As real estate agents who know a whole lot about schools, our clients ask us about French Immersion programs in Brampton (and Caledon & Bolton) quite frequently. Our clients feel that French Immersion schools provide “better education”, and this is based on EQAO stats through recent years. This is not without merit. In Oakville and York Region, where you can directly regionally-compare the EQAO pass-rates of French Immersion students vs. English-track students, we found a 17% difference in performance in 2014. Does that mean that FI students perform 17% better than English-track students? Not necessarily, as the program does indeed attract students from (generally) more-concerned parents. But the numbers are certainly intriguing.

Should you put your own child into French Immersion? Perhaps this article and this article and also this article can help you with your decision.

Here is information about the French Immersion programs at public schools in Brampton…

• In Brampton, from grades 1 to 8, they spend half of their school day learning in French and the other half learning in English. The program is then continued at select secondary schools.
• Getting into the French Immersion program at the Grade One level in Brampton is not as easy or automatic as in other cities. There is now a lottery for French Immersion (FI) “spots” at each public elementary school if the FI registration exceeds 25 percent of the total annual enrolment number for Grade One.
• For a full breakdown of the lottery rules, please visit the Peel Board’s registration site HERE. Please note that the registration deadline for French Immersion for September placement is usually in late January.
• A list and ranking of the schools in Brampton (and Caledon & Bolton) that offer French Immersion programs is at the bottom of this page. (They have been ranked by 7-year EQAO scores only, as opposed to our regular rankings where Potency and Consistency also affect the rankings.)

RELATED: The Catholic French Immersion program in Brampton

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Why such a demand for French Immersion? Perhaps a comment from “Willy999” on the cbc.ca forums puts it best… He wrote:
“Some of the demand for French Immersion comes from parents who view the program as a better learning environment for their children as opposed to a program that stresses French. The program is viewed as a “private school” within the public system. The demand for French Immersion could be reduced by offering these parents an alternative English based program.”

It is true that schools with French Immersion programs generally do better in the EQAO tests than schools without. Is this indicative of the level of education given, or is it just that they attract a “smarter” student? We believe it is more of the latter. However, we still recommend these French Immersion schools to our clients as most parents would prefer to have their children be influenced by peers who do well in school.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO KNOW about French Immersion in Brampton, including the crazy boundaries that may change from year to year! Be very careful when moving to Brampton that you know exactly where your child is going to be attending.

Here are the rankings for the 21 public elementary schools in Brampton, and then the 3 in Caledon & Bolton, that currently offer the French Immersion program:

BEST FRENCH IMMERSION SCHOOLS IN BRAMPTON

BEST FRENCH IMMERSION SCHOOLS IN CALEDON & BOLTON

Here is a list of the public middle schools in Brampton, Caledon & Bolton that currently offer the French Immersion program:
Allan Drive Middle
Balmoral Dr. Sr.
Earscliffe Sr.
Herb Campbell
Sir William Gage Middle

Here is a list of the public High Schools in Brampton, Caledon & Bolton that currently offer the French Immersion program:
Bramalea SS
Brampton Centennial SS
David Suzuki SS
Humberview SS