English speaking city close to Montreal, QC? (renting, house)

[Choto]

Hi all,
I am posting for one of my friend who is in search for an ON city which is English speaking and also close to Montreal. He lives and works in Montreal and bringing his high school (grade 9) going son soon - who he thinks would find it tough to merge in French speaking classes (My friend does not qualify for the English board schools in Montreal). Therefore he decided to find a place in ON but close to Montreal where he can send his kids to English speaking school and he can go back and forth for his work.

So far we found Hawkesbury which is still kinda far over 90km. Can anyone suggest me any other English city closer to Montreal? Next part would be finding a good elementary school from that city.

Appreciate your help! Apologies for this long posting.

Choto.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Choto

Hi all,
I am posting for one of my friend who is in search for an ON city which is English speaking and also close to Montreal. He lives and works in Montreal and bringing his high school (grade 9) going son soon - who he thinks would find it tough to merge in French speaking classes (My friend does not qualify for the English board schools in Montreal). Therefore he decided to find a place in ON but close to Montreal where he can send his kids to English speaking school and he can go back and forth for his work.

So far we found Hawkesbury which is still kinda far over 90km. Can anyone suggest me any other English city closer to Montreal? Next part would be finding a good elementary school from that city.

Appreciate your help! Apologies for this long posting.

Choto.

Bainsville, Ontario, further south on the St. Lawrence (along Highway 401) is about 80 km, but it’s a tiny hamlet I believe. West of there is Lancaster, which is about the same size as Hawkesbury and about the same distance: 90 km.

Lancaster has no high school in the town itself and Hawkesbury has no English high school in the town. Lancaster kids go to high school in Williamstown (not that far away). Anglo kids in Hawkesbury go to school in the neighbouring town of Vankleek Hill.

Has your friend considered private school in Montreal? There are no restrictions on those.

[Choto]

Thank you Acajack for your reply!

Looks like you are very familiar about that part. I actually did not know Hawkesbury has no English high school. You mentioned Bainsville - do you know by any change if there are English schools?

Have not chatted about private schools with him...I would presume they must be expensive. Now I guess would be a matter of weighing between long commute (hence cost and time) vs spending on private school. I know he even considered renting place in Cornwall.

Thank you again for your suggestions!

[Acajack]

Don’t think Bainsville has a school.

Here is the map for the English public school board covering Eastern Ontario:
http://www.ucdsb.on.ca/NR/rdonlyres/673EF87C-39C9-4DB2-AC9E-79437140FCE7/22909/UCDSBMap.pdf (broken link)

Ontario also has a separate Catholic system (that is publicly-funded and therefore "free"):
http://www.cdsbeo.on.ca/School_Info/school_info.htm

I don’t believe Hawkesbury has any English schools at all (the town, though in Ontario, is about 85 or 90% French-speaking). But the schools that serve Hawkesbury anglo students in Vankleek Hill aren’t really that far away.

As for private schools in Quebec, they might be an option worth looking at as they are usually much less expensive than private schools elsewhere in North America.

[ladyaugusta]

What about Cornwall, Ontario? It's close to both Montreal and Ottawa, Ontario.

It's a relatively large town as well, compared to some of the other towns mentioned here.

From Wikipedia -- Cornwall

[Jamiejamejames]

If you enroll your child in an English public school in Ontario and keep him/her there for a couple of years, you can then send them (and all of their siblings) to an English public school in Quebec and thereafter move closer to Montreal.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by ladyaugusta

What about Cornwall, Ontario? It's close to both Montreal and Ottawa, Ontario.

It's a relatively large town as well, compared to some of the other towns mentioned here.

From Wikipedia -- Cornwall

Cornwall will have everything you need but that 88 Mile commute each way every day is gonna get old.I'd say your options are limited to sending the kid to French school in Montreal or sending him to English private school in Montreal, if he's planning on staying in Montreal and working there he's gonna have to learn French sooner or later.

[JustSomeGuy73]

I agree, as others have suggested Bainsville or Cornwall. My friend's brother owns a house in Bainsville and goes there every weekend. During he week, he lives in Dorval and works in downtown Montreal. I believe there are English schools nearby, as my friend sent her son to live in Bainsville to finish his high school in English, since he was having trouble with French in Quebec.

There are people who live in Quebec but work in Cornwall Ontario. Some of them live in the western suburbs, like Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, so it's a bit closer to Cornwall. I think it's about a 45 minute drive. Yes, the distance may be far, but think about spending 45 minutes commuting by car, bus or train in the suburbs or downtown Montreal. You can easily spend an hour and only go 15 or 20 kilometres! And there's an AMT commuter train in Ste-Anne's and Beaconsfield, etc, to make it easy to get downtown Montreal. Even take a look at Pincourt maybe?

But I think you are looking at living in Ontario and working in Quebec so your friend's son could go to English high school in Ontario. Maybe live in Cornwall or Bainsville, commute to catch a commuter train in Pincourt and take that to get to downtown Montreal for work? A bit of effort, but no need to pay for a private English school that way.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JustSomeGuy73

I agree, as others have suggested Bainsville or Cornwall. My friend's brother owns a house in Bainsville and goes there every weekend. During he week, he lives in Dorval and works in downtown Montreal. I believe there are English schools nearby, as my friend sent her son to live in Bainsville to finish his high school in English, since he was having trouble with French in Quebec.

There are people who live in Quebec but work in Cornwall Ontario. Some of them live in the western suburbs, like Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, so it's a bit closer to Cornwall. I think it's about a 45 minute drive. Yes, the distance may be far, but think about spending 45 minutes commuting by car, bus or train in the suburbs or downtown Montreal. You can easily spend an hour and only go 15 or 20 kilometres! And there's an AMT commuter train in Ste-Anne's and Beaconsfield, etc, to make it easy to get downtown Montreal. Even take a look at Pincourt maybe?

But I think you are looking at living in Ontario and working in Quebec so your friend's son could go to English high school in Ontario. Maybe live in Cornwall or Bainsville, commute to catch a commuter train in Pincourt and take that to get to downtown Montreal for work? A bit of effort, but no need to pay for a private English school that way.

I think you'd really have to crunch the numbers to see if it would be worth it: gas, wear and tear on the car, parking at the train station, train pass, etc. Plus your time is also worth something.

Not all of the private English schools in Montreal are super-expensive. Plus there is the option of sending them to French school as well - no one has ever died from exposure to French as far as I know.

[jambo101]

As the op posted the topic 3 years ago he/she must have made a decision by now.We can only imagine what that decision was as the op never had the courtesy to get back to us.