2026 BC Elementary School Rankings & Home-Buying Guide

Start with the year behind the report

Rechecked on September 26, 2026: the latest verified Fraser BC elementary report is the 2026 edition, released on September 3 and based on 2024/25 results from 1,032 schools. The secondary material here uses the historical 2020 report and 2018/19 results; this review did not find a verifiable resumption of newer BC secondary reports. A report year is not the assessment year or a source of live results or available school places.

Correction: an earlier version incorrectly described the 2025 elementary report as the latest on September 23. The 2026 edition had already been released on September 3. This update checks the official PDF against the institute’s own release and corrects the figures, school list and sources.

Elementary ratings combine eight indicators

The 2026 elementary report uses Grade 4 and Grade 7 Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) literacy and numeracy results. Its eight indicators include average performance, gender differences, results below expectations and tests not completed. Similar average test results can therefore produce different overall ratings.

• The four averages are standardized and combined before the 45% weight is applied. They are not four raw scores each multiplied by 11.25%.
• The below-expectations and non-completion measures count tests; they should not be read as percentages of students failing.
• When no gender-gap results are available, the weights are 45% for average results, 20% for non-completion and 35% for below-expectations results. This is not a general rule for every type of missing data.
• The report includes 702 schools enrolling both Grade 4 and Grade 7, plus 330 Type-2 schools without Grade 7. Later Grade 7 results are attributed to students' former Grade 4 schools, so they also reflect education received after leaving those schools.

Why secondary rankings need a historical label

The 2020 secondary report uses six indicators relating to the Grade 12 language arts provincial examinations used at the time, school marks, graduation and progression. University acceptance rates and the number of AP or IB courses are not part of its rating formula.

In 2024, Fraser Institute stated that the revised assessment data could not support its existing BC secondary ranking and that publication would stop until data meeting its requirements returned. That is the institute's assessment of the data; BC still has provincial graduation assessments.

The original release reported 252 schools. The revised PDF contains 252 school entries, of which 251 have numeric ranks; Kelowna Christian has n/a for its rank and ratings. Do not treat every entry as a valid rating, fill in missing scores or renumber the historical table.

• Graduation rate concerns enrolled students eligible to graduate that year; it is not interchangeable with a six-year completion rate.
• Delayed advancement concerns progression through secondary grades and graduation, not whether graduates go to university.
• Without gender-gap data, the school-mark / exam-mark difference receives 25%. If delayed advancement cannot be calculated, graduation rate receives 25%.

What a 10/10 rating and a tied rank mean

Indicators are standardized, weighted and converted to a 0–10 rating rounded to one decimal place. This is relative performance within the report's framework. A 10 does not mean every student achieved a perfect result or that the school suits every child.

In the 2026 elementary table, 28 schools received 10.0 and share first place; the next rank is 29. Their order in the table does not create separate ranks from 1 to 28. Schools with the same reported annual score can also have different five-year averages. Secondary ranks and five-year averages are historical in this edition.

Read individual indicators, trends and missing data together. An n/a is not a zero, and absence from a ranking does not establish poor school quality. These are mixed public and independent school rankings, not an address-based public-school placement guide.

All 28 elementary schools tied first in the 2026 report

Every school below has a 10.0 annual rating and shares provincial rank 1. They are not ranked separately from 1 to 28. The order follows the left column, then the right column, of PDF page 12. This is a BC-wide mix of public and independent schools, not just Greater Vancouver and not a list of public-school places available from a home address.

Names, cities and five-year averages follow the new report, including its spelling or abbreviations for St. Michaels University and Cousteau L'école Francaise Interna'le. An n/a means fewer than five years of usable data, not zero. Name differences across editions do not by themselves establish renaming, a merger or a newly opened school.

Nearby, in catchment and admitted are different questions

Proximity alone does not establish a public-school catchment. Research the exact home address, intended grade and school year through the district. Boundary-edge properties, new addresses, specialty programs and cross-boundary applications need particular attention. Independent schools have their own admissions requirements; a nearby home does not establish admission.

Vancouver School Board's kindergarten guidance provides a concrete example: some full schools cannot accommodate all in-catchment applicants, who may be waitlisted and placed at another school. Check boundaries, registration and placement separately before relying on a school named in property advertising.

• Prepare the exact address, intended school year and grade.
• Use the district's regular catchment lookup and check for boundary changes.
• Ask about registration windows, documentation, capacity and possible alternative placements.
• Confirm French Immersion, cross-boundary and other program applications separately.

Turn a ranking into questions about your child

Use the score to start a conversation about the support your child needs. Language learning, program interests, learning needs, school life and after-school care deserve direct questions. An overall rating does not fully describe these experiences.

For secondary schools, review recent program information, learning support, graduation assessments and completion data. BC Student Success publishes school and district performance information; check the year and definition of each measure.

• How are ELL and other learning supports provided?
• Are the desired courses offered, and what are the entry or course-selection requirements?
• Do school-day routes work with pickup, drop-off and work schedules?
• Are suitable after-school care hours and places available, and are their costs included in the family budget?

Give school choice a place in the full buying plan

For a family prioritizing education, school catchments can shape the neighbourhood shortlist, moving timeline and questions to resolve. Starting this research early gives you more time to check important assumptions before making an offer.

Compare two or three candidate homes using the same checklist: verified school arrangements, living space, everyday travel, purchase cash and ongoing expenses. A higher school rank does not establish how much extra a particular home is worth or predict appreciation. Property condition and comparable sales still matter.

Connect the research to the tools on this website

The resource hub provides tools for the next steps below. The school directory currently covers a historical subset of public schools in Vancouver and Richmond, with locations, filters, comparisons and printable shortlists. It is not a Fraser ranking database or an automatic address-based admission checker.

The city and neighbourhood comparison tool provides market context. Its averages are not calculated using school catchment boundaries. Combine that context with verified school arrangements when narrowing the homes you want to see.