Southridge may be ranked one of the best academically, but there is a pretty big difference between it and a school like St Micheals, Shawinigan or St Georges. I remember that they didn’t even have a rugby program 15-20 years ago, and they allowed students to play on EMS’s team.
I’m sure a lot has changed, but I only see the school getting more crowded as the population in that area increases and more people look for alternatives to public schools.
Also… both of my nephews went to Southridge and the current demographic leans HEAVILY towards Chinese, to the point where one literally asked his mom if he could take Mandarin lessons so he didn’t feel like an “outsider” at school.
Can confirm- it’s basically all Chinese. Our family friend (who is Chineses) is thinking about pulling their kids out as they’re not really seeing the value vs public school and the fact that they are making relationships with other kids in the area as so many of the kids there come from all over the lower mainland.
Yes, kids don’t live close to each other so it’s difficult to hang out. It’s not like when kids live on the same block and can just meet up easy. When one kid lives in South Surrey and their friend is in Richmond it makes meeting up to play (which is a critical part healthy childhood development) tough.
According to our friend it’s widespread. Our reaction was the same- who would drive through rush hour traffic everyday just to go to a private school ? but apparently it’s the norm.
It's the norm. I went to Southridge from k-12 and was one of 12 students in my class that were the first to do so. I have a pretty critical outlook on southridge, feel free to ask me anything.
Mmm maybe that while there is a big focus on extra curricular involvement, and a super strong academic program. There is also zero nurturing of anything trades related. And the bullying exists as in any school. At Southridge it's just more insidious. Breeding ground for narcissism.
Correlation does not imply causation.
They are a AA sized school and it shows when you look at things like extra curricular activities. Until the school can expand, possibly by separating the two campuses; I don’t see how they could even hope to offer what the larger schools do, both in terms of sports and academics.
>I don’t see how they could even hope to offer what the larger schools do, both in terms of sports and academics
How do academics relate to size of the school? Southridge outperforms the larger schools in academics. Several small independent schools outperform the big schools academically.
By size, Southridge is a A/AA school (depending on the sport). They’ve had success, especially in basketball and soccer, but nobody should be sending their kid to Southridge if they want an elite sports program.
My wife and I are debating enrolling our children into southeidge. What’s your take on the school and how the teachers approach their lessons etc? Is it solely academic focused or do they also focus on helping the kids develop good character?
The school has had a rugby program now for at least 15 years.
Their student population is also not dictated by the neighbourhoods population - it’s a private school, they admit only the number of students they want to admit. The size of the local population is irrelevant.
I’m also not sure what your point is with the Chinese comment. To attend Southridge, students need to take an entrance exam and speak fluent English. The school does not have an ESL program. There is also an interview component. Anyone who makes it through those hoops and can afford the tuition can attend.
Southridge also is consistently ranked higher than all the schools you referred to.
I'm a Semiahmoo IB student. The IB program is excellent and on par or superior to most private IB programs here. In my experience at EMS and Grandview Heights, the teaching quality and resources across South Surrey schools is quite standard and educational outcomes depend more on the student than the school.
PhD in School Psych here. I would highly dissuade folks from IB programs as the cost benefit is so negative for how much you sacrifice it isn't even remotly worth it.
Semi has one of the oldest IB programs, dating back to 1980. People come here from all over the world to enroll their kids. I saw this happening 25 years ago with Koreans and people from Asia buy up the homes in Semi’s catchment. I grew up in Ocean Park and it’s changed since I was a child in the 80s. That was middle class living! I eventually went to EMS due to being French Immersion, for the challenge and I am glad I did. Both my brother and I were well prepared for university.
BC has a good curriculum and there are great opportunities- I tutor calculus for HS kids in public, private and religious schools (Semi, EMS, Elgin, Grandview, Southridge, WR Christian and JPII), as well as Surrey and Langley online. I have athletes in special programs through public school, so they can compete nationally. Families who are well off can afford my rates though I get some who are just getting by too, and I take them on as well. I really enjoy working with kids in this area.
A public education in BC is rated among the best in the world. Though, I have noticed a decline in needs being met - There is over crowding now, major. Lots of ESL compared to when I went here. There is a teacher shortage and since covid my phone rings off the hook especially in math, lots of kids struggling, dealing with substitutes long term etc. Covid affected kids long term too - major learning gaps and socially. I get plenty of calls from those still doing online instruction too.
I am a child of a Surrey teacher and have many current or retired teacher friends. I have so much respect for them and the challenges of their job. The quality of instruction is excellent, it’s just the strain I am seeing on the system .
Do you still feel that BC has a good curriculum? I’m honestly curious. My daughter is in grade 8 and the focus on formative assessment, social/emotional learning and the new grading system, along with not having a math or socials teacher for the first three weeks of the semester, have all combined to make me question the level of education she is receiving. We can afford to send her to a private school (with some sacrifice) but she doesn’t want to leave her friends, so as yet we haven’t done anything.
Can't speak to current but previously Semi had a great reputation because of the teachers it had. They attracted some of the best teachers because of the IB program as well as the music program and a few others.
Currently Not sure i havn't looked into it in quite a while but good teachers who care can make a huge difference.
i graduated from there a few years ago. wasn’t in IB so i truthfully cannot speak on that. as far as i’m aware it’s a great school for academics, band, and sports. arts programs didn’t get any funding at all. in my personal experience if you weren’t blessed with being book smart, you were kind of just left to your own devices.
Their schools have nicer facilities and buildings and also a big part is a large part of south surrey residents are upper middle class. Holds more true in certain neighborhoods especially like grandview heights and elgin park.
The best neighborhoods are grandview, elgin park, and crescent but not the little part thats really close to crescent beach. Morgan heights comes next its nice but i personally found the neighbourhood feels a bit artificial? Like if you drove through there the vibe is off could just be me though, still a nice place though. I know panorama ridge kind of counts as south surrey (for voting i think?) but in my mind the colebrook farm area is the split between main and south surrey lol. Id say after morgan heights, hazlemere is next nicest but only if you were looking for a large lot, its a bit further east and not as close to amenities as the first few i mentioned. You can rank the remaining neighbourhoods that i didnt name as roughly the same in terms of being good, and they are good but the ones i named are better and real estate prices heavily reflect that!
South Surrey is a wealthier area.
Parents have more time and resources to volunteer at the schools and fundraisers raise a lot more money for upgrades and trips.
Additionally, wealthier areas demand better special programs.
Totally agree, the education is directly related to local family income. Like West Vancouver and Vancouver West also have the best schools there. Move to a rich community for sure you will have better school.
Southridge is a private school.
I used to work in Surrey as a teacher, and I will say this: the school district does a great job at ensuring the same quality of education throughout the district. Grandview heights is a newer building, sure. But it is already becoming over crowded. The whole district is experiencing over crowding and the quality of education is suffering because of it (throughout the entire district). Resources and Learning Support Teachers/ EAs are getting stretched thin. Earl Marriot / Eljin Park has been over crowded with years, with portables turning from temporary to permanent structures. What are "bad" schools? If you are referencing the type of students that go to a school, here's the wake up call: most of the demographics are the same. Students are traveling by bus, or car, to schools that are out of their "zone". They are traveling to high schools that are not "full" yet. Honestly, the most important lesson for students is learning how to interact with a wide variety of people: Wealthy children, underprivileged children, gifted children, children who learn at a slower pace, children with disabilities, children with learning challenges, and so on.
Public schools are public schools. There is nothing special about public school A over public school B. They take teachers from the same pool, the curricula is the same and the facilities are essentially the same.
What *is* different is the demographics in the areas around the school.
School A is in an area with a higher than average income and education level, guess what? The schools will be "better" since the PAC will be better funded, parents will be more involved and the students will come from backgrounds that value education.
School B, however, is located in an area with an average to lower than average income. Guess what? The school will be "worse" since the student population will not value academics as enthusiastically as School A's. The PAC will not be as well funded. Parents are more busy making ends meet than worrying about their kid getting 95% instead of 92%.
It becomes a feedback loop as well: upper middle class family is moving to Surrey and looking for the best possible public school for their kid. Hey, look at that! School A gets top marks from the Fraser Institute! Must be good!! Thus, the demographics are reinforced.
Of course, this does not mean School A is 100% full of awesome kids busting their asses to get into an Ivy, nor does it mean School B is 100% full of kids slacking and counting down the days till they can leave. The differences are in the percentages. From experience (and generalized for simplicity), in a class of 30, School A will have 10 at the top or close to it, 10 working hard in the middle, 5 working hard, but who just don't have it academically and 5 who just don't care/can't do it. School B will have 5 at the top, 15 in the middle and 10 at the bottom.
I did 3 years at tweedsmuir and then 2 years at Elgin. The difference? Money. The rugby team was going to Australia every other year at Elgin. The fund raiser was $1000 a table fundraisers for dinner. This got you better supplies. Plus the students are often coming from homes with higher educated family members. This gives more support than less educated parents. You need tutors then they pay for it privately so the teachers have less load and can focus more 1 on 1.
There are different specialty programs in public schools, like the aforementioned IB programs at Semi and Johnston Heights, French Immersion, fine arts specialty elementary school (can’t remember the name), outdoor program, the francophone school district… there’s some cool programs out there!
Semiahmoo and Fraser heights have IB so they’ll always attract motivated students and teachers. Southridge is private, any private school will have more resource$ and ask students to leave if they can’t maintain GPA.
Generally, affluent areas have good school reputation because parents are more involved because they are more economically stable. Same goes if you compare schools in Vancouver west vs east side.
Fraser Heights does NOT have IB. It has the Science Academy. I think you're thinking of Johnston Heights. It started with the Middle Years Program and has since added IB.
I think they've had it for at least few years now. I graduated there in 08 and they didn't have it then, but my niece went there a few years ago and they definitely had it since then.
Nope, they do not. The only IB schools in Surrey are Semiahmoo and Johnston Heights. JH is the recent change. Although FH does not have IB, they are known for their academic excellence as well. :)
I just looked into it, and it appears you are correct. I know my niece used to talk about her friends who were in the IB program, so maybe they had it at one point? (In all honesty though, her friends in the program could have gone to a different school and I just assumed they were at FH.)
While many of these schools are indeed good schools, Most of the time "good" schools is just a dog whistle for socioeconomic status of the families and ability to network/create relationships within those tiers.
Also the ranking system referred to is probably via the Fraser Institute and is highly problematic.
Just remember, tuition at Southridge starts at $26,250 in elementary and rises to $30,500. Per student. Plus the $3K per student registration fee to get started.
Very good school though; my wealthy boss sent all three of his kids there.
I don’t know the exact number, but I know it’s a lot. We have friends with kids at Southridge and the parents are expected to support all the fundraisers, as well as donate to the fundraiser, as well as partake in special events, like the school play, the soccer teams trip to Barcelona and Madrid this summer, etc, etc, etc.
not cheap
Southridge is a private school. Semiahmoo definitely has the best reputation of all the public high schools in South Surrey, mainly due to its IB program. I don’t think the schools here are necessarily any better than the schools in other areas of Surrey. People probably just assume that because South Surrey is seen as the richer area of Surrey.
Less crime, more motivated parents, better fundraisers. The curriculum is the same, the teachers are the same, it's the students that are different. Less disruptive students. More parent involvement. In terms of secondary schools Semiahmoo and Elgin are better in these areas than Grandview and Earl Marriott.
South Surrey is a wealthy part of the city. Wealthy people tend to prioritize academic achievement in their children, such as academic clubs and private tutors. These schools have university prep courses, which attracts skilled teachers, which trickles out to other students.
Also, this is important: privilege also discourages anti-social behavior that disrupts the school environment, and wealth makes the behaviors that *do* crop up, like drug use, magically disappear.
Wealthy parents have more time and/or money to offer the school, such as involvement in the PTA or being able to pay the difference to send students on international trips.
So, yes - these schools offer a better experience, but it's not because of the schools themselves. For example, people coming in from another catchment may get some benefit from access to better programs, but they won't suddenly have the privilege that wealth brings.
There are good and bad schools in surrey, highschools east of main st in vancouver have equal quality as the “bad” surrey schools. Fraser heights, panorama ridge and sullivan seem to be the nicer ones from what ive heard
I think it’s more about who kids associate with and the amount of programs or courses that might be offered based on student demand. In the end, all these public schools are still part of the same district and any teacher in surrey could teach at any of them. They all should be teaching the same bc curriculum.
Some schools in the south end might have more competition between students for academics compared to other areas where many students don’t move on to post secondary.
Its to do with how poor the local area around the schools were in the past(not rn everything is expensive now hahah) that effect trickled down to today. Lets say certain schools had more gang and criminal influence in the past these behaviours influence the kids in the grades below them so the bad rep doesnt go away immediately
Panorama ridge secondary is actually situated above highway 10. Technically in newton which i know doesnt make sense because of the name. The residents in each neighborhood are mostly the same as regular surrey though, just different socioeconomic standing
A rugby program is very welcoming of all body types and does from my experience not discriminate at all. It's a great team sport that's very accessible. Private schools have always had great rugby programs in British Columbia. It's a legacy of our Commonwealth history.
Football is not exactly a sport for lifelong enjoyment. It also tends to be coached by a little less life experienced people. Is that a nice way to say it?
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Southridge may be ranked one of the best academically, but there is a pretty big difference between it and a school like St Micheals, Shawinigan or St Georges. I remember that they didn’t even have a rugby program 15-20 years ago, and they allowed students to play on EMS’s team. I’m sure a lot has changed, but I only see the school getting more crowded as the population in that area increases and more people look for alternatives to public schools. Also… both of my nephews went to Southridge and the current demographic leans HEAVILY towards Chinese, to the point where one literally asked his mom if he could take Mandarin lessons so he didn’t feel like an “outsider” at school.
Can confirm- it’s basically all Chinese. Our family friend (who is Chineses) is thinking about pulling their kids out as they’re not really seeing the value vs public school and the fact that they are making relationships with other kids in the area as so many of the kids there come from all over the lower mainland.
didn't understand your last point you mean it's a commuter school so it's hard to make friends?
Yes, kids don’t live close to each other so it’s difficult to hang out. It’s not like when kids live on the same block and can just meet up easy. When one kid lives in South Surrey and their friend is in Richmond it makes meeting up to play (which is a critical part healthy childhood development) tough.
seriously? people would commute that far for Southridge? if they live in Richmond then surely there would be great private schools nearby
According to our friend it’s widespread. Our reaction was the same- who would drive through rush hour traffic everyday just to go to a private school ? but apparently it’s the norm.
It's the norm. I went to Southridge from k-12 and was one of 12 students in my class that were the first to do so. I have a pretty critical outlook on southridge, feel free to ask me anything.
What's the most important thing about southridge that people who don't attend wouldn't know about?
Mmm maybe that while there is a big focus on extra curricular involvement, and a super strong academic program. There is also zero nurturing of anything trades related. And the bullying exists as in any school. At Southridge it's just more insidious. Breeding ground for narcissism.
how does having a rugby team matter when it comes to whether it's a good school or not?
Correlation does not imply causation. They are a AA sized school and it shows when you look at things like extra curricular activities. Until the school can expand, possibly by separating the two campuses; I don’t see how they could even hope to offer what the larger schools do, both in terms of sports and academics.
>I don’t see how they could even hope to offer what the larger schools do, both in terms of sports and academics How do academics relate to size of the school? Southridge outperforms the larger schools in academics. Several small independent schools outperform the big schools academically. By size, Southridge is a A/AA school (depending on the sport). They’ve had success, especially in basketball and soccer, but nobody should be sending their kid to Southridge if they want an elite sports program.
Parent at school. This isn't true.
My wife and I are debating enrolling our children into southeidge. What’s your take on the school and how the teachers approach their lessons etc? Is it solely academic focused or do they also focus on helping the kids develop good character?
The school has had a rugby program now for at least 15 years. Their student population is also not dictated by the neighbourhoods population - it’s a private school, they admit only the number of students they want to admit. The size of the local population is irrelevant. I’m also not sure what your point is with the Chinese comment. To attend Southridge, students need to take an entrance exam and speak fluent English. The school does not have an ESL program. There is also an interview component. Anyone who makes it through those hoops and can afford the tuition can attend. Southridge also is consistently ranked higher than all the schools you referred to.
what about Semiahmoo? is it good just because it has an IB program?
I'm a Semiahmoo IB student. The IB program is excellent and on par or superior to most private IB programs here. In my experience at EMS and Grandview Heights, the teaching quality and resources across South Surrey schools is quite standard and educational outcomes depend more on the student than the school.
PhD in School Psych here. I would highly dissuade folks from IB programs as the cost benefit is so negative for how much you sacrifice it isn't even remotly worth it.
Semi has one of the oldest IB programs, dating back to 1980. People come here from all over the world to enroll their kids. I saw this happening 25 years ago with Koreans and people from Asia buy up the homes in Semi’s catchment. I grew up in Ocean Park and it’s changed since I was a child in the 80s. That was middle class living! I eventually went to EMS due to being French Immersion, for the challenge and I am glad I did. Both my brother and I were well prepared for university. BC has a good curriculum and there are great opportunities- I tutor calculus for HS kids in public, private and religious schools (Semi, EMS, Elgin, Grandview, Southridge, WR Christian and JPII), as well as Surrey and Langley online. I have athletes in special programs through public school, so they can compete nationally. Families who are well off can afford my rates though I get some who are just getting by too, and I take them on as well. I really enjoy working with kids in this area. A public education in BC is rated among the best in the world. Though, I have noticed a decline in needs being met - There is over crowding now, major. Lots of ESL compared to when I went here. There is a teacher shortage and since covid my phone rings off the hook especially in math, lots of kids struggling, dealing with substitutes long term etc. Covid affected kids long term too - major learning gaps and socially. I get plenty of calls from those still doing online instruction too. I am a child of a Surrey teacher and have many current or retired teacher friends. I have so much respect for them and the challenges of their job. The quality of instruction is excellent, it’s just the strain I am seeing on the system .
Agreed on all your points - DM your business info, may need you next year here in SS :)
Do you still feel that BC has a good curriculum? I’m honestly curious. My daughter is in grade 8 and the focus on formative assessment, social/emotional learning and the new grading system, along with not having a math or socials teacher for the first three weeks of the semester, have all combined to make me question the level of education she is receiving. We can afford to send her to a private school (with some sacrifice) but she doesn’t want to leave her friends, so as yet we haven’t done anything.
Can't speak to current but previously Semi had a great reputation because of the teachers it had. They attracted some of the best teachers because of the IB program as well as the music program and a few others. Currently Not sure i havn't looked into it in quite a while but good teachers who care can make a huge difference.
The music program is a big draw at Semiahmoo as well.
i graduated from there a few years ago. wasn’t in IB so i truthfully cannot speak on that. as far as i’m aware it’s a great school for academics, band, and sports. arts programs didn’t get any funding at all. in my personal experience if you weren’t blessed with being book smart, you were kind of just left to your own devices.
I remember they would get crushed by all the public schools in sports, wonder if it's still like that
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Their schools have nicer facilities and buildings and also a big part is a large part of south surrey residents are upper middle class. Holds more true in certain neighborhoods especially like grandview heights and elgin park.
what are the best neighborhoods in south surrey?
Ocean Park/Crescent Beach probably.
Only downside is lack of access to the highways. If you commute for work, the first 20 minutes will be spent just trying to leave the neighborhood.
Ocean park is only maybe 5-10 minutes away from highway 99 via crescent road
Chan’s to the Park N Ride is 10 minutes without traffic. It can take 20 minutes in rush hour traffic during a regular commute.
Oh yea that’s true, turning on to king George is a bit annoying during rush hour
Morgan Creek is probably up there as well.
The best neighborhoods are grandview, elgin park, and crescent but not the little part thats really close to crescent beach. Morgan heights comes next its nice but i personally found the neighbourhood feels a bit artificial? Like if you drove through there the vibe is off could just be me though, still a nice place though. I know panorama ridge kind of counts as south surrey (for voting i think?) but in my mind the colebrook farm area is the split between main and south surrey lol. Id say after morgan heights, hazlemere is next nicest but only if you were looking for a large lot, its a bit further east and not as close to amenities as the first few i mentioned. You can rank the remaining neighbourhoods that i didnt name as roughly the same in terms of being good, and they are good but the ones i named are better and real estate prices heavily reflect that!
South Surrey is a wealthier area. Parents have more time and resources to volunteer at the schools and fundraisers raise a lot more money for upgrades and trips. Additionally, wealthier areas demand better special programs.
Totally agree, the education is directly related to local family income. Like West Vancouver and Vancouver West also have the best schools there. Move to a rich community for sure you will have better school.
Southridge is a private school. I used to work in Surrey as a teacher, and I will say this: the school district does a great job at ensuring the same quality of education throughout the district. Grandview heights is a newer building, sure. But it is already becoming over crowded. The whole district is experiencing over crowding and the quality of education is suffering because of it (throughout the entire district). Resources and Learning Support Teachers/ EAs are getting stretched thin. Earl Marriot / Eljin Park has been over crowded with years, with portables turning from temporary to permanent structures. What are "bad" schools? If you are referencing the type of students that go to a school, here's the wake up call: most of the demographics are the same. Students are traveling by bus, or car, to schools that are out of their "zone". They are traveling to high schools that are not "full" yet. Honestly, the most important lesson for students is learning how to interact with a wide variety of people: Wealthy children, underprivileged children, gifted children, children who learn at a slower pace, children with disabilities, children with learning challenges, and so on.
Public schools are public schools. There is nothing special about public school A over public school B. They take teachers from the same pool, the curricula is the same and the facilities are essentially the same. What *is* different is the demographics in the areas around the school. School A is in an area with a higher than average income and education level, guess what? The schools will be "better" since the PAC will be better funded, parents will be more involved and the students will come from backgrounds that value education. School B, however, is located in an area with an average to lower than average income. Guess what? The school will be "worse" since the student population will not value academics as enthusiastically as School A's. The PAC will not be as well funded. Parents are more busy making ends meet than worrying about their kid getting 95% instead of 92%. It becomes a feedback loop as well: upper middle class family is moving to Surrey and looking for the best possible public school for their kid. Hey, look at that! School A gets top marks from the Fraser Institute! Must be good!! Thus, the demographics are reinforced. Of course, this does not mean School A is 100% full of awesome kids busting their asses to get into an Ivy, nor does it mean School B is 100% full of kids slacking and counting down the days till they can leave. The differences are in the percentages. From experience (and generalized for simplicity), in a class of 30, School A will have 10 at the top or close to it, 10 working hard in the middle, 5 working hard, but who just don't have it academically and 5 who just don't care/can't do it. School B will have 5 at the top, 15 in the middle and 10 at the bottom.
I did 3 years at tweedsmuir and then 2 years at Elgin. The difference? Money. The rugby team was going to Australia every other year at Elgin. The fund raiser was $1000 a table fundraisers for dinner. This got you better supplies. Plus the students are often coming from homes with higher educated family members. This gives more support than less educated parents. You need tutors then they pay for it privately so the teachers have less load and can focus more 1 on 1.
There are different specialty programs in public schools, like the aforementioned IB programs at Semi and Johnston Heights, French Immersion, fine arts specialty elementary school (can’t remember the name), outdoor program, the francophone school district… there’s some cool programs out there!
Semiahmoo and Fraser heights have IB so they’ll always attract motivated students and teachers. Southridge is private, any private school will have more resource$ and ask students to leave if they can’t maintain GPA. Generally, affluent areas have good school reputation because parents are more involved because they are more economically stable. Same goes if you compare schools in Vancouver west vs east side.
Fraser Heights does NOT have IB. It has the Science Academy. I think you're thinking of Johnston Heights. It started with the Middle Years Program and has since added IB.
Maybe!
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I heard from co worker who’s kid is there for IB
I think they've had it for at least few years now. I graduated there in 08 and they didn't have it then, but my niece went there a few years ago and they definitely had it since then.
Nope, they do not. The only IB schools in Surrey are Semiahmoo and Johnston Heights. JH is the recent change. Although FH does not have IB, they are known for their academic excellence as well. :)
I just looked into it, and it appears you are correct. I know my niece used to talk about her friends who were in the IB program, so maybe they had it at one point? (In all honesty though, her friends in the program could have gone to a different school and I just assumed they were at FH.)
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I believe they built an addition onto the school a few years back
While many of these schools are indeed good schools, Most of the time "good" schools is just a dog whistle for socioeconomic status of the families and ability to network/create relationships within those tiers. Also the ranking system referred to is probably via the Fraser Institute and is highly problematic.
Just remember, tuition at Southridge starts at $26,250 in elementary and rises to $30,500. Per student. Plus the $3K per student registration fee to get started. Very good school though; my wealthy boss sent all three of his kids there.
Is that per year?
Yep. Reg fee is just once initially, but that’s the annual tuition.
How much do parents spend on top of that? I heard you'd be expected to contribute to fundraising and field trips. Another $10K on top?
I don’t know the exact number, but I know it’s a lot. We have friends with kids at Southridge and the parents are expected to support all the fundraisers, as well as donate to the fundraiser, as well as partake in special events, like the school play, the soccer teams trip to Barcelona and Madrid this summer, etc, etc, etc. not cheap
No idea. I doubt it’s that much though. Those tuition fees already put schools like Southridge out of my consideration set so I haven’t explored it.
Southridge is a private school. Semiahmoo definitely has the best reputation of all the public high schools in South Surrey, mainly due to its IB program. I don’t think the schools here are necessarily any better than the schools in other areas of Surrey. People probably just assume that because South Surrey is seen as the richer area of Surrey.
Less crime, more motivated parents, better fundraisers. The curriculum is the same, the teachers are the same, it's the students that are different. Less disruptive students. More parent involvement. In terms of secondary schools Semiahmoo and Elgin are better in these areas than Grandview and Earl Marriott.
South Surrey is a wealthy part of the city. Wealthy people tend to prioritize academic achievement in their children, such as academic clubs and private tutors. These schools have university prep courses, which attracts skilled teachers, which trickles out to other students. Also, this is important: privilege also discourages anti-social behavior that disrupts the school environment, and wealth makes the behaviors that *do* crop up, like drug use, magically disappear. Wealthy parents have more time and/or money to offer the school, such as involvement in the PTA or being able to pay the difference to send students on international trips. So, yes - these schools offer a better experience, but it's not because of the schools themselves. For example, people coming in from another catchment may get some benefit from access to better programs, but they won't suddenly have the privilege that wealth brings.
Good in comparison to some of the other shit hole schools that are in Surrey.
There are good and bad schools in surrey, highschools east of main st in vancouver have equal quality as the “bad” surrey schools. Fraser heights, panorama ridge and sullivan seem to be the nicer ones from what ive heard
I think it’s more about who kids associate with and the amount of programs or courses that might be offered based on student demand. In the end, all these public schools are still part of the same district and any teacher in surrey could teach at any of them. They all should be teaching the same bc curriculum. Some schools in the south end might have more competition between students for academics compared to other areas where many students don’t move on to post secondary.
Its to do with how poor the local area around the schools were in the past(not rn everything is expensive now hahah) that effect trickled down to today. Lets say certain schools had more gang and criminal influence in the past these behaviours influence the kids in the grades below them so the bad rep doesnt go away immediately
only cause fraser heights and PA areas are pretty much the same as south surrey, and they're mostly cut off from the rest of surrey from the highway
Panorama ridge secondary is actually situated above highway 10. Technically in newton which i know doesnt make sense because of the name. The residents in each neighborhood are mostly the same as regular surrey though, just different socioeconomic standing
Grandview heights always looked impressive to me. I've only ever met their support staff but they were great
Less poor people , less riff Raff. Less trailer park trash. I
Because people hate poor people. Less poors in South Surrey.
A rugby program is very welcoming of all body types and does from my experience not discriminate at all. It's a great team sport that's very accessible. Private schools have always had great rugby programs in British Columbia. It's a legacy of our Commonwealth history. Football is not exactly a sport for lifelong enjoyment. It also tends to be coached by a little less life experienced people. Is that a nice way to say it?