Canada · City guide

Vancouver

Vancouver shares Canada’s open secret: public school is free, high-quality and open to work-permit holders’ children — so the relocating family’s real decisions are which district and catchment to live in, whether to brave the French immersion lottery, and the handful of cases where an independent school earns its CAD 30,000-37,000.

The first decision

Public first — private only when it buys something specific

Illustration of the Vancouver skyline and mountains with a school campus in the foreground

Vancouver is not a “which international school” city. BC’s School Act (s. 82) entitles every school-age child ordinarily resident in the province to free public education, and the province funds the children of work-permit holders outright. The public system that opens to your family is the same one that feeds UBC and sends graduates to the Ivies. The market benchmark for what that entitlement is worth: the VSB charges families who do not qualify — fee-paying international students — $17,000 a year, before insurance. ↗ ↗

So the decisions that actually matter for a relocating family are, in order: which district and catchment to live in (school assignment is by address, and quality varies by neighbourhood), whether to enter the choice-program lotteries (French immersion above all), and whether anything on the independent menu justifies $30,000-37,000 a year — a question with honest, specific yes-answers: single-sex education, a guaranteed IB continuum from kindergarten, boarding, or learning support your catchment school cannot staff.

The public layer

The 20-hour rule, the VSB document list, and catchment-first registration

The work-permit test has two numbers: one year, 20 hours. BC funds a school-age child whose guardian was lawfully admitted for temporary residence, holds authorization to work for one year or more, and is (or will be) employed at least 20 hours per week. Boards should not charge tuition for these children. Study-permit parents qualify if enrolled full-time in a degree or diploma program at a BC post-secondary institution. Families on short permits — or working under 20 hours — can be classified as fee-paying international students, so check your permit against the rule before you assume. ↗

The VSB document list is specific. Work-permit families show: the work permit (one year or more), passports, and an employment letter confirming at least one year of employment at 20-plus hours per week. Add proof of Vancouver residence, the child’s birth certificate and immunization records. As everywhere in Canada, there are no attestation chains or embassy stamps — but the employment letter trips up families whose contracts are short-term or probationary. ↗

Registration is catchment-first, always. Every kindergarten applicant — including families aiming for French immersion, Montessori or cross-boundary placement — registers at their English catchment school first, online, then verifies documents in person. The priority window runs November 1 to January 31. Inside it, siblings are placed first; if in-catchment applicants exceed capacity, the rest go to a random draw with an ordered waitlist. After January 31 you take what space remains. Choice-program applications (Early French Immersion, Montessori, Early Mandarin Bilingual, Nootka Fine Arts) come after catchment registration, as a separate step. ↗

Choice inside public

The French immersion lottery — and the public IB nobody budgets for

French immersion is free, coveted, and allocated by lottery. Early French Immersion begins in Kindergarten (100 per cent French instruction, tapering to about 25 per cent by Grade 12), and across Metro Vancouver districts it is a district program without catchment guarantees: when applications exceed seats, placement is by electronic lottery, with sibling priority and waitlists. Parents writing to the VSB board describe growing immersion waitlists and children driven 40-50 blocks after losing the draw; academic work on Vancouver school choice found immersion applications skew toward wealthier west-side families and has documented turn-away rates near one-third in high-demand years. Late French Immersion (Grade 6 entry in several districts) is the second door. ↗ ↗ ↗

Public IB exists on both sides of the harbour. The VSB offers the IB Diploma (Grades 11-12) at Sir Winston Churchill and Britannia secondary schools, with the Middle Years Programme at King George. West Vancouver Secondary is SD45’s public IB Diploma school, with the MYP at Rockridge. Port Moody Secondary runs School District 43’s district-wide IB, with a Grade 9 pre-diploma intake whose applications open in December and offers landing in February. For globally mobile families, a free IB diploma inside a Canadian public school is one of the best education deals in the world — and the reason “we need a private IB school” deserves a second thought. ↗ ↗

At secondary, watch the mini-school and program-of-choice season. Vancouver districts run application-based mini-schools, arts programs, academies and honours tracks, mostly applied for in Grade 7 for Grade 8 entry, with January-February deadlines. If your child is secondary-aged when you land, these — not the catchment default — are where the public system’s selective options live.

The suburb calculus

West Van, the west side, or the value corridor

West Vancouver is the academic outperformer — and it is public. In the Fraser Institute’s most recent full report card on BC secondaries (2018-19 data), West Van’s three public secondaries all ranked in the top third of 252 rated schools: Sentinel 33rd (7.9/10), Rockridge 50th (7.3) and West Vancouver Secondary 72nd (6.8) — with the district’s independents, Collingwood and Mulgrave, tied at 10th (9.2). Add the public IB Diploma at WVSS and secondary French immersion at Sentinel, and West Van is the strongest free option in BC. The costs are housing prices to match and a commute over the Lions Gate or Ironworkers bridge if a parent works downtown. ↗

Vancouver’s own west side is the transit-friendly alternative. Point Grey, Dunbar and Kitsilano offer strong public secondaries — Lord Byng among the province’s top-rated publics, and Churchill carrying the IB Diploma — plus walkable access to the flagship independents clustered around Shaughnessy and Kerrisdale (St. George’s, Crofton, York House, WPGA, Vancouver College). Families who want optionality between public and private usually land here.

Burnaby, the Tri-Cities and Richmond are the value plays. Housing runs meaningfully cheaper, several public secondaries post solid results, and specific programs draw families across district lines — Port Moody Secondary’s IB chief among them. The honest caveat from the data: east-side Vancouver and some suburban catchments post weaker results and fewer program options, so within any district, the specific catchment still matters more than the municipality’s reputation.

The independent layer

Named schools, sourced fees

Vancouver’s independent flagships sit in a tight cluster on the city’s west side, with two more across the harbour in West Van. Fees below are from the schools’ own schedules; BC independent schools are not-for-profit at this tier, and the accreditation filter is CAIS nationally and ISABC provincially — every school named here holds the memberships.

St. George’s School — boys, Grades 1-12, day and boarding; the city’s flagship boys’ school. 2026-27 day tuition $37,300 (Junior) / $37,400 (Senior), international day $54,900; boarding $77,700 (Canadian) to $105,200 (international); plus a one-time $7,500 entrance levy. SSAT and assessment-based admissions; late fee after November 1 for intake years. ↗
Crofton House School — girls, JK-12, Kerrisdale. 2026-27 tuition $35,300 (including the $3,000 deposit), plus a $5,000 new-student entrance fee — and a further $5,000 “Independent School Grant Fee” if neither parent qualifies the student for the provincial grant. Intake years are JK, SK, Grade 6 and Grade 8; discounted application fee for complete applications by October 3. ↗
York House School — girls, JK-12. 2025-26 tuition $31,225 (JK-Grade 7) and $31,900 (Grades 8-12), plus a $5,000 entrance fee; the 2026-27 schedule had not been posted at research time. ↗
Mulgrave School — co-ed, West Vancouver; the city’s IB continuum school (PYP/MYP/DP). 2026-27 tuition $30,290 (Preschool-Grade 5), $33,370 (Grades 6-10), $34,180 (Grades 11-12), plus consolidated fees — and a $25,000 refundable family deposit, a non-interest-bearing loan returned when your last child leaves. ↗
West Point Grey Academy — co-ed, JK-12. 2026-27 tuition $33,300 (up from $31,710 in 2025-26), plus a $3,500 entrance fee; non-BC-resident students pay $4,500 extra to replace the provincial grant. ↗
Stratford Hall — co-ed, East Vancouver; IB continuum. 2026-27 tuition $30,670 (K-Grade 10), $33,440 (Grade 11), $34,450 (Grade 12), plus a $9,000 first-child enrolment fee; international students pay $10,000 extra per year. ↗
Collingwood School — co-ed, West Vancouver, JK-12. 2026-27 tuition $30,075 (JK-Grade 5) to $32,750 (Grades 10-12), plus a $7,500 new-student administration fee. ↗
Vancouver College — boys, Catholic independent, K-12. 2026-27 tuition $10,100 — an order of magnitude below the secular independents, reflecting the Catholic funding model and parish support; $27,250 for international students. ↗
Cousteau, The French International School of Vancouver — co-ed, North Vancouver, pre-K to Grade 9; AEFE-accredited French and BC curricula, with tuition reported around $10,000-19,000. The city’s lycée-track option; francophone rights-holders can alternatively use the free public Conseil scolaire francophone (CSF). ↗

Note the price shape: Vancouver’s independent day tier ($30,000-37,000) sits well below Toronto’s ($44,000-49,000) — partly because BC’s Group 1 and Group 2 grants cover 50 or 35 per cent of the public per-student amount for eligible students, keeping tuition lower than it would otherwise be. ↗

The funding quirk

Free public, surcharged private: the work-permit trap at independent schools

Here is the wrinkle almost no guide mentions. BC’s grants to independent schools are paid per eligible student — and the eligibility test for the grant is not identical to the test for free public education. Several independents pass the shortfall to families who do not qualify. Crofton House publishes a $5,000 “Independent School Grant Fee” where neither parent qualifies the student for the provincial grant. WPGA charges non-BC-resident students $4,500 a year to replace the grant allowance, and its residency test for non-citizens requires physical presence in BC for the greater part of six of the last twelve months. ↗ ↗

The asymmetry arriving families must grasp: the public system charges work-permit children nothing, while some private schools quietly charge them more. Ask every independent school on your shortlist, in writing, whether your child counts as grant-eligible on your permit — the answer changes the real price by thousands.

Admissions

October-December deadlines, assessments, and intake years

Independent admissions run a full year ahead, and October is when it starts. Crofton House discounts its application fee for intake-year applications completed by October 3; St. George’s charges a $350 late fee after November 1 for intake years. Assessments, SSAT (at St. George’s and for senior entry elsewhere) and family interviews run December through February, with offers in late winter. Intake years matter: Crofton’s are JK, SK, Grade 6 and Grade 8 — apply off-cycle and you are competing for attrition seats. ↗ ↗

Financial aid exists but is quieter than in Toronto. Mulgrave offers need-based assistance (including full support) to strong applicants entering Grades 7-11, with a January deadline; St. George’s, Crofton and Collingwood run bursary and entrance-scholarship programs. As everywhere in Canada, aid is needs-assessed through third-party services and decided separately from admission. ↗

Landing mid-year? The public system must place your child promptly at the catchment school — that is your floor, and it is a good one. Independent mid-cycle entry is possible at less-pressured schools but rare at the flagships; families who arrive between cycles typically enrol publicly for a year and apply for the next September.

Parent ground truth

What Vancouver families actually warn each other about

Forum material is texture, not evidence — we attribute it as reported experience. The recurring themes across r/vancouver, school-board public feedback and relocation threads:

The French immersion lottery breeds real resentment. Parents describe growing waitlists, particularly in East Vancouver, and children bussed or driven 40-50 blocks after losing the draw. Veterans advise: register in the priority window, list a second choice carefully (it can cost you your first-choice waitlist spot), and treat Late French Immersion at Grade 6 as the realistic fallback. ↗
“West Van or west side?” is the city’s endless debate. The data favours West Vancouver’s public district; the lifestyle and commute arguments favour Kitsilano and Point Grey. Parents who chose the west side cite walkability and keeping both public and private options open; parents who chose West Van cite never having to think about private school at all.
Register the moment you have an address. Families who delayed past the January 31 priority deadline describe being waitlisted at their own catchment school in oversubscribed neighbourhoods — the kindergarten spot is guaranteed by law, but not necessarily at your nearest school.
The private schools’ grant surcharges surprise newcomers — families on work permits report discovering the extra $4,500-5,000 only at invoice stage. Ask before you apply, not after you accept.

Sources and next steps

Where the numbers on this page come from

Every fee figure, rule and deadline above traces to our research dossier. Primary sources: the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care’s funding eligibility policy and independent school grants policy, the Vancouver School Board, and each school’s own published fee schedule (St. George’s, Crofton House, York House, Mulgrave, WPGA, Stratford Hall, Collingwood, Vancouver College). Fraser Institute rankings are quoted with their 2018-19 data vintage. Parent material is attributed to VSB board public feedback and academic research on Vancouver school choice.

Fees and policies expire. This page was researched on 2 September 2026 and is re-verified each academic year — see our research standard for how claims are graded, and corrections if you spot something stale. Comparing Canadian cities? Our Toronto guide covers the same decision under Ontario’s rules — a deeper independent tier, a Catholic publicly funded board, and a different French immersion gate.

Coverage priorities

What we investigate here

The first decision: why the free public system is usually the right answer in BC — and the exact situations where independent fees buy something public cannot.

The public layer: the School Act s. 82 rule, the 20-hour work-permit test, VSB document requirements, and catchment-first kindergarten registration.

Choice inside public: Early French Immersion and the lottery reality, public IB at Britannia, Churchill and West Vancouver Secondary, and district mini-schools.

The suburb calculus: West Vancouver vs Vancouver’s west side vs Burnaby and the Tri-Cities — school quality, IB access and the commute trade.

The independent layer: named schools with sourced fees — St. George’s, Crofton House, York House, Mulgrave, West Point Grey Academy, Stratford Hall, Collingwood, Vancouver College — plus the French option.

The funding quirk: BC’s Group 1/2 grants to independent schools, and why work-permit families can be surcharged at private schools even while public school is free.

Research in progress

We publish clusters, not placeholders.

This city opens in full when its first connected group of school profiles, fee explainers, and admissions guidance has passed our evidence and editorial gates.

Read our publication standard →

Common questions

What families ask about Vancouver

Can my children attend Vancouver public school for free if I am on a work permit?

Yes, provided your permit meets two tests. Under BC’s School Act (s. 82) every child who is ordinarily resident in the province is entitled to free public education, and the province explicitly funds children whose guardian holds a work permit valid for one year or more and is employed at least 20 hours per week. The VSB will ask for the work permit, passports, and an employment letter confirming the one-year, 20-hour-plus terms. Families on shorter permits or with less work may be classified as fee-paying international students — the VSB’s own rate is $17,000 a year.

How do I register my child with the Vancouver School Board?

Register at your English catchment school first — even if you want a choice program. Kindergarten registration is two steps: an online application, then an in-person document appointment at the catchment school (proof of residence, birth certificate, immigration documents, immunization records). The priority window runs November 1 to January 31 for the following September; within it, siblings are placed first and oversubscribed schools go to a random draw. Arriving mid-year? You register on landing and the district places your child — there is no waiting for an admissions cycle.

How does French immersion work in Vancouver — and how hard is it to get in?

VSB Early French Immersion starts in Kindergarten, and you apply for it after registering at your English catchment school. It is a district choice program, not a catchment entitlement: when applications exceed seats, placement is by lottery, and waitlists in popular areas are long. Academic research on Vancouver choice found French immersion applications skew toward wealthier west-side families, and parents have reported children being bussed long distances after losing the lottery. Late French Immersion (Grade 6 entry) is the second door in some districts.

Can my child do the IB for free in Vancouver?

Yes. The VSB runs the IB Diploma (Grades 11-12) at Sir Winston Churchill and Britannia secondary schools, with the Middle Years Programme at King George. Across the harbour, West Vancouver Secondary is that district’s public IB Diploma school — a major reason families choose West Van — and Port Moody Secondary runs SD43’s district-wide IB with Grade 9 pre-diploma entry. All are free; entry is by application and, for the diploma years, academic standing.

Is West Vancouver worth it for the schools?

On the public data, it is BC’s strongest public district: in the Fraser Institute’s most recent full report card (2018-19 data), all three West Van public secondaries ranked in the top third of 252 rated schools — Sentinel at 33rd — and the district offers public IB and French immersion. The trade-offs are housing cost and the commute. Vancouver’s own west side (Point Grey, Dunbar, Kitsilano) offers strong public schools too — Lord Byng and Churchill among them — with better transit. Burnaby and the Tri-Cities offer value and specific program draws like Port Moody’s IB.

When is an independent school worth CAD 30,000-37,000 a year in Vancouver?

In our read: (1) a single-sex environment is the goal — St. George’s (boys), Crofton House or York House (girls) are the city’s flagship independents; (2) you want a guaranteed all-through IB continuum — Mulgrave or Stratford Hall, rather than competing for the public diploma years later; (3) boarding — St. George’s is the city’s main boarding option; (4) your child needs smaller classes or learning support your catchment school cannot staff. Note the wrinkle: if neither parent is a citizen or permanent resident, some independent schools charge a grant-replacement surcharge on top of tuition — while the public system charges you nothing.

When should we apply to Vancouver independent schools?

A full year ahead, and October-November is the season. Crofton House discounts its application fee for intake-year applications completed by October 3; St. George’s charges a late fee after November 1 for intake years; most assessments and interviews run December through February for September entry. Mid-year places exist but are luck-of-the-draw at the flagship schools.

Is there a French-curriculum (lycée) option in Vancouver?

Yes, but smaller than in most world cities. Cousteau, The French International School of Vancouver in North Vancouver, is AEFE-accredited and runs the French and BC curricula from pre-K to Grade 9, with tuition reported around $10,000-19,000. Families with francophone rights (at least one parent educated in French in Canada, or citizens from francophone systems in some cases) can also use the free public Conseil scolaire francophone (CSF), BC’s francophone school district.