ESL-students (English as a Second Language). There will be an itinerant additional teacher who will give those students extra help if needed.
Most schools use volunteers in the classroom to read with a small group of children, to help on field trips or with odd jobs like decorating the classroom on special occasions. Furthermore, schools need volunteers in the library, to help children with computers, for street crossing patrol-duty and more.
Junior High: Age ~12 to 15. Grades 7 through 9. Students attend a designated Junior High, which is specific to where you live. The only exceptions are if your child is in a certain programme (e.g., French Immersion, GATE, Fine Arts, Deaf and Hard of Hearing) School Bussing will be provided by both Boards for Junior High Students, at a small cost to the parents, however if your child is in the Separate School Board and attends an 'exceptional' Programme, then he or she will be expected to use Public Transport. Each school has its own cafeteria for purchasing subsidized cost lunches (pizza, hot-dogs, burgers, sandwiches, even salad) or eating packed lunch. There are usually microwaves for the students to heat up food from home.
Senior High: Age ~15 to 18. Grades 10 through 12. Once again, students attend a designated Senior High, which is specific to where you live. The only exceptions are if your teen is in a specific programme, only offered at certain schools (e.g., French Immersion, GATE, Fine Arts, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, International Baccalaureate) Students are expected to get to and from school under their own steam (Public Transport, parent driver, shanks pony, whatever) Lunch arrangements are the same as Junior High.
