Wow. That number surprises me! A whole class, then, is taken up by siblings.

Plus, you could send the other child to the academy. Why not?

Well, siblings are diminishing my child possibility. And I have only one child, that will not have a sibling. The system is not fair, but claims itself fair with erroneous mathematical assumptions. The system is biased and discriminatory against single child families.

I don't know - I think I support sibling preference, even if it severely diminishes my chances. I want my kids at the same school having similar opportunities. If my oldest kid doesn't get in, that helps me make a timely decision to either move or explore private, rather than investing 2 years in an immersion program only to have my second kid get rejected, at which point I would probably want to move (not going to the neighborhood school) or consider private for both kids so they'd be at the same school. If they didn't allow sibling preference, it would be really hard to plan for the future because of the uncertainty.

PLUS: the information is not public. This is really upsetting. Is not at all a transparent process.

We just spoke to the coordinator at sligo. Is absurd. 28 spots went directly to siblings. leaving 28 spots for new kids. Now: is really screwed up: they insist siblings go to the lottery byt they are given preference. All this means is that they reduce your odds, but if they are not selected by draw, they get selected anyways. Therefore, is not a lottery, it promotes family clans, discrimination and separation like if is a special elite of people. Really, it needs to be revisited and give equal chances to all, and stop preference to siblings. This year there were 258 kids in wait list.We were 209. But for what i know now, I dislike the whole system.

I don't think that's right. I've never heard wait list numbers higher than the 100-200 range.

Anonymous wrote:It is really hard to get into! Over 900 applicants

Whooah. That is insane. Do they post those numbers somewhere or did you call to find out?

It is really hard to get into! Over 900 applicants

The lottery is not a true lottery. Siblings are enrolled automatically. That immediately puts a single kid in disadvantage. Is is possible (although unlikely) that any given year if every kid has a sibling, there will be very few spots for a kid with no siblings. The atmosphere is that of parents feeling superior bc their kids go to FI. If you are a french family, stick to your roots, speak french at home, it will be much better.

I would simply recommend Rochambeau instead if you can live with the fees.

Anonymous wrote:10:20 - Not 8:56, but if someone calling you out on using the term "local private" for immersion is "psychotic" - do you project much?

Please show me where I used the term "local private" to refer to a public immersion school. I didn't, and you won't be able to find it because I was quite clear that we left a local private to go to a public immersion. Do you read much?

10:20 - Not 8:56, but if someone calling you out on using the term "local private" for immersion is "psychotic" - do you project much?

ITA. Our kid went from Sligo immerson to a magnet. Does that make us bad people?

Anonymous wrote:Newsflash - the Sligo immersion program is *not* a local private and parents who approach it with that sense of entitlement and a) fail to support the needier part of the school or b) don't continue with the partial immersion - less sheltered? - program at SSIMS, give it a very bad name.

There are a lot of choice programs for middle school, and the option of returning to home school. Why on earth should parents feel obligated to send their children to SSIMS if another option is a better fit (for whatever reason)?