MONTREAL - anyone from Montreal or an expat living in Montreal ?

[TheBFactor]

Hello everyone, we are emigrating to the beautiful province of Quebec next year (we are still waiting for our Canadian visa but have received our Quebec certificates already : )

Can anyone please tell me more about their French state primary (elementary) schools, any recommendations, etc. ?

I have been on another forum which wasn't parent-centred and didn't get much of a response unfortunately.

As new immigrants DS and I will have to learn French quickly. DH is already fluent in French and a Francophone in every sense ! Hence the move to Quebec.

DS (nearly 8 now) is already taking French lessons here in the UK and has good passive knowledge of basis vocab. He is already bilingual (English and our native language) - French is his 3rd language and with high exposure at school in Montreal he will learn it in no time.

We look forward to full integration, we don't see ourselves hiding ourselves away in an English or Anglophone enclave. We love French culture (Quebec style) ; )

Any suggestions please, where to live, where NOT to live, which French elementary schools please ? I have heard there isn't much difference between elementry schools over there, they are all pretty good, is this true ?

Ideally we would like to live near Montreal downtown.

Hi- I'm from Canada and spent two years living in Montreal at McGill. Montreal is an amazing city. Try to stay in the city. West mount to the west. The plateau and further north (it gets less student-y). Avoid the burbs if you can as Montreal centre is cool but leafy and family friendly.

There are english only schools although I'd explore the schools close to the universities which will have an influx of kids from around the world and therefore much more prepared for French as a second language. Pm me if you want.

Hi,
We lived in Montreal for 9 years, my DS's were 3 and 1 when we arrived and we had DD a year later. We lived there for nine years and we loved it.

My kids went to private English schools as we knew we were not going to stay permanently. There were only a couple of English schools they were allowed to go to due to the language laws, the Priory in westmount and Kuper in the West Island. Theses schools are excempt form the language laws as they don't receive a cent from the government. They still learnt French though.
We lived in TMR, and then ST Laurent.

Personally, if I were going with the intention of staying and 'becoming' French I would live in Outramont, it has a great vibe and is close to everywhere. Great restaurants too.
The French schools often have largish classes and can be a little old fashioned but are usually good. I did not get the impression that they are universally good, more that it is similar to here, in that some schools are good and some not so good. There are some rough schools in Montreal as there are everywhere. Private French schools are very reasonable indeed, much cheaper than the private English schools. Over 40% (i think) of kids go to private schools in Montreal.

A lot of French schools such as the one in TMR have a large number of bilingual anglophone kids. You may or may not think this a good thing. It would probably be easier for you son. Some schools (you would have to check) have program's to integrate anglophone kids. Be warned that nearly all the English kids I knew that were immerced in a French school struggled and found it very hard at first. It is really not easy, however, they all got over it sooner or later and are all now bilingual. None of the parents regretted putting their kids in a French school. The francophone kids don't tend to be taught decent English so, in the long term, your child would have the advantage of being properly tri lingual.

As I am sure you know there are lots of immigrants in Montreal, it great. I would imagine your son will find other kids who speak your native language.

Looking ahead the CEGEP system and the Montreal Universities are both excellent.
Anyway, best of luck with your move. Enjoy the skiing, the coffee shops, walks on Mont Royal, the fantastic markets and the general vibe!