Home and School in London

[Penelope40]

I got a position in a London Hospital and will be moving next year. I'm from quebec, with a brazilian background. I'm now completely lost in terms of where to live. I have to girls , 7 and 2 years old. Which would be the best neighborhood to rent or buy a house in order to get access for the best bilangual school? What about my toddler. Do you have any daycare or private school recommandation?Thank you so much. Any information will be already great.

[a_bun_in_the_oven]

I'm assuming you want french first language instead of french immersion? There's a separate french first language school board.

There will soon to be 3 french first language elementary school each with very large catchment areas. They are building a french first language school At Colonal Talbot and Southdale right now. The school board that controls the public french first language is Conseil Scolaire Viamonde.

[melissawilliam]

To add to the post above, we have 2 types of french schools. The French Language Board is for french-speaking parents and children that already know french. Your 7 year old would have to have attended school in french since starting school. All communication is in french and all subjects are taught in french, until gr4 when they take 40 minutes of English each day. (I have no real experience with this board).

French Immersion is our "bilingual" schools. All communication is in English. Students start in Senior Kindergarten or Grade 1, and receive instruction in both english and french about equal during those years. My son is in gr7 and takes most of his subjects in French, Health and English classes are in english, as well as most homework "projects" that often require some parental help (regular homework is in french).
(They do have to attend English school for Junior Kindergarten and then switch to the FI school for SK)

If you look at Thames Valley District School Board website you can find the locations of the FI schools. Because the schools have such big areas each school has great and not-so-great areas to live.

My son attends Kensal Park French Immersion, which is a huge school, but is really good and is South West London. West Oaks is a smaller FI school in the West. We have 3-4 more FI schools in London, but I am not very familiar with them. All of our FI schools are high level schools, so you don't have to worry about getting a rough school.
Pierre Elliot Trudeau FI is located in St. Thomas - which is a city outside of London.

If you are looking for French daycare, then La Ribambelle has a couple locations and starts at age 2.5.
My son attended Western Daycare (on Emery St) and I loved it and they had an amazing pre-school program and he was more than ready to start Junior Kindergarten this year.

[Penelope40]

Thank you so much for your detailed messages. As my 7 years old is bilingual, I would inscribe her in a French Immersion School, so that she can also improve her english. Is it hard to get a place in those schools? How can we réserve a place when we still don<t know where we will be living?

[melissawilliam]

You don't have to be accepted into our public schools. When you have your address, you go to the school to register and the school for the district you live in has to accept her. You can't reserve a spot, but just do it when you move in.

[Penelope40]

So, is there any area that you recommend me looking for a house. I heard the north area is good to raise a family, near the university. But there is also a nice area in the south, probably where you live. What are the names of these neighborhoods? I will be working in Victoria hospital, Richmond street and riverview street.Thank you all again!

[Ingalls]

I live in the northwest end of the city, and it's really nice here. People are very friendly, seem to take a lot of pride in their homes, the school here is fantastic though I realise your kids wouldn't be at that particular one as it is all in English. The thing is though wehre I am it is very geared to cars so it kind of sucks for people who don't drive, like me. If you happen to have a one vehicle family, White Oaks
is the best place hands down to live without a car or with only one car. You can walk to EVERYthing. The homes are a more reasonable price I found, and the yards generally bigger.

[Sunrise]

We live in the summerside subdivision which has 7-8 year old houses, located in the South East of the city. There's a French Immersion school (Princess Anne Gr SK-8) which is fantastic. Kids are bussed to that school. There's also a french catholic elementary school and a French First language highschool, both walking distance within the neighbourhood. There are no English elementary schools in the neighbourhood. The drive to the hospital you'll be working at is about 20-25 minutes.

There are lots of schools in London that have daycares built in for toddlers which makes the transition into JK awesome. They are run through either the London Children's Connection or the YMCA.

Here's a link to the school boards map of boundaries: > Maps: Boundaries & Locations
Daycare info: https://london.onehsn.com/