Wearing a raincoat when swimming

Today is the last day of school for C-Ling and V-8, their first day back is August 31st where C-Ling will start Grade Six, the last year of elementary school here in Quebec. V-8 will start Grade Two. This means that by about the start of Fall this year we will have to decide what school C-Ling will go to for high school (grades 7-11).

We believe we've narrowed it down to two schools, we'll call them LP and SH.

LP is a public school that is adjacent to the elementary school where she is attending. It has a small student population and is borderline being at risk of closing. However, with a small student population comes small class sizes and we (my wife and I) feel a small class size would really benefit C-Ling given her personality and learning style. It is likely that she will know quite a few of the kids that would go there as they would go there from the school she is currently attending.

SH is a private English Catholic girls school that is in the city. It also has a small student population but is not at any short to medium term risk of closing. The small class room benefits persist, and in addition, this school has much nicer facilities and it would subject her to a student body with a much greater variety of backgrounds. Being in the city would also have her learn 'street smarts' - something she wouldn't get going to LP. SH will cost us a significant amount of money for each year but we figure with a few sacrifices we should be able to manage.

LP is a much simpler commute, SH takes quite a bit longer.

SH has a uniform, making it easy to dress her for school, LP has no uniform or dress code.

SH would require her to have a transit pass, LP may, I'm not certain.

I'm personally leaning towards SH (you can probably tell), but I may only have 30% say in this decision. My wife will likely have 40% and C-Ling will have 30%. One way that I think I could sway things is that SH has a 'Student for a day' program where C-Ling, early in the school year next year, could take a day off from her elementary school and spend a day with a student in SH, to see what it's like. I suppose this could sway her one way or the other, but I think the experience would do well to show her what it is all about.

I suppose I won't have any more updates about this until the fall when the Open Houses take place. SH has their Open House already scheduled for Sept 24 while LP traditionally has theirs in the second week of October.