What is the date for registration for French Immersion (Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 6 Late Immersion) for the 2010/11 school year?Registration for 2010/11 will be accepted during office hours (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.) between November 25 and January 29. Registration is not on a first-come, first-serve basis.
What happens if I register after the January 29, 2010 deadline? Any registration, including siblings, received after the deadline will be added to the end of the waitlist that will be created from the draw. Late applicants will not be considered until after both the school’s in-catchment and the district Kindergarten and Grade 1 waitlist have been exhausted.
When will the draw be held? Should a school receive more registrations for Kindergarten or Grade 1 or Grade 6 Late Immersion than the available spaces, an in-catchment school draw will be held the week of February 1st, 2010. The draw will be supervised by the principal, parent representatives from the school Parent Advisory Committee, and/or the Canadian Parents for French (CPF).
Our family has twins. How will this situation be addressed in the draw? Where a family has twins, only one ballot will be entered into the draw. If drawn, both children will be offered places in the program.
When will families be notified about the results of the draw? By Friday, February 12, 2010, parents should have received notification by mail of their status: an offer of a space in Kindergarten or Grade 1 or Grade 6 Late Immersion or the child’s position on the school waitlist. If you have not been contacted, please call the school administrator.
Does a family have to formally accept a position, and if so in what time frame? Families will have until Monday, February 22, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. to confirm their acceptance of the space in Kindergarten or Grade 1 or Grade 6 Late Immersion. After that time unclaimed spaces, or those that later become available, will be offered to those on the waitlist.
Should I register my child in the regular Kindergarten program while we wait to see if we have space in French Immersion? Parents are required to register their child in their regular catchment English school in January. Parents who are not guaranteed a space in French Immersion by early April 2010 are required to confirm registration at their catchment area English school.
When is the deadline to register a new applicant to Grade 1 Early French Immersion or Grade 6 Late French Immersion? New Grade 1 French Immersion applications will be accepted up to the last school day in September unless the Grade 1 applicant is currently registered in a French Immersion program in another district. New Grade 6 Late French Immersion applications will be accepted up to the end of the second week of school. Students will only be enrolled provided there is space in the program.
Is there any opportunity for a space in another French Immersion school if we are unsuccessful in the draw for our French Immersion catchment school? On Thursday, April 1, 2010 a second draw will be conducted for French Immersion Kindergarten and Grade 1 French Immersion applicants who indicated on their registration forms that they would be willing to consider an alternate French Immersion school. Students from this district draw will be called should a space become available at a school with no students on its in-catchment waitlist. If your child is successful in obtaining a spot at an alternate school, he/she will retain his/her place on the catchment school's waitlist until the waitlist is dissolved on June 30, 2011 for Kindergarten students and September 30, 2010 for Grade 1 students.
What happens if a Kindergarten space becomes available at a French Immersion school during the school year? The space will first be offered in draw order to families on the in-catchment waitlist who registered within the registration date.
If the school's in-catchment waitlist is exhausted and the space still remains, we will go to the first name on the district Kindergarten waitlist which will be created on April 1, 2010.
What happens if a Kindergarten space becomes available at a French Immersion school during the school year and the district Kindergarten waitlist has been dissolved? Consideration for the space(s) will be open to new registrants, late registrants, cross-boundary registrants, and to registrants who applied before the January 29, 2010 deadline but previously did not indicate a desire to be placed on the district French Immersion waitlist. Priority consideration will be based on:
- in-catchment students
- proximity to the school for non-catchment students
- proximity to the school for non-Vancouver residents
For how long do waitlists apply? Grade 1 waitlists will be dissolved on Thursday, September 30, 2010.
Grade 6 Late Immersion waitlists will be dissolved at the end of the second school week in September.
Kindergarten waitlists will be dissolved on Thursday, June 30, 2011. Families still on a school's 2008/09 Kindergarten waitlist need to reapply within the application period (January 5 - January 30, 2009) to their French Immersion in-catchment school for Grade 1.
If I am going to be moving to Vancouver, can I register for the French Immersion catchment school where I intend to live? No. You must be a resident in the catchment area at the time of registration (November 2 - January 29, 2010) in order to apply for a space for September 2010.
How do I find out in which catchment area I live? If you go to the Vancouver School Board website
School Location Search by Postal Code you will be able to look up your catchment area through a link from the French Immersion information section.
Can I apply cross-boundary to another school after the registration deadline? Parents may apply cross-boundary to another school, but these applications will only be considered after all in-catchment applicants have been placed and the process outlined in question #9 (above) is completed.
My child was waitlisted to attend the French Immersion Kindergarten at his/her catchment school. Subsequently, he/she accepted a spot in another French Immersion program in Vancouver. How can my child return to the French Immersion program in his/her catchment school? All waitlists will be dissolved prior to the end of this school year. All unsuccessful applicants must re-apply within the registration timelines (Novembery 2 to January 29, 2010) if they wish to return to their catchment school. Should there be more applicants than available spaces in Grade 1, a draw will be held to determine the 2010/2011 waitlist for that catchment school.
My spouse and I are separated and arrangements have been made for our child to live with one parent on alternate days/weeks. Is my child entitled to complete an in-catchment registration at two different French Immersion programs? No, a student can only have one catchment school. Parents need to determine which school will be their catchment school and may apply cross-boundary to other French Immersion programs.
My child was born outside of Canada. How can I register him/her for French Immersion? Students born outside Canada must first register with their parent or legal guardian at the District Reception and Placement Centre (DRPC) before they can be accepted into the French Immersion program. Please see the
Step 3 of the School Registration process for more specific information about registration procedures. After completing registration at DRPC, parents must then complete a French Immersion application form at their child's French Immersion catchment school.
Can parents/legal guardians register by telephone, fax or e-mail? The District Reception and Placement Centre and schools do not usually accept applications by telephone, fax or e-mail as staff need to verify authenticity of documentation. Documents that are written in a foreign language need to be translated into English. Any missing documents delay the processing time for your file.
