🇨🇦 Toronto · Schools

Schooling and childcare in Toronto

Four publicly funded school boards, free full-day kindergarten from age four, and places assigned by home address.

The thing people get wrongToronto has four parallel publicly funded systems — English public, English Catholic, French public and French Catholic — and choosing between them is a real decision, not an administrative detail. Each has its own catchments, its own admission rules and its own application process.

The four boards

The English public board is the default and the largest. The English Catholic board is publicly funded too and generally requires evidence of Catholic baptism for elementary admission, with more open rules at secondary level. The two French-language boards serve children with a right to French-language education under Canadian law, and their admission rules reflect that. Registration is at the school for your home address, with proof of residence and the child's immigration and immunisation records.

Registration requires proof of address, proof of the child's status, and immunisation records.
Junior kindergarten starts at four and senior kindergarten at five — both full-day and free.
Out-of-catchment transfers are possible where a school has space, but are never guaranteed.

French immersion and language support

French immersion is offered within the English public and Catholic boards and typically begins in the kindergarten or Grade 1 year, with registration in a defined window the winter before. Places are allocated by a process that can involve a lottery in oversubscribed areas, and entry after the early grades is generally not possible. Separately, new arrivals whose first language is not English are assessed for English language support, which the boards arrange through reception and assessment centres.

French immersion registration windows fall in the winter for the following September.
Late entry into immersion is usually not available after the first year or two.
Newcomer assessment centres place children at the right level and arrange language support.

Private schools and childcare

Toronto has a well-established private and independent sector, including day schools and boarding, with admission processes that start the autumn before entry. For the under-fives, licensed childcare is the expensive part, though the federal-provincial childcare agreement has substantially reduced daily fees at participating centres. Demand at those centres is heavy and the City runs the waiting list — register as soon as you have an address.

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