Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Schools in St. John's: 3 boards, side by side
Beside NLESD - Eastern Region, which has 31, sit District 803 - Private and Conseil scolaire francophone. 2 of the 38 teach in French, against 2% of schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Counting a 3 km margin, St. John's has 25 elementary schools, 11 secondary schools and 2 schools for every grade.
The 3 boards that run schools here
Each board’s schools in the area, largest first.
| Board | System | Schools |
|---|---|---|
| NLESD - Eastern RegionBeaconsfield Junior High, Bishop Abraham, Bishop Feild, Brother Rice Junior High, District, East Point, Gonzaga Regional High, Goulds … | English public | 31 |
| District 803 - PrivateAnchor Academy, First Baptist Academy, Lakecrest-St. John's Independent, Murphy Centre, St. Bonaventure's College | English public | 5 |
| Conseil scolaire francophoneRocher-du-Nord, des Grands-Vents | French public | 2 |
Boards and districts as the provincial lists name them.
Where the 38 schools in and around St. John's are
Every school as a pin, coloured by system; each opens its own page.
10 more have no point in the source and are listed below the map.
Points from the provincial lists.
Schooling in English and French around St. John's
English, French and other languages of instruction, beside the mix in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The mark on each bar is the share of schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Conseil scolaire francophone runs the French-language ones: École des Grands-Vents and École Rocher-du-Nord.
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 St. John's’s schools
Each level’s schools by system: English and French public boards, independent and other schools.
By system, they split: English public 36 and French-language 2.
The provincial school lists: each school’s board, language and Catholic or public status.
How children get a place in St. John's
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.
French-language schools
A child qualifies for a French-language school when a parent’s first language is French or a parent went to French school in Canada; an admissions committee can admit others.
The provinces’ education acts and the boards’ own admission policies; check with the board for a given address.
The 38 schools in and around St. John's
Show all 25 elementary schools
High schools within reach of St. John's
Secondary and all-grade schools within 15 km, by distance.
Counting out to 15 km, there are 10: 9 English public and 1 French public. 0.8 km away, District School is the nearest.
| School | Board | System | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| District SchoolSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 0.8 km |
| École Rocher-du-NordSecondary | Conseil scolaire francophone | French public | 1.3 km |
| Prince of Wales CollegiateSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 1.3 km |
| Brother Rice Junior HighSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 2.4 km |
| Holy Heart of Mary Regional HighSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 2.5 km |
| Gonzaga Regional HighSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 3 km |
| Macdonald Drive Junior HighSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 4.8 km |
| First Baptist AcademyAll grades | District 803 - Private | English public | 5.1 km |
| St. Paul's Junior HighSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 5.8 km |
| St. Kevin's HighSecondary | NLESD - Eastern Region | English public | 11 km |
Distances in a straight line from the town’s centre point.
Canadian towns its size
Places of about the same size and their schools in or within 3 km, largest first.
| Town | Population | Schools | French | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | 197,737 | 82 | 6 | 1.3 km |
| … | ||||
| Trois-Rivières | 149,934 | 59 | 55 | 1 km |
| Kingston | 149,527 | 61 | 6 | 0.6 km |
| Waterloo | 142,450 | 58 | 2 | 0.7 km |
| Ajax | 141,111 | 67 | 4 | 1 km |
| St. John's | 128,693 | 38 | 2 | 0.8 km |
| Terrebonne | 126,872 | 74 | 70 | 0.6 km |
| Saanich | 126,011 | 83 | 2 | 1 km |
| Delta | 124,670 | 113 | 2 | 6.6 km |
| Brantford | 123,521 | 50 | 1 | 1.2 km |
| … | ||||
| Saint John | 79,371 | 29 | 1 | 1.2 km |
45 of the 56 others have more schools in reach. 54 towns of the 57 have a French-language school.
Populations from Statistics Canada; schools from the provincial lists, in or within 3 km of each town.
Schools in the towns around St. John's
Each town’s schools in or within 3 km of its outline; distances as the crow flies.
| Town | Schools | French | Catholic or independent | Nearest secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 38 | 2 | 0 | 0.8 km |
| Mount Pearl 6.6 km | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1.7 km |
| Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove 9.4 km | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.3 km |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9.7 km | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8.9 km |
| Paradise 9.8 km | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5.4 km |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 10 km | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4.2 km |
| Torbay 11 km | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6.9 km |
Each of its 6 neighbours has fewer schools.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What isn’t here. No ratings by inspectors, no enrolment trend: neither is published school by school.
- Boards and systems. Boards here split by language only: English districts and a French-language board.
- The year. This province’s list is ODEF, compiled by Statistics Canada in 2019–22: a few years old.
- The kinds of school. Elementary and secondary come from the grades each school offers; a school offering both counts as all-grade.
- Which schools count. Inside St. John's’s boundary, or no more than 3 km outside it: that is which schools are counted.
Questions about schools in St. John's
Is there a French-language school in St. John's?
Yes, there are French-language schools: École des Grands-Vents and École Rocher-du-Nord.
How many schools are there in St. John's?
34 in the town, 4 just beyond it, within 3 km.
Which boards run the schools in St. John's?
By number of schools: NLESD - Eastern Region (31), District 803 - Private (5) and Conseil scolaire francophone (2).
How do I get a place at a school in St. John's?
Registration is with the board, which assigns the school for the home address.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Educational Facilities v2.1 (2019–22) · Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador aren’t in the schools rankings: the province publishes no results school by school. · 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).