Boarding school rankings

Find schools that match your values and needs


Below, we offer some ways of ranking boarding schools based on specific criteria, as a helpful tool for parents as they research schools. Across our website, we caution strongly against any undue focus on school rankings. This draws attention away from what's really important: finding the school that is best for your child. However, parents perpetually request rankings from us. Thanks to our long history of working with boarding and private schools, OurKids.net can offer some curated information you will not easily find anywhere else.

Boarding school rankings like those provided below can be a helpful tool, if used properly:

Finding the best boarding school for your child(ren) should be a long process, where you confirm that boarding is indeed the best type of school for your child, meet schools face to face at one of our school expos, and do all the other legwork and homework necessary to make the best school selection for your family.

Bearing all those qualifications in mind, here is Our Kids' look at some boarding school rankings.

Boarding schools with the lowest admission rates

Schools that are "the most difficult to get into" because of low acceptance rates would seem to be the best, to some parents. However, there are other factors (schools' marketing budgets, location, etc.) that can increase demand for particular schools.

No matter what, parents owe it to their children and themselves to look closely at all aspects of a boarding school to find one that best matches their needs and values. There are many excellent boarding schools with very high acceptance rates.

School Location Grades Acceptance rate
1 Branksome Hall Toronto, ON JK to 12 30%
2 Havergal College Toronto, ON JK to 12 30%
3 Appleby College Oakville, ON 7 to 12 32%
4 Bishop Strachan School Toronto, ON JK to 12 40%
5 Bodwell High School North Vancouver, BC 8 to 12 60%
6 Shawnigan Lake School Shawnigan Lake, BC 8 to 12 60%
7 Ridley College St. Catharines, ON JK to 12 61%


Most expensive boarding schools

Here are boarding schools in Canada, ranked by tuition costs. Some parents may view this as an indicator of the quality of education offered by the school. We urge you to avoid this oversimplification when you are deciding on what school is best for your child.

School Location Grades Tuition
1 Brentwood College School Mill Bay, BC 8 to 12 $32,000 to $96,300
2 Shawnigan Lake School Shawnigan Lake, BC 8 to 12 $35,500 to $90,000
3 Appleby College Oakville, ON 7 to 12 $43,090 to $85,970
4 Albert College Belleville, ON PS to 12 $21,400 to $85,500
5 Trinity College School Port Hope, ON 5 to 12 $31,000 to $83,000
6 Ridley College St. Catharines, ON JK to 12 $29,455 to $82,975
7 Lakefield College School Lakefield, ON 9 to 12 $40,500 to $82,400

Oldest boarding schools

Find boarding schools ranked on the basis of foundation date below:

School Location Grades Founded
1 King's-Edgehill School Windsor, NS 6 to 12 1788
2 St. John's-Ravenscourt School Winnipeg, MB K to 12 1820
3 Upper Canada College Toronto, ON SK to 12 1829
4 Bishop's College School Sherbrooke, QC 7 to 12 1836
5 Pickering College Newmarket, ON JK to 12 1842
6 College Bourget Rigaud, QC PS to 12 1850
7 Albert College Belleville, ON PS to 12 1857
8 Sacred Heart School of Montreal Montreal, QC 7 to 12 1861
9 Trinity College School Port Hope, ON 5 to 12 1865
10 Bishop Strachan School Toronto, ON JK to 12 1867

Wealthiest boarding schools

The following list ranks boarding schools on the size of their financial endowment.

School Location Grades Endowment
1 Lakefield College School Lakefield, ON 9 to 12 $41,751,462
2 Woodland Christian High School Breslau, ON 9 to 12 $300,000
3 St. Michaels University School Victoria, BC JK to 12 $17,000,000

Schools with the most notable alumni

Below, find a list of the top seven boarding schools ranked by the most notable alumni produced by the school. In our rankings of most notable alumni, we base this on graduates with a Wikipedia page. We view this as a credible contemporary indicator of influence or achievement. As with all ranking factors, we hope parents recognize that this has obvious limitations. For example, older schools have had more time to produce influential graduates. Larger schools also have an advantage. Regardless, your primary focus in choosing a school should be finding the best fit for your child(ren).

School Location Grades Notable alumni
1 Upper Canada College Toronto, ON SK to 12 98
2 Lakefield College School Lakefield, ON 9 to 12 21
3 St. John's-Ravenscourt School Winnipeg, MB K to 12 20
4 St. Andrew's College Aurora, ON 5 to 12 17
5 Bishop Strachan School Toronto, ON JK to 12 15
6 Shawnigan Lake School Shawnigan Lake, BC 8 to 12 14
7 Athol Murray College of Notre Dame Wilcox, SK 8 to 12 13

Frequently Asked Questions

Are private Boarding schools good?
We interviewed both parents and students. You can read reviews about private Boarding schools on this page.

What is the most expensive private Boarding school?
Brentwood College School has the highest tuition fees from $32,000 to $96,300 per year with an average tuition of $64,150 per year.

Which private Boarding school has the lowest acceptance rates?
The private Boarding school with the lowest acceptance rate is Branksome Hall. The school has an overall accepance rate of 30%.

What is the oldest private Boarding school?
King's-Edgehill School is the oldest private Boarding school. The school was founded in 1788.

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