Best area to live in Scarborough, Ontario?

Hi,

I will be moving to Scarborough next summer with my 5 year old daughter.  I want to enroll her in French Immersion and need some advice.  Which French Immersion schools in Toronto have small class sizes?  Involved parents? Extracurricular activities?  Also, which neighborhoods are safe, and family friendly.  I used to live in South Ajax, so I would like to live close to the lake if possible.

Thank you for your help!!!

Hello gringa in colombia.

Welcome to Expat.com! :)

Hope you'll soon get some useful informations from other members.

Thank you,
Aurélie

It isn't in Scarborough, but Gledhill Junior Public School was great when I went there!  It's in East York, and isn't too bad of a commute from Southwest Scarborough.  Hope that helps!  If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me via private message or at aalisqm(at)gmail.com

Thank you for your help.  I will look into it!

gringa in colombia wrote:

Hi,

I will be moving to Scarborough next summer with my 5 year old daughter.  I want to enroll her in French Immersion and need some advice.  Which French Immersion schools in Toronto have small class sizes?  Involved parents? Extracurricular activities?  Also, which neighborhoods are safe, and family friendly.


I wouldn`t choose Scarborough, especially with little girl. Why don`t look at some near Lake like Port Credit, Etobicoke?
Do you have some particular reason to live in Scarborough?
Sometimes I watch TV and think -what is it with Scarborough, all the shootings and gangs and other bad news in Toronto seems to be there.

The reason I was thinking about Scarborough is because I will be returning to my job in Ajax.  There are not very many rental apartments in Pickering and Ajax (unless they are basement apartments), so I thought Scarborough would be the best option because I don't like commuting.

Thank you for your response.

vacancy.tal wrote:
gringa in colombia wrote:

Hi,

I will be moving to Scarborough next summer with my 5 year old daughter.  I want to enroll her in French Immersion and need some advice.  Which French Immersion schools in Toronto have small class sizes?  Involved parents? Extracurricular activities?  Also, which neighborhoods are safe, and family friendly.


I wouldn`t choose Scarborough, especially with little girl. Why don`t look at some near Lake like Port Credit, Etobicoke?
Do you have some particular reason to live in Scarborough?
Sometimes I watch TV and think -what is it with Scarborough, all the shootings and gangs and other bad news in Toronto seems to be there.


I've lived in Scarborough for just over ten years and I have to disagree.  There are bad neighbourhoods all over the city, some in Scarborough, but if you find a nice, quiet neighbourhood, there normally aren't very many problems.

I think you are right. Actually, I`ve never been there, just heard a lot lately on TV, but don`t really know this place.

hi gringa,

there are parts of scarborough to avoid, however, i would say the beaches is a good neighbourhood and is considered the southern border of scarborough. also, whitby would be an option (they have a small marina) and the commute would be along hwy2 or the 401. you could do a search on the toronto district school board website for extended french programs (and do the same on the durham school board website)

good luck,

cheers,

Suzie Que wrote:

hi gringa,

there are parts of scarborough to avoid, however, i would say the beaches is a good neighbourhood and is considered the southern border of scarborough. also, whitby would be an option (they have a small marina) and the commute would be along hwy2 or the 401. you could do a search on the toronto district school board website for extended french programs (and do the same on the durham school board website)

good luck,

cheers,


I have to agree here.  The Beaches are a really nice neighbourhood with a fair amount of french immersion schools.  I went to high school in the Beaches and got my Bilingual certificate.  I will warn you though, people in the Beaches tend to be fairly well off and in my experience, their kids tend to have that "stuck up rich person" vibe.

Thank you all for your help.  I lived in Ajax for 11 years before moving to Colombia two years ago.  I know that Scarborough gets a lot of bad press and that there are good areas, I just don't know where these areas are?  I know the Beaches is a good area but it may make for a long commute.

Does anybody know how family oriented and safe the following neighbourhoods are in Scarborough:

Cliffcrest
Cliffside
Warden Woods
L'Ameroux
Tam O'Shanter

Thank you!!!