Example:   Granddaughter was registered for kindergarden at the nearby school.  It was within easy walking distance from our home, it offered French emersion which we wanted, it was a small/medium sized school, it had a good reputation.  During the summer the family situation changed and they moved to another part of town.  The school there was quite large for an elementary school and there were a lot of disadvantaged children living in the area and attending that school; it didn't have a good rep.   It was not quite so close but also within walking distance.

Our granddaughter attended the school in our area where she was already registered.  It was near our home where she would come for after-school daycare - it was near her mother's route to and from work.    The disadvantage was that she never got to know the kids in her neighbourhood.   Her friends all lived around here - she had to be driven to play-dates and birthday parties.  She couldn't just phone a friend and arrange to go biking, to the nearby park or skating rink.   She didn't know her own neighbourhood.

By the time she reached middle-school the family had moved again - this time to a nice neighbourhood outside of town where she would have to be bussed.   Youth in that area had a choice between two middle-schools - she choose the one where the majority of her friends from elementary school would be going.   Her parents choose to register the younger child at the local school - dispite the fact that it was old, small, and drew kids from various backgrounds - well-to-do farmers, poor rural, and city people moving out of town.

It's a tricky choice. A child needs the stimulation that is more likely to be found in a school whose students have higher income levels. It is not likely in a working class school to find friends with any interest in anything more than hockey, and with any aspiration for education beyond high school.

On the other hand a child may feel out of place in a school in which everbody has money but him - and everybody has a set of values differenct from those of his home community.

I went from 1 to 9 in schools in poor districts. In grade 10, I moved to a school that was the idea - and cross section of poor to rich, of gentile to Jew, of Oriental to African-Canadian and White. The impact on my range of interests and sense of the future was extraordinary. But it came late - and that cost me.

I have a feeling I would have preferred the experience of my own home community up to grade five or so. Then the move. Of course, the value of French immersion adds another factor that might sway my opinion.

We have open boundaries in this city so your local school MUST take you but another school may welcome you-depending on enrollment etc.

I choose closest school for elelmentary. Then when my oldest was in junior high my daughter had struggles with 2 teachers in grade 5, Principal finally moved her to other grade 5 teacher, problems ended. When she was set to get these teachers again in grade 6 I moved her to the elemntary/junior high her brother was at. (she would have been there for grade 7 anyways.)

I also moved the youngest there, to keep life simplier for me.

We were fortunate and both this school-and the previous elementary are within walking distance of our house. The school boundary is right down our back lane!

Some parents have no choice of Public Schools.  In small communities there is A school - maybe different buildings for different grades, but still no choice.  For parents who just can't deal with the policies, attitudes etc of the local school the only option is residential school or home schooling.

Which means for most parents there is no option.  Few  can afford a residential school.. And a great many parents lack the knowledge. I know I couldn't pass a high school math exam today - all long since forgotten and, in any case, old methods are long gone.

Not entirely true.  Math is pretty consistent.  Course organization changes, textbooks change, but math stays the same.  My kids are lucky they have their mom (coincidentally my wife) who probably didn't see a math grade south of 95% from her earliest marks, through to grad school.  And she remembers it, and is very good at explaining it and making math sound less threatening.  It's maddening.  I rarely breathed the air in the 80% range.

We will be moving to a location where there is one school in town.  Unless we suddenly take up Catholicism, our kids will go there.  I think the ratings are decent, but unspectacular.  I'm not too worried about them.  The school likely doesn't want for much, as the area is rather affluent, and I gather fundraising initiatives are pretty successful. My boss' kids go to a similar school north of Toronto, and he marvels at the equipment available at the public school.

I have recently filled in for math teachers at the grades 7 - 8 level. It is very different from the math I learned - and the teaching methods have changed enormously.

A school in an affluent area almost certainly does well on a ranking system. That's because ranking is normally closely linked ot affluence because affluent parents are more likely to have been well educated, and having higher expectations than poor parents.. It has very little do to with the quality of the school or its teaching.

I wholeheartedly agree here. Our kids get a huge leg up, because they have two parents who can tutor them in Math and Science, and English to a certain degree.  And we are willing to beat the little bastards if necessary.

Beatiing is gbod. Stimulates blood circulation and intellectual capacity. I remember well the the homey warmth of a leather strap on a bare bottom.

Same here in Toronto. Last year my stepson attended a reasonably nearby school because he started halfway through the year and it is a semestered school. This year he is attending the local high school.

 In BC the geniuses in government decided to remove school boundaries so parents could enrol their children anywhere they liked.  Unsurprisingly, in Vancouver this has led to people flocking to west side schools, because of the perception that the more affluent areas have "better" schools.  So, east side schools are suffering declining enrollment, a subsequent decline in funding and therefore in resources.  So, schools in affluent areas, servicing kids who are already expected to succeed in school based on their parents' education and level of income are begin enriched by expanding resources, while schools in lower income areas, with a greater proportion of higher needs students, do not have enough resources even to support the students they have.

The rich get richer........

All it would take would be for our provincial geniuses to assign resources like support services based on the needs of the school population rather than the number of students.  One small policy change which would allow lower income schools to offer high quality programs to higher needs students, but will it happen?  Not likely.

 most of the schools near me in Toronto have boundaries.  you can only send your kids to the one in your area unless you choose french immersion.

High schools are more or less the same though some highschools are open to the city.