Learning CURVE
From public and Catholic schools, to Montessori and French immersion- your cheat sheet to education options in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
Two Governmental departments oversee education in British Columbia: the Ministry of Education at the primary and secondary levels and the Ministry of Advanced Education at the post-secondary level.
Public education in the province is government funded, covering grades from kindergarten through to Grade 12. Currently there are 59 school district in the province, as well as a Francophone Education Authority. Check out the Government of British Columbia website (http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/schools/) for more information.
Thirteen English-speaking public school boards service the greater Vancouver area. In Vancouver, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) is responsible for public education. For enrollment information, visit (www.vsb.bc.ca) FAQ's under students section or call 604-713-5000
In Vancouver, parents whose first language is French have the right to have their children educated primarily in French. The Conseil scolaire de la Colombie-Britannique (the BC Francophone Education Authority), is an independent school board that provides French-as-first-language schooling throughout the province. Call the Authority at 1-888-715-2200 or visit their website at (www.csf.bc.ca) for more information.
Catholic schools follow a curriculum set by the province and receive 50 percent of their operating costs from the provincial government. However, there are additional attendance fees that parents must cover. There are currently 49 Catholic schools in the Lower Mainland - 40 elementary and nine secondary schools. To locate a Catholic school in your area, contact your local parish, or the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese 604-683-9331 or on their website: (cisva.rcav.org).
- French and Mandarin Immersion
French Immersion is an optional program designed for students whose first language is not French. There are two streams of French immersion: late and early. In the early immersion program, French is the language students first learn to read and wrote - not English. It is used exclusively in the classroom until Grade 4 when English instruction is gradually introduced. In the late stream, immersion begins in Grade 6.
The VSB also offers a Mandarin (Chinese) Bilingual Program where students can learn the language in grade school and continue their secondary studies in the combined Mandarin and English.
For more information contact the VSB District Reception and Placement Centre at 604-713-5999
British Columbia is the first province in Canada to approve Montessori in the public school system. The program, an early education system that seeks to develop natural interest and activities in children, follows the same curriculum as all public schools. To locate a Montessori program, contact your local public school board. For detailed information on Schools and Schooling, click on the following link: (www.bced.gov.bc.ca/schools/bcmap.htm).
The province's 27 institutions include top-notch colleges and universities, such as Simon Fraser. For those unable to physically attend classes, post secondary credentials can often be attained at home through distance education, conducted either via mail or the Internet.
The Post-secondary Application Program of BC (PASBC), Canad's first Internet application-for-admission program, enables students to apply online to the institutions of their choice. For more information, visit (www.pas.bc.ca).
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