Photo: James O'Brien · CC BY-SA 4.0No high school in or near Lake Cowichan: the closest is 24 km off
The town’s own schools, within 3 km, are 3 elementary schools. On results, 0 of 2 tested schools are in the upper two fifths in British Columbia.
High schools within reach of Lake Cowichan
Every secondary school within 15 km of the town, nearest first.
No secondary school is within 15 km of the town.
How Lake Cowichan’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 C−: 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) | 1 | 466 | 468 |
| Grade 4 numeracy (FSA score) | 1 | 420 | 472 |
| Grade 7 literacy (FSA score) | 1 | 409 | 467 |
| Grade 7 numeracy (FSA score) | 1 | 386 | 454 |
| First-time Grade 12 graduation | 1 | 83% | 91% |
The widest gap is on Grade 7 numeracy, where the area’s schools reach 386 against 454 in British Columbia. 0 measures above the provincial middle, 4 below, out of 5.
Every school’s results (2)
| School | Measure | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Cowichan SecondaryElementary | Graduation 83% | Fourth fifth |
| Lake Cowichan ElementaryElementary | G4 literacy 466 · G4 numeracy 420 · G7 literacy 409 · G7 numeracy 386 | Bottom 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 Lake Cowichan are
Every school as a pin, coloured by system; each opens its own page.
Points from the provincial lists.
Schooling in English and French around Lake Cowichan
The language each school teaches in, against every school in British Columbia.
The mark on each bar is the share of schools in British Columbia.
There is no French-language school among them.
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 Lake Cowichan’s schools
Each level’s schools by system: English and French public boards, independent and other schools.
No mix of systems here: every one English public.
The provincial school lists: each school’s board, language and Catholic or public status.
How children get a place in Lake Cowichan
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 Lake Cowichan
Towns its size in British Columbia
Towns of a similar population, with their schools in or within 3 km; described, not ranked.
| Town | Population | Schools | French | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Mann | 5,988 | 69 | 0 | 1.6 km |
| … | ||||
| Electoral Area F, East Kootenay | 3,893 | 8 | 0 | 14 km |
| Electoral Area C, Fraser-Fort George | 3,811 | 3 | 0 | 14 km |
| Roberts Creek | 3,779 | 7 | 2 | 8.1 km |
| Electoral Area A, Fraser-Fort George | 3,764 | 3 | 0 | 6 km |
| Lake Cowichan | 3,757 | 3 | 0 | 24 km |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo | 3,733 | 36 | 2 | 3.2 km |
| Cowichan Bay | 3,713 | 16 | 1 | 2.6 km |
| Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap | 3,672 | 6 | 1 | 4.6 km |
| Electoral Area F, Bulkley-Nechako | 3,643 | 9 | 0 | 4.1 km |
| … | ||||
| Clearwater | 2,500 | 3 | 0 | 85 km |
More schools are within reach in 77 of the 100 other towns. A school in French is nearby in 21 towns of 101.
Populations from Statistics Canada; schools from the provincial lists, in or within 3 km of each town.
Schools in the towns around Lake Cowichan
Schools in or within 3 km of each neighbouring town; distances in a straight line.
| Town | Schools | French | Catholic or independent | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Cowichan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 km |
| Electoral Area F, Cowichan Valley 5.3 km | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 km |
| Electoral Area I, Cowichan Valley 12 km | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 km |
Of the neighbours, Electoral Area F, Cowichan Valley counts the most schools: 4.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The kinds of school. An all-grade school teaches from kindergarten through high school; elementary and secondary schools split those years.
- Which schools count. A school counts when it sits inside Lake Cowichan or less than 3 km beyond its edge.
- Boards and systems. Public schools come under a board of one language; independent schools are run privately.
- The year. The province’s school list, 2025/26.
- Bands, not ranks. Bands compare within BC only, measure by measure: never a place in a league table.
- What isn’t here. No ratings by inspectors, no enrolment trend: neither is published school by school.
Questions about schools in Lake Cowichan
How do I get a place at a school in Lake Cowichan?
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 Lake Cowichan?
The town holds all 3; none is outside it.
Is there a French-language school in Lake Cowichan?
Not near Lake Cowichan: within 3 km there is none, and the French-language board points to the closest.
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).