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Frequently Asked Questions About the French Immersion Program

Registration, Entry, and Transfers

When is Registration Week?
Every year, registration takes place online in January. Registration for Early French Immersion for the 2025-2026 school year takes place during the week of January 13-17, 2025 and must be submitted online by 3 p.m. on Friday, January 17, 2025. Registration for Late French Immersion for the 2025-2026 school year takes place January 27-31, 2025 and must be submitted online by 3 p.m. on Friday, January 31, 2025.

How do we register?
Early Immersion (Kindergarten or Grade 1) registration information can be found here and Late Immersion (Grade 6) registration information can be found here.

Who can register in a French Immersion program?
Any child residing in the Greater ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵÎÛ School District may enter the Early or Late French Immersion Program. Out-of-district families are also accommodated when possible.

When do students enter French Immersion?
The usual entry year for Early French Immersion is Kindergarten, although students may also enter in Grade 1. For Late French Immersion, the entry year is Grade 6.

We are currently registered with a private Kindergarten. How do we register to enter Grade 1 French Immersion?
Register online for your French Immersion catchment school. If you reside outside of the district, register for your preferred school. All registration is online.

We are already registered in English Kindergarten within the Greater ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵÎÛ School District and wish to enter Grade 1 French Immersion. Do we register or do we apply for a student transfer during Student Transfer Week?
All students entering Immersion for the first time, Kindergarten or Grade 1, need to register online to for their French Immersion catchment school. It is not necessary to also apply for a Student Transfer.

Can students transfer from the French stream to the English stream?
A transfer to English can be arranged at any time on parent request.

Where do we register our Kindergarten or Grade 1 student if there is an older sibling attending a French Immersion school that is not our designated immersion catchment school?
If the older sibling will be in attendance for the following September, you have to register online for your catchment school and apply for transfer to the non-catchment school. You must register for your designated French Immersion catchment school.

What happens if I register after the registration deadline?
All late applications received after the registration deadline will be added to the end of an established waitlist. Late sibling and late in-catchment registrations will have priority consideration over out of catchment waitlisted students, provided space is available.

Catchment Schools & Alternate Choices

Which schools in the Greater ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵÎÛ School District offer French Immersion?

• Elementary: Campus View, Doncaster, George Jay, Macauley, Margaret Jenkins, Marigold, Quadra, Sir James Douglas
• Middle: Arbutus, Cedar Hill, Central, Lansdowne, Shoreline
• Secondary: Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Reynolds, Vic High

How can I identify my French Immersion catchment schools and/or pathway?
Identify your French Immersion Elementary catchment school using the School Locator Tool and the instructions on this page. Please note that your English and French Immersion catchments may vary due to your home address and the fact that not all schools offer dual-track programs.

What if weÌýprefer to attend a school that is not our catchment school?
Register online for your French Immersion catchment school even if you prefer to attend elsewhere. Transfer Requests can be made at the time of your online registration.

My French catchment school is not within walking distance. How does my child get to school?
Transportation, if required, is the responsibility of the student’s parent or caregiver.

Can I request alternate dual track schools for placement?
In the event an in-catchment student is unable to attend their catchment dual track school and French Immersion is a family priority, parents are encouraged to select alternate dual track school choices. More than one choice can be selected to provide families with a greater access to our French Immersion program at schools where the catchment capacity has not been reached. Alternate choices must be made during registration week. Students will be entered into an out-of-catchment draw for each alternate school chosen. By selecting an alternate choice, you are committing to registering your child at any of the alternates selected, should a space become available. Please do not select an alternate choice unless you are willing to send your child to that school. Students will always remain on their catchment dual track school’s waitlist. Should a placement become available, the catchment seat will be offered to you irrespective of having accepted an alternate school placement. Alternate selections areÌýNOTÌýconsidered transfer requests.

Placements & Waitlists

What are the priorities for placement for families who register during registration week?
All placements are based on the availability of space and facilities, and are not based on a first come, first serve basis. Placements occur in accordance with the following enrolment priorities:

1. Re-enrolling students
2. Catchment area sibling
3. Catchment area child (3a. Non-catchment sibling impacted by a catchment boundary change)
4. Non-catchment sibling
5. Non-catchment child
6. Non-school district child

What happens when there are more registrants than available seats?
In the event a school receives more applications than the number of seats it can accommodate, the priority order of registrants will be determined by a random school lottery. Draw scenarios include:

1. Catchment Sibling

• If the number of catchment sibling registrants exceeds the number of available spaces the school can accommodate, priority order will be determined by catchment sibling school lottery.
• All other in-catchment registrants will then be waitlisted in accordance to an in-catchment school draw.
• Students will have the opportunity to be considered for placement at another dual-track middle school provided the Late French Immersion Alternate School Choice form is completed during Late French Immersion Registration week. See # 3 below.
• Note: non-catchment siblings are to apply at their catchment school, then apply for transfer should they wish to attend the same non-catchment school as their older sibling.

2. In-catchment

• Once in-catchment siblings have been placed, in-catchment students will be placed.
• If the number of in-catchment registrants exceeds the number of available spaces the school can accommodate, priority order will be determined by an in-catchment school lottery.
• Students not placed will be waitlisted according to draw order.
• Students will have the opportunity to be considered for placement at another dual-track middle school provided the Alternate Late French Immersion School Choice form is completed during Early French Immersion Registration week. See # 3 below.

3. Out of catchment but unable to access catchment school

• In the event an in-catchment student is unable to attend their catchment dual-track school, parents are encouraged to select an alternate dual-track school choice on the Late French Immersion Alternate School Choice form. More than one choice can be selected.
• Alternate choices to a catchment school must be made during registration week to be considered.
• Student names will be entered into an out of catchment draw for the alternate schools indicated on the Late French Immersion Alternate Choice form.

4. Out of catchment

• Please register at your catchment late Immersion middle school and apply for transfer during the K – 12 transfer process in February.

Note on twins: In the event of a draw, one ballot will be entered into the draw for families with twins. If drawn, both twins will be offered placement in the program at the same school.

How is the order on the waitlist determined?
Should an opening occur once all available seats have been allocated, it will be offered to parents on the waitlist in accordance with student enrolment priorities. If a parent accepts a spot for their child at a school, which is not their catchment school, they will be offered the next available space at the original catchment school according to draw order.

How are families notified when their child is placed?
Families will be notified of placement results via email with the email address they provide upon registration. Notification will occur during the week following the communicated registration week. Students who are not accepted, or do not accept a Late French Immersion placement will be registered at their English catchment middle school.

In the Classroom

Which classes are taught in French?
French is the language of instruction in all French Immersion classes.

How much French should my child know before entering Early Immersion?
Most children entering Kindergarten know very little or no French. A child needs prior knowledge of French to enter the Early Immersion Program after Grade 1.

How much French will my child speak in the classroom?
The chart featured below highlights the percentage of French used by grade level. French is used 100% in Kindergarten; however, English may be used at the outset to establish routines. English is used only if necessary in exceptional situations after this. The subjects studied in French may vary slightly in Grades 4 to 12, depending on the specialization areas of the teacher.

Do children read and write in English and French?
Pre-reading exercises in Kindergarten are in French; reading and writing begin in French in Grade 1. Formal instruction in English Language Arts begins in Grade 3, with one hour a day.

Do children in French Immersion learn the same things as those in English classes?
Canadian research has resulted in similar findings to those of Dr. Stan Shapson, Dr. David Kaufman, and Ms. Elaine Day of Simon Fraser University who have found that:

• Children in French Immersion Kindergarten are as well prepared for Grade 1 as children in the English program
• Children learning Mathematics in French make progress equal to that of children in the English program
• While there is a lag in English Language Arts in Grade 1 and Grade 2, the only area showing a significant difference between Grade 3 French Immersion and Grade 3 English is spelling
• By the end of Grade 4, most children in French Immersion are equal in all aspects of English Language Arts with children in the English stream

How much French do the children learn?
While comprehension of French comes quickly in Kindergarten, the ability to speak comes much more slowly, particularly fluent speech sentences. However, during Grade 1, children begin to communicate spontaneously with one another in French.

Is learning assistance available in French?
French-speaking remedial teachers help children who have difficulties in French Language Arts and Arithmetic. Children who would have had difficulty learning to read English also usually have difficulty learning to read French. In general, it is the actual reading skills that these children find difficult rather than the language used.

More Information

My question isn’t answered here. Who can help me?
Please contact Sean Powell, Associate Superintendent and District Principal for Languages and Multiculturalism atÌýspowell@sd61.bc.caÌýÌýor by phone at 50-475-4156.