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My wife and I live downtown at the moment but we are getting ready to start pumping out babies and our industrial loft doesn't seem like the ideal place to raise a child. So we're looking at moving out to the suburbs, something the younger version of myself vowed never to do but as far as the child is concerned, it does seem like the best environment. A house, with a yard, parks, rinks, pools, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, decent public schools, lots of other families and kids.
We like the ideal of Pointe-Claire, less taxes than Beaconsfield, a little closer to downtown, more amenities. Somewhere between the 20 and the 40 seems ideal for easy access to both highways. My wife works in health care so she could theoretically get a job at Lakeshore General though she hasn't looked into it enough to know if it's somewhere she'd enjoy working. So those of you who've lived in the west island, or left the west island, what do I need to know that I probably don't?
Regarding schools, I like the idea of being near an elementary school that is close to home, and a high school that my kids can walk or bike to and from school.. there seem to be quite a few english elementary schools though I'm not quite sure how to determine the quality of each school. As far as quality public high schools, on the english side there's really only St. Thomas high school in Pointe-Claire which recieved decent marks from the Frasier Institute but it's a huge school (1,200 students). There are some english private schools in the area but they charge a fortune ($10-15K a year) and aren't ranked much higher than St. Thomas. The best english high schools in Montreal are all private, all close to downtown, and all cost around $10-20K a year. However, on the french side there's a private school (K-11) in west Pierrefonds that's ranked #1 in the province, it costs around $3,000 a year, College Charlemagne. Does anyone know anything about this school? I went to an english elementary school and french high school, I think an ideal situation would be to have my child go to a french elementary school and english high school so they could learn the french language when they're young, because they'll speak english at home and english high school will better prepare them for english cegep and university. But Charlemagne looks like an awfully good school, however my child would have no chance of passing their entance exams for grade 7 if they went to an english elementary so they'd have to do K-11 in french. I've rambled quite a bit, please share any advice you have!
If you havent got any kids yet it might be a bit premature to start worrying about which high school at this point as it may not be there 12 or so years from now,We were in a similar position 20 years ago when we were living downtown,we checked out the suburbs and decided a lifetime of long rush hour commutes werent for us or the future kids so we got a place in Lasalle near Agrignon.our two girls went through elementary school (Childrens World Academy) then high school where one went to private school (Sacred Heart)
And the other went to Royal West Academy in Montreal West.I found the private school was not really $7000 better than the regular school as my daughter ran into a seeming personality problem with the mistress of discipline and after 2 years dropped Sacred Heart for Lasalle's Beurling Academy where she became a regular honor roll student, they both went to Dawson and are now in Concordia and they do say they are glad we never moved to the west island as far as commuting is concerned.
Take a drive out to the Fairview shopping center area some weekday at around 4pm to get an idea of what you'll be in for..
Yeah but you want to try to think about everything if you can.. We just want a nice community and a house with a yard, quiet streets, low crime, lots of other kids and families, good infrastructure for kids, etc.. We've considered living in NDG but it's very expensive, we could only afford a semi-detached and it's not really the kind of area where our kids will be able to play hockey and basketball on the street. I don't know anything about Lasalle, what areas would you reccomend we explore? I'm self employed and work from home most of the time, my wife is an occupational therapist so there's pretty much three places she could work in the public sector, Lakeshore General which we could theoretically live walking distance from in Pointe-Claire, the veterans hospital in ste anne's which would be a quick and easy commute against the rush hour flows, or the most suitable place for her would be a rehab hospital right by Loyola in Montreal West. She would commute on the 20 but get on and off at the 1st Ave/St. Pierre exit so I'm assuming she wouldn't spend much time in the thick of traffic? Or she could just hop on the train, 18 minutes to the montreal west station which is one block from where she'd work. As far as cegeps and University are concerned, I'm not too concerned with that, they'll be old enough to live on their own and live on the doorstep of whatever school they end up going to, whether it's in Montreal or an entirely different city. Am I making sense or deluding myself?
Its hard to cover all the bases at this stage of the game,There is a big hospital in Lasalle,another in Lachine and yet another in Verdun,There are neighborhoods in the area where there are many bungalows, The Crawford Park area comes to mind just west of the Douglas hospital,as well as across the Aquaduct from the Lasalle General hospital.
Use Google street views to get an idea of what the neighborhoods look like.Just drag the little amber guy on top of the zoom feature on Google maps to get a street view of the area.
Those would all be in the same vein as Lakeshore General, all acute care facilities, not really what she enjoys. As far as long term inpatient rehab there's a place in Laval, one in TMR, the veterans hospital, and the two rehab centers in Montreal West, one of which actually has a small satellite center on Hymus and St. Charles. So all of that being said, what would the advantage of living in Lasalle be over Pointe Claire? I guess it's heavily dependant on where you work. I went to Abbott and Dawson, my sisters went to Marianopolis. I definitely think Marianopolis would have been a better academic environment, so from the west island they would just have to hop on the train, get off at vendome and walk five blocks. Doesn't seem like a big deal, am I wrong?
Where did you live in Lasalle? I must admit I absolutely love Angrignon park and the metro is certainly more flexible than the train outside of rush hour. But it just seems very urban, besides that small area around Crawford Park and a tiny stretch on Boul Lasalle on the water, it's all apartment buildings, plexes, and semi-detached houses on pretty big streets.
my sisters went to Marianopolis. I definitely think Marianopolis would have been a better academic environment, so from the west island they would just have to hop on the train, get off at vendome and walk five blocks. Doesn't seem like a big deal, am I wrong?
Where did you live in Lasalle? I must admit I absolutely love Angrignon park and the metro is certainly more flexible than the train outside of rush hour. But it just seems very urban, besides that small area around Crawford Park and a tiny stretch on Boul Lasalle on the water, it's all apartment buildings, plexes, and semi-detached houses on pretty big streets.
Dont shoot the messenger,i'm just trying to save you a major traffic hassle for many years.You might want to check on Mirianapolis its definitely more than 5 blocks from Vendome,And those commuter trains only run at rush hours on weekdays,the rest of the time its going to be a drive if you want to get downtown Other bungalow areas in Lasalle are everything west of the Mercier bridge,lot of single dwellings east of Parc Des Rapides, as for my spot? about halfway between the mall and the aquaduct on Des Trinitares
I'm partial to Pierrefonds, that's where I'm from! There's an English high school and both French and English elementary schools. Plus, the train takes you downtown in 25 minutes. Pierrefonds is very quiet and suburban, but avoid the area around the 13. If not, there's always DDO which is a bit closer to the highways.
There's so much GREAT shopping in the area! I love it there! There's also a great provincial park, Cap St-Jacques.
I would commute to French Cegep in Montreal before the French one opened in Ste-Genevieve. There's of course also John Abbott for an English Cegep option.
Hah, I just re-read you post about schools. You didn't notice much difference between the $7,000 private school and public Royal West Academy, but that might have something to do with the fact that Royal West is the highest ranked english public school in the entire province I just read that they accept around 175 kids out of 1000 on an average year. I wouldn't exactly call it a "regular" school How did your daughter enjoy her time there? What did you think of the school? Is there a reason why she went to Beurling instead of Royal West (like your other daughter) after Sacred Heart?
I grew up in Roxboro on the West Island, quite near the train station, and easily commuted to work. I went to Riverdale High School in Pierrefonds. Roxboro is a very nice community.
I agree with the member who considered LaSalle to be a little urban. I've lived in LaSalle for several years, presently near yet another train station (!). The train tracks are far too close for my liking, and we can hear traffic from the Mercier Bridge, and smell the stale yeast belching from Fleischmann's Yeast if the wind blows in a certain direction. I don't like this area at all.
We'll be moving towards the end of the month to Châteauguay, just across the river from LaSalle. What a difference!
The one that went to Royal West loved it and maintained a 90% grade average but i think that her academic motivation had a lot to do with it.
The private school my other daughter went to (Sacred Heart) was expensive and she didnt thrive on the discipline aspect of the school, when after 2 years of it she re-entered the public school system she really took off academically ,she is now reunited at Concordia with several old classmates from that private school and they arent besting her in the marks department.
All the communities mentioned so far are fine places to live,i just dont like spending a whole lot of my life commuting or sitting in traffic jams so if thats not a problem then by all means get on out there,i kinda like the Valois Bay area of Dorval..
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.You might want to check on Mirianapolis its definitely more than 5 blocks from Vendome,And those commuter trains only run at rush hours on weekdays,the rest of the time its going to be a drive if you want to get downtown Other bungalow areas in Lasalle are everything west of the Mercier bridge,lot of single dwellings east of Parc Des Rapides, as for my spot? about halfway between the mall and the aquaduct on Des Trinitares
