Photo: Wolfmum · CC BY-SA 4.0Results around Cold Lake lean low: 7 of 9 schools in the lower two fifths in Alberta
They come under 5 school boards. 4,588 students attend the 5 elementary schools, 5 secondary schools and 4 schools for every grade in or within 3 km of Cold Lake.
How Cold Lake’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 D: 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 | 9 | 55% | 67% |
| PAT: standard of excellence | 9 | 5% | 13% |
The widest gap is on the standard of excellence, where the area’s schools reach 5% against 13% in Alberta.
Every school’s results (9)
| School | Measure | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Nelson Heights Middle SchoolElementary · Grades 4–6 | Acceptable 65% · Excellence 11% | Middle fifth |
| St. Dominic SchoolElementary · Grades K–6 | Acceptable 70% · Excellence 13% | Middle fifth |
| Cold Lake Junior High SchoolSecondary · Grades 7–9 | Acceptable 50% · Excellence 11% | Fourth fifth |
| Art Smith Aviation AcademyAll grades · Grades K–9 | Acceptable 55% · Excellence 6% | Fourth fifth |
| Assumption Junior Senior High SchoolSecondary · Grades 7–12 | Acceptable 58% · Excellence 5% | Bottom fifth |
| École VoyageurAll grades · Grades K–12 | Acceptable 59% · Excellence 3% | Bottom fifth |
| Elizabeth Community SchoolAll grades · Grades K–9 | Acceptable 40% · Excellence 0% | Bottom fifth |
| Holy Cross Elementary SchoolElementary · Grades K–6 | Acceptable 46% · Excellence 2% | Bottom fifth |
| North Star Elementary SchoolElementary · Grades K–6 | Acceptable 40% · Excellence 4% | Bottom 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.
The 5 boards that run schools here
Every board or service centre with a school in the area, and its schools.
| Board | System | Schools | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Northern Lights School DivisionCold Lake, Cold Lake Junior, North Star, Cold Lake, Art Smith Aviation Academy, Nelson Heights, Cold Lake Outreach | English public | 7 | 2,540 |
| The Lakeland Roman Catholic Separate School DivisionAssumption Junior Senior, Holy Cross, St. Dominic | English Catholic | 3 | 1,447 |
| The East Central Francophone Education RegionVoyageur | French public | 1 | 242 |
| The Northland School DivisionElizabeth | English public | 1 | 85 |
| Portage CollegePortage College-Cold Lake Campus | Other | 1 | 68 |
Boards and districts as the provincial lists name them.
Where the 14 schools in and around Cold Lake are
A pin for every school, its colour the system it belongs to.
3 more have no point in the source and are listed below the map.
Points from the provincial lists; Alberta’s missing ones from OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim (© OpenStreetMap contributors).
Schooling in English and French around Cold Lake
The language each school teaches in, against every school in Alberta.
The mark on each bar is the share of schools in Alberta.
École Voyageur teach in French; The East Central Francophone Education Region runs the public ones among the 1.
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.
Who runs Cold Lake’s schools
Each level’s schools by system: English public, English Catholic, French-language, and independent or other.
The split by system: English public 8, English Catholic 3, French-language 1 and independent or other 2.
The provincial school lists: each school’s board, language and Catholic or public status.
How children get a place in Cold Lake
The neighbourhood school
Registration happens with the board, not the school; the board names the school for the address.
French-language schools
The French boards take rights-holders’ children by right and others by committee.
Catholic schools
A separate (Catholic) board runs its own schools with public money and its own admission rules.
Independent schools
Admission to an independent school is by its own rules; fees apply, lowered by partial provincial funding.
The provinces’ education acts and the boards’ own admission policies; check with the board for a given address.
The 14 schools in and around Cold Lake
High schools within reach of Cold Lake
The high schools a family here could reach, within 15 km.
6 secondary schools are within 15 km: 4 English public, 1 French public and 1 English Catholic. The closest high school is École Voyageur, 0.7 km out.
| School | Board | System | Band | Students | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| École VoyageurAll grades · Grades K–12 | The East Central Francophone Education Region | French public | Bottom fifth | 242 | 0.7 km |
| Cold Lake High SchoolSecondary · Grades 10–12 | The Northern Lights School Division | English public | – | 590 | 2 km |
| Assumption Junior Senior High SchoolSecondary · Grades 7–12 | The Lakeland Roman Catholic Separate School Division | English Catholic | Bottom fifth | 754 | 2.2 km |
| Cold Lake OutreachSecondary · Grades 10–12 | The Northern Lights School Division | English public | – | 162 | 2.4 km |
| Cold Lake Junior High SchoolSecondary · Grades 7–9 | The Northern Lights School Division | English public | Fourth fifth | 448 | 2.5 km |
| Art Smith Aviation AcademyAll grades · Grades K–9 | The Northern Lights School Division | English public | Fourth fifth | 287 | 5.1 km |
Distances in a straight line from the town’s centre point.
Towns its size in Alberta
Towns of a similar population, with their schools in or within 3 km; described, not ranked.
| Town | Population | Schools | Students | French | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaumont | 26,305 | 14 | 7,943 | 1 | 0.2 km |
| … | |||||
| Auburn Bay | 18,296 | 26 | 17,918 | 0 | 0.7 km |
| Taradale | 17,911 | 34 | 21,751 | 1 | 0.4 km |
| Sylvan Lake | 17,897 | 10 | 3,395 | 0 | 0.5 km |
| Mahogany | 17,818 | 26 | 17,873 | 0 | 1.4 km |
| Cold Lake | 17,798 | 14 | 4,588 | 1 | 0.7 km |
| McKenzie Towne | 17,757 | 32 | 20,151 | 0 | 0.6 km |
| Brooks | 17,537 | 13 | 4,065 | 1 | 0.2 km |
| Coventry Hills | 17,391 | 14 | 11,841 | 0 | 0.7 km |
| Canmore | 17,341 | 7 | 2,112 | 1 | 1.6 km |
| … | |||||
| Whitecourt | 10,708 | 9 | 2,525 | 0 | 1.2 km |
Among 72 towns its size, 53 have more schools nearby. Schooling in French is on hand in 32 of the 73.
Populations from Statistics Canada; schools from the provincial lists, in or within 3 km of each town.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Bands, not ranks. The fifths are of schools, not students: a small school counts as much as a large one.
- What isn’t here. Missing: inspection ratings (no province gives them), enrolment trends and Ontario’s private schools.
- The year. 2025/26, the latest open list.
- Boards and systems. A public school belongs to a board of one language; in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan a board is also public or Catholic. An independent school runs itself.
- Which schools count. A 3 km band around Cold Lake’s outline is included, as it is for every town on the site.
- The kinds of school. Where a province publishes grades, the card gives them; elementary and secondary follow those grades.
Questions about schools in Cold Lake
How many schools are there in Cold Lake?
All 14 sit within the town’s own boundary.
Is there a French-language school in Cold Lake?
Yes: École Voyageur, the French-language schools here.
How do I get a place at a school in Cold Lake?
Ask the board which school serves your street, then register through it.
Which boards run the schools in Cold Lake?
The Northern Lights School Division (7), The Lakeland Roman Catholic Separate School Division (3), The East Central Francophone Education Region (1), The Northland School Division (1) and Portage College (1), with each one’s schools in brackets.
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).