Photo: Grant Berg · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Birch Hills County’s schools are public: 0 of 5 are Catholic, where in Alberta it is 18%
Elementary schools here average 24 students; in Alberta, 274. The 3 km around Birch Hills County counts 2 elementary schools, 1 secondary school and 2 schools for every grade, 123 students between them.
Who runs Birch Hills County’s schools
Each level’s schools by system: English public, English Catholic, French-language, and independent or other.
Their systems: English public 3 and independent or other 2.
The provincial school lists: each school’s board, language and Catholic or public status.
The 5 schools in and around Birch Hills County
How Birch Hills County’s schools do on Alberta’s tests
The Provincial Achievement Tests in Grades 6 and 9: each school against every school in Alberta.
Its School Grade is A+: it compares these results with the other towns of the province.
The area’s schools by fifth of the province
Each school’s band is the average of its measures’ fifths. The mark shows an even fifth of the area’s schools.
| Measure | Schools | Middle here | Alberta |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAT: acceptable standard | 1 | 100% | 67% |
| PAT: standard of excellence | 1 | 21% | 13% |
Furthest from the provincial middle is the standard of excellence: 21% here, against 13% in Alberta.
Every school’s results (1)
| School | Measure | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Birch Meadows Colony SchoolAll grades · Grades 1–10 | Acceptable 100% · Excellence 21% | Second fifth |
Alberta Education and Childcare, PAT multiyear school results (core courses pooled). Alberta’s own notes: breaches in 2021–22, wildfires in 2022–24, the January 2026 sitting cancelled, pilot-curriculum students excused. Open Government Licence – Alberta.
Where the 5 schools in and around Birch Hills County are
Every school as a pin, coloured by system; each opens its own page.
Points from the provincial lists; Alberta’s missing ones from OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim (© OpenStreetMap contributors).
Schooling in English and French around Birch Hills County
The language each school teaches in, against every school in Alberta.
The mark on each bar is the share of schools in Alberta.
None of them teaches in French.
Section 23 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives French-speaking parents the right to French-language schooling for their children, through the French-language boards.
The 2 boards that run schools here
Each board’s schools in the area, largest first.
Among 2 boards, The Peace Wapiti School Division leads with 3.
| Board | System | Schools | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Peace Wapiti School DivisionBirch Meadows Colony, Shady Lane Colony, Codesa Hutterite Colony | English public | 3 | 80 |
| Northern Lakes CollegePeace River Learning Centre | Other | 1 | 14 |
Boards and districts as the provincial lists name them.
How children get a place in Birch Hills County
Independent schools
Admission to an independent school is by its own rules; fees apply, lowered by partial provincial funding.
The neighbourhood school
Where a family lives sets the school: each board draws a catchment around every one of its schools, and a child living inside it has a place there. Other schools take children from outside when they have room.
The provinces’ education acts and the boards’ own admission policies; check with the board for a given address.
High schools within reach of Birch Hills County
The high schools a family here could reach, within 15 km.
The one high school within 15 km is Birch Meadows Colony School, at 9.9 km.
| School | Board | System | Band | Students | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birch Meadows Colony SchoolAll grades · Grades 1–10 | The Peace Wapiti School Division | English public | Second fifth | 37 | 9.9 km |
Distances in a straight line from the town’s centre point.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Which schools count. The area is Birch Hills County plus a 3 km margin around it, measured from its census outline.
- The kinds of school. The levels follow each school’s published grades: elementary below Grade 7 or 9, secondary above, all-grade when it runs the whole way.
- The year. The open list of 2025/26.
- Boards and systems. Public and Catholic boards are both publicly funded here, in English and in French; an independent school answers to no board.
- Bands, not ranks. A suppressed result gives no band; a school with both measures averages its fifths.
- What isn’t here. What no open list gives: inspection grades, several years of enrolment, and Ontario’s private schools.
Questions about schools in Birch Hills County
Which schools near Birch Hills County have the best results?
No school reaches the top fifth in Alberta; Birch Meadows Colony School comes closest.
Which boards run the schools in Birch Hills County?
By number of schools: The Peace Wapiti School Division (3) and Northern Lakes College (1).
How many schools are there in Birch Hills County?
The town holds 4 of them; 1 more are within 3 km of its outline.
Is there a French-language school in Birch Hills County?
Not in or within 3 km of Birch Hills County; the French-language board can name the nearest.
How do I get a place at a school in Birch Hills County?
Registration is with the board, which assigns the school for the home address.
Sources: Alberta Education and Childcare, school enrolment 2025/26 (Open Government Licence – Alberta) · map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).