Photo: KenWalker · CC BY-SA 4.0Fairwinds’s teenagers travel 13 km to the nearest high school
Within 3 km of the town there are 3 elementary schools only. On results, 2 of its 3 tested schools sit in the lower two fifths in British Columbia.
High schools within reach of Fairwinds
Every secondary school within 15 km of the town, nearest first.
Only Ecole Secondaire Ballenas Secondary is within 15 km, 13 km from the centre.
| School | Board | System | Band | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecole Secondaire Ballenas SecondarySecondary | SD 69 Qualicum | English public | Second fifth | 13 km |
Distances in a straight line from the town’s centre point.
How Fairwinds’s schools do on BC’s assessments
The Foundation Skills Assessment in Grades 4 and 7 and first-time graduation: each school against every school in BC.
Its School Grade is B: 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 | British Columbia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 literacy (FSA score) | 3 | 471 | 468 |
| Grade 4 numeracy (FSA score) | 3 | 451 | 472 |
| Grade 7 literacy (FSA score) | 3 | 434 | 467 |
| Grade 7 numeracy (FSA score) | 3 | 441 | 454 |
On Grade 7 literacy the area trails, 434 against 467 in British Columbia. Across 4 measures: 0 above the middle, 2 below.
Every school’s results (3)
| School | Measure | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain View ElementaryElementary | G4 literacy 466 · G4 numeracy 498 · G7 literacy 483 · G7 numeracy 441 | Middle fifth |
| Nanoose Bay ElementaryElementary | G4 literacy 471 · G4 numeracy 451 · G7 literacy 434 · G7 numeracy 441 | Fourth fifth |
| Seaview ElementaryElementary | G4 literacy 472 · G4 numeracy 450 · G7 literacy 429 · G7 numeracy 449 | Fourth fifth |
BC Ministry of Education and Child Care: FSA 2021/22 to 2025/26 (the latest year with a value) and first-time Grade 12 graduation; masked where groups are small; resident students only. Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
Where the 3 schools in and around Fairwinds are
A pin for every school, its colour the system it belongs to.
Points from the provincial lists.
Schooling in English and French around Fairwinds
Each school by its language of instruction, with the share in British Columbia marked.
The mark on each bar is the share of schools in British Columbia.
Not one 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.
Who runs Fairwinds’s schools
Each level’s schools by system: English and French public boards, independent and other schools.
Only one system is present here: every one English public.
The provincial school lists: each school’s board, language and Catholic or public status.
Which of the 2 boards runs which school
Every board or service centre with a school in the area, and its schools.
Among 2 boards, SD 68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith leads with 2.
| Board | System | Schools |
|---|---|---|
| SD 68 Nanaimo-LadysmithMountain View, Seaview | English public | 2 |
| SD 69 QualicumNanoose Bay | English public | 1 |
Boards and districts as the provincial lists name them.
How children get a place in Fairwinds
The neighbourhood school
Registration happens with the board, not the school; the board names the school for the address.
The provinces’ education acts and the boards’ own admission policies; check with the board for a given address.
The 3 schools in and around Fairwinds
Towns its size in British Columbia
Places of about the same size and their schools in or within 3 km, largest first.
| Town | Population | Schools | French | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coldstream | 11,380 | 16 | 0 | 3.3 km |
| … | ||||
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo | 7,825 | 7 | 0 | 1.9 km |
| Lochdale | 7,463 | 36 | 0 | 0.8 km |
| Merritt | 7,190 | 8 | 0 | 0.5 km |
| Hope | 7,183 | 6 | 0 | 0.8 km |
| Fairwinds | 7,125 | 3 | 0 | 13 km |
| Kent | 7,093 | 6 | 0 | 0.8 km |
| Fernie | 7,086 | 5 | 1 | 23 km |
| Electoral Area C, East Kootenay | 7,006 | 12 | 0 | 4.6 km |
| Anniedale | 6,715 | 53 | 0 | 3.7 km |
| … | ||||
| Invermere | 4,305 | 6 | 0 | 0.5 km |
Of the 89 others, 80 count more schools. A French-language school is within reach in 20 of the 90.
Populations from Statistics Canada; schools from the provincial lists, in or within 3 km of each town.
Schools in the towns around Fairwinds
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | French | Catholic or independent | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairwinds | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 km |
| Lantzville 7.6 km | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7.6 km |
| Parksville 12 km | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.4 km |
| Electoral Area G, Nanaimo 15 km | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2.4 km |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo 15 km | 36 | 2 | 3 | 3.2 km |
| Nanaimo 17 km | 39 | 2 | 3 | 1.3 km |
Most schools next door: Nanaimo, 39.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The kinds of school. Grades shown are the published range, from junior kindergarten (JK) upward.
- Which schools count. Every school inside Fairwinds’s outline or within 3 km of it, the rule used across the site.
- Boards and systems. Two systems share the province, English and French, each run by its own board or district.
- The year. The provincial list for 2025/26.
- What isn’t here. No ratings by inspectors, no enrolment trend: neither is published school by school.
- Bands, not ranks. Each result is placed in a fifth of BC’s schools on the same measure; a school’s band averages its fifths. BC masks small groups and counts resident students only, so no school is ranked to the place.
Questions about schools in Fairwinds
Which boards run the schools in Fairwinds?
SD 68 Nanaimo-Ladysmith (2) and SD 69 Qualicum (1), with each one’s schools in brackets.
How do I get a place at a school in Fairwinds?
Register with the board that runs the school: the address decides the designated school in each system, and the board can say which one it is.
How many schools are there in Fairwinds?
The town holds 2 of them; 1 more are within 3 km of its outline.
Is there a French-language school in Fairwinds?
No, none within 3 km of Fairwinds; ask the French-language board for the nearest.
Sources: BC Ministry of Education and Child Care, K-12 school list 2025/26 (Open Government Licence – British Columbia) · 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).