maleeksha said:
Hello Frege,
Thanks for the links. $20k per year is too much!
Do you have any feedback from english speaking parents who have sent their kids to public schools in Quebec? My kids are aged 13 and 10. Your views and opinion will be much welcomed.
Thanks,
Maleeksha
English public schools are good in most places.
But if neither of you went to elementary school in Canada and you become permanent residents, then your kids will almost certainly have to go to either a French school or an unsubsidized English private school. If you are in Quebec on a temporary basis, they may be able to go to an English public school (or a subsidized private one). There are a small number of other exceptions. An explanation of the rules can be found here: http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/en/parents-and-guardians/instruction-in-english/eligibility/
Age 13 isn't too late to switch. I'm sure a lot of people move to the U.S. and their kids don't speak English at first, but then they go to school with everyone else, learn it well and end up bilingual. It can be the same in Quebec with French.
French public schools have "reception classes" (classes d'accueil) for kids who don't speak French. The classes are taught in French, but they're for language learners, usually the children of new immigrants. After a year the kids are mainstreamed.
If you want your kids to study in English, then I think your only choices will be the ones in the list I linked to above (English-language unsubsidized private schools http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/reseau/ens_prive/etablissements_prives_nonsubventionnes_2015.pdf ).
Here is an academic ranking of most high schools in Quebec: http://quebec.compareschoolrankings.org/secondary/SchoolsByRankLocationName.aspx
There are options to sort them between English and French, public and private, by region, etc. The list doesn't distinguish between private subsidized and private unsubsidized. Some schools aren't on the list, and I think that happens mostly when they're very small.
The link below is to a ranking of most French-language public elementary schools in the Montreal area. Click on "carte" for a map of the schools. To send your kids to a public elementary school, you usually need to live in that school's catchment area, though the exact rules vary by school board ("commission scolaire"). There are exceptions for so-called "écoles à projet particulier," which would be called "magnet schools" in the U.S.
http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/201508/31/01-4896548-palmares-des-ecoles-primaires-publiques.php
Generally, the top academic schools in Quebec tend to be certain French-language subsidized private schools, especially in larger cities. For example, the top high school in Quebec is Jean-de-Brébeuf, in Montreal, which costs about $5,000 a year. The top public schools are the "écoles internationales." To go to one of those, you have to live within the jurisdiction of the school board that runs it and pass an entrance exam.
