Canadian Schools
Canada’s education system is one of the most respected in the world: diverse, inclusive, rigorous, and committed to developing the whole child, not just the report card.
From leading boarding schools on Vancouver Island to prestigious day schools in Toronto and well-regarded public schools, Canada offers exceptional choices for students from around the world. But these schools are genuinely different from one another.
The challenge is not finding a good school. It’s finding the right one, the school that matches your child’s academic profile, personality, interests and aspirations.
St. George’s School, Vancouver
Brentwood College
Glenlyon Norfolk School
Ashbury College
Why Families Choose Canada
Safety and Inclusion
Canada is one of the world’s safest countries, and one of the most used to newcomers: close to a quarter of the people living here were born somewhere else. Your child is unlikely to be the only student in the room who arrived from another country. For parents placing a child thousands of miles away, that matters more than almost anything else.
The Whole Child
Academic Excellence
Canadian independent schools are internationally recognized for their academic rigour and prepare students for leading universities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and beyond. A Canadian independent school education opens doors globally.
University and a Canadian Life
The Canadian School System
“Public”, “private”, “independent”, “boarding”, “day”, “IB”, “AP”… Every family I work with asks about these words. Several of them do not mean what a parent would reasonably assume. Here is what each one means in Canada:
Public, Private and Independent
These three terms come up constantly in Canadian school conversations. They do not mean the same thing.
Public Schools
Government-funded and free to attend for Canadian residents and citizens. International students are required to pay tuition. Quality varies significantly depending on location and catchment area, which is why choosing the right neighbourhood matters as much as choosing the right school.
Private Schools
For-profit organisations, owned and operated by an individual or a corporation. The owner controls how tuition fees are used and how the school is run.
Independent Schools
Registered not-for-profit organisations, led by a Head of School and governed by a Board of Directors, much like a charity. Tuition fees go directly back into the school, into facilities, teaching, programmes and student support, not into private hands. In some provinces they also receive partial government funding. This governance structure means independent schools are accountable to their community, not to a private owner.
More than 90 Canadian independent schools are members of CAIS, Canadian Accredited Independent Schools, the country’s most rigorous accreditation body. These are the schools I specialise in.
Boarding and Day Schools
Boarding schools provide full residential living. Students live on campus during the school year in dormitories, supervised by house staff, with meals, activities and support provided. This is the most common choice for international families. Most boarding schools also welcome day students from the local neighbourhood.
Day schools welcome students who live at home or with a local guardian and attend school during the day only. Many Canadian independent schools offer both options: boarding for those living further away, and day places for local families. The right choice depends entirely on your child’s personality, maturity, and your family’s goals.
IB and AP Explained
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a globally recognised academic programme that emphasises critical thinking, international mindedness and a broad curriculum across six subject areas. It culminates in the IB Diploma, which is widely accepted by universities worldwide.
Advanced Placement (AP) courses are individual university-level courses that students take in specific subjects. They are often used in North American schools to demonstrate academic strength in chosen areas.
Both are respected by universities. The right choice depends on how your child learns, where their strengths already sit, and where they hope to apply. I answer that question for your child specifically, school by school, rather than in the abstract.
Schools I Work With
The schools featured below are just a selection from the dozens of independent schools I work with across Canada. I know these schools firsthand: I have visited their campuses, met their admissions teams, and built relationships through years of school visits and community events. These are not recommendations from a directory. They are schools I trust, and schools where I have seen students flourish.
My specialisation is Canada’s leading independent schools, the majority of which are CAIS members. But I never begin with a predetermined list. Every family is different, and the right fit might be a strong public school in the right catchment area or, for families considering options across the border, an independent school in the United States. Those options are part of the conversation too.
Upper Canada College
Toronto, Ontario · Independent | Day & Boarding | Boys (JK–12) | IB World School | CAIS Member
One of Canada’s most storied independent schools, Upper Canada College combines exceptional academic rigour with a powerful tradition of leadership development. The campus in midtown Toronto is extraordinary, and the alumni network in business, politics and the arts runs deep. As a UCC parent myself, I know this school from both sides. My son is a proud graduate and Old Boy. To this day, he’s still connected to the community and the friendships it built.
The art wing is a corridor, not a room. Every piece hanging here was made by a student.
Brentwood College School
Mill Bay, British Columbia · Independent | Day & Boarding | Co-ed (Grades 8–12) | CAIS Member
Brentwood’s timetable is the thing to understand about it. Every student does academics, an athletic and an art, every day, and the school builds the day around all three rather than treating two of them as extras. The campus runs along more than a kilometre of Vancouver Island oceanfront, and students come from over 50 countries. It produces graduates who are genuinely well-rounded because the timetable gives them no other option.
Shawnigan Lake School
Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia · Independent | Day & Boarding | Co-ed (Grades 8–12) | CAIS Member
Shawnigan has over 500 students from more than 30 countries, on a lakeside campus in the forests of Vancouver Island. What sets it apart is what sits alongside the academic programme: a salmon hatchery, an observatory, a recording studio and a robotics lab. Your child will find something here they would not find anywhere else, and that tends to be the thing they remember.
Campus, and the salmon hatchery. Both filmed on my visit.
St. George's School, Vancouver.
The pottery studio. Boys book time here the way they book a practice court.
St. George’s School
Vancouver, British Columbia · Independent | Day & Boarding | Boys (Grades 1–12) | CAIS Member
St. George’s has been educating boys in Vancouver since 1930, across two campuses a few blocks apart on West 29th Avenue, with boarders housed at Harker Hall. What struck me most on my visit was not the buildings, but the breadth of what happens inside them: a professional-grade pottery studio, and a range of extracurricular programmes wide enough that a boy who does not fit the obvious moulds still finds his place.
You get an answer from someone who has been inside it, not a description from a directory.
Appleby College
Oakville, Ontario · Independent | Day & Boarding | Co-ed (Grades 7–12) | CAIS Member
Appleby has two campuses. The second one is the surprise: an 11-acre island in Lake Temagami, in northern Ontario, where Upper School students go twice for leadership and outdoor education. The main campus is 60 acres on the shore of Lake Ontario in Oakville. A polished lakeside campus and a week in the bush is an unusual combination, and it shows in the graduates.
The Bishop Strachan School
Toronto, Ontario · Independent | Day & Boarding | Girls (JK–12) | CAIS Member
BSS has been running since 1867, and it is a big school: about 970 girls from JK to Grade 12. The boarding house is deliberately small, around seventy students, so an international girl arrives into an intimate residential community while going to school inside a large and busy one. Eighty-five per cent of the girls in Grades 9 to 12 hold a leadership role of some kind, which tells you what the place expects of them.
Havergal College
Toronto, Ontario · Independent | Day & Boarding | Girls (JK–12) | CAIS Member
Havergal was founded in 1894 and boards only a handful of girls each year: eight to ten entering Grade 9, fewer in the grades above. Your daughter would be known individually there, because at that size, there is no way for her not to be. The school is a Round Square member, which means international exchange and service work are built into her education rather than offered as extras.
Branksome Hall
Toronto, Ontario · Independent | Day & Boarding | Girls (JK–12) | IB World School | CAIS Member
An IB World School with a global perspective built into everything it does. Branksome attracts students from across Canada and around the world, and its international community is one of its greatest strengths. If your family is seeking an academically excellent girls’ school with a truly global outlook, Branksome is exceptional.
Ridley College
St. Catharines, Ontario · Independent | Day & Boarding | Co-ed (JK–12) | IB World School | CAIS Member
Ridley is Canada’s only independent boarding school authorised to offer the full IB continuum, from the Primary Years Programme through to the IB Diploma. That continuity matters for families who want one coherent academic path rather than a change of system partway through. The school’s welcoming community and strong international student programme make it a natural home for families from abroad.
Stanstead College
Stanstead, Québec · Independent | Boarding (Grades 7–12) | Co-ed | CAIS Member
Founded in 1872, Stanstead carries its Scottish roots with pride. Today, that tradition sits alongside a global, diverse student body. What struck me on my visit was the sheer size of the campus. Located on beautiful rural grounds near the Québec-Vermont border, with real space and freedom for an impressive range of activities. Being so close to the American border, Stanstead also draws many US families seeking a Canadian boarding experience, and the dining hall feels like the world in one room. The University Counselling team guides students toward both Canadian and American universities, since many return to the US for their undergraduate years.
And Many More Across Canada
Ontario | British Columbia | Québec | And beyond
My network extends well beyond the schools listed here, including Lakefield College School, Trinity College School, Ashbury College, Toronto French School, Pickering College, Trafalgar Castle School, The York School, Crescent School, St. Michael’s College School and Glenlyon Norfolk School.
The right school for your child may be one you have not heard of yet. That is exactly why this conversation matters.
Lakefield College School, Pickering College, Trafalgar Castle School and Ashbury College. Four of the schools named just above.
You have seen some of the schools.
The one that is right for your child might be on this page, or it might be one that doesn’t appear here yet. Whether you are ready to begin or still working out whether now is the right time, it starts the same way: a conversation about your child, and about whether I am the right person to help your family.
