St. Laurent Academy

I heard about St. Laurent Academy through a neighbour who had a grandson that attended the school for a few years, so I decided to book a visit. Its close enough to town that its not too far out of my way to drop my daughter off. Its in a larger school building and is situated right next to park which gives it the advantage of extra grounds for the kids without having to actually pay to maintain them. The neighbourhood is residential, just off of the main street, so pick up and drop offs should be rather safe for the little ones like mine. There is a nice gymnasium and they have a lot of space in the school for future expansion. Here are some of my observations.

They follow the Ontario curriculum and advertise that its an enriched curriculum, which basically means they cover more than the basics. All private schools will say that, so that isn't a distinguishing feature for me. Plus, I have discovered that for private schools in general, there is actually very little oversight when it comes to curriculum. The Ministry of Education simply asks that private schools indicate whether or not they intend to offer their services each year and apply for their licence, and apparently that's that. The Ministry of Education brushes their hands and they are done. Private schools are considered independent of the education system so it is up to the school's principal to maintain standards. (Someone please comment if you have any other details to shed light on this point. I have had a hard time finding much about how private schools are regulated, if they even are regulated and monitored in terms of quality of education.) So this is another reason you want to make sure that the school principal shares similar philosophies on education as you do, or else, what the heck are you paying for? It also means that if you don't see eye to eye with the principal, there is very little recourse as the Ministry of Education has very limited vested interest in private schools. Perhaps this is a flaw in our system that should be brought to light.

Separate French and English cohorts. I personally found this idea to be very hard to understand and I actually had to ask the principal to clarify a few times what this actually meant. If I understand correctly, there is one French cohort and one English cohort and they actually remain separate for pretty much everything. Both cohorts have classes in the other official language, however it is not considered an immersion program because it doesn't meet the time requirement to qualify to be called an immersion program. (time is pretty much the only qualifier for a program to be called "immersion") I'm not quite sure what the advantage is for the school to keep them separate to this extent, other than the possibility that they may not have sufficient specialized staff to offer a full enriched bilingual curriculum. In which case, this signals to me, that one of the cohorts may have fewer teachers that are responsible for multiple subjects because of the language barrier.

Community-oriented. One of the things that struck me most about St. Laurent Academy was that you could immediately sense that you had just stepped into a warm community. Everyone seemed to respect and genuinely care about the other. Parents seemed highly involved in the school as there are many volunteer groups. The teachers seemed like they were fully invested in the interest of the school and the interest of the children. I could sense the team spirit. I sensed it the second I met the principal. She seemed like someone who is in it because she cares. She seems like the type of person that genuinely wants to make a difference and will work hard at it. She didn't come across as a slick business woman, or a tough salesperson; but to me, that is a good thing. Who wants that in a principal? Not me. I don't want someone who is going to put business first and then the children are just an afterthought.

Learning through experience. When I visited the classrooms, I was amazed at how much hands-on learning these kids were doing, and the level of investment that the teachers were putting into their classes. They had done things from building prototypes of the inside of the space shuttle to a mini-science museum in the classroom. The history room had recreated scenes depicting historical events and recreated ancient artwork. It was so incredibly hands on. If you are a proponent of this type of hands-on learning, I think you should definitely visit the school to learn more.

Tuition is around the city-average. You're looking at roughly $14,000 per year.

Overall rating: "Looks like a great school, but not sure if its a good fit for us"

Elmwood School Ottawa

(*note: when I use the term private school, I am referring to all classifications of schools...independent, not-for-profit, private etc. It gets too complex and confusing to differentiate otheriwise.)

Anyone that has shopped for private schools in Ottawa has heard of Elmwood School.  Elmwood, along with the neighbouring Ashbury, are private schools in a league of their own. They have the advantage of time on their sides. They are what I have in mind when I think of private school. They are similar to the schools that I went through personally, and it was in schools like those where I was truly challenged as an individual - I may not have necessarily liked all of the challenges growing up, but looking back, it was those experiences that really shaped me.

Some highlights from Elmwood:

Elmwood follows the IB program which means a solid curriculum, international recognition, and hence a slight advantage for graduates applying to universities overseas. I only say slight advantage, because truth is, Canada is a well respected country internationally and our high school diploma will be recognized pretty much anywhere in the world. However, one added advantage of the IB program is that this minimizes significantly the chances of your child being a split (blended) class. As many private school parents will know, many of the smaller private schools in Ottawa tend to have lower enrollment and sometimes two grades will be put into one class and hence share the teacher's time. Elmwood's enrollment is not currently an issue, but should such a scenario present itself, the IB structure is not conducive to split classes. So if split classes are an issue for you, you may want to consider the IB program.

Elmwood is classified as not-for-profit. This means that there is a board which is made up of a mix of current parents, alumni parents, as well as independent bodies. They make the decisions pertaining to the school and send their direction to the principal who is in charge of the execution of these decisions. This has the advantage of separating the education aspect from the business aspect by one degree of separation. This doesn't necessarily guarantee that all will be peachy-keen, but its one of the more democratic ways to run a school. So if you don't want to be at the mercy of the whim of one sole principal, you may wish to look into a not-for-profit structure or ask if the school has a board of directors.

Large school grounds. The history of Elmwood goes back many decades. Many of the grounds were actually donated to the school. Since Elmwood has time on its side, the school's properties are rather enviable in a time where grass is a rarety in a city-school. There are sports fields and separate buildings for the junior and senior schools. Shared facilities, such as gymnasiums are in good shape and roomy.

Teachers. Many of the classes at Elmwood are covered by one primary teacher and one assistant. Oftentimes, the teacher's assistant is a fully qualified teacher as well. Due to the school's large size, Elmwood has many specialized teachers who only have one, perhaps 2 main core subjects.

Price. What is that saying? "You get what you pay for..." Well, if that is any indication, Elmwood must be a darn good school. JK and SK are slightly more expensive than their other private school counterparts, but remain competitive at approx $16,000 a year. This price tag includes early morning drop-off. The big gulp, *gulp*, comes when students enter grade one, with a tuition jump that brings annual tuition to a whopping $20,000 a year. Add in the cost of uniforms, text book fees, and other outings and etc...parents had better plan their investment accordingly.

Bursaries. Elmwood does offer bursaries. They have an application process, and from what I have observed and heard through the grapevine, they are good with their bursaries. By good, I mean, they offer them to students. Although they may be a not-for-profit, they still need to pay the bills. So money, is still an issue. So bursaries add some tuition flexibility to aid the overall business plan.

Uniforms. I'm not overly picky with uniforms. As long as the school has them, I'm happy. And as long as it doesn't get too ridiculously expensive, I'm fine with that. These uniforms are a rather ugly green, and some of the items are rather expensive; but in the grand scheme of things, not a big ticket item...in more ways than one.

Overall rating:  "If I could afford it, I would send my daughter there"