Canada / Ontario / Education in Ontario

Education in Ontario

I was surprised at how great Ontario's education system is. See what I learned when I needed to look into it for my kids.

Ontario Education

Education in Ontario, like in many other provinces of Canada, is characterized by a mix of public and private schools, as well as a variety of higher education institutions. The education system in Ontario is shaped by the province's Ministry of Education, and the department's policies and funding mechanisms.

Ontario School Boards

Ontario has 37 school boards divided up into 6 different regions.

Central Region

  • Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board: html
  • York Catholic District School Board:
  • Simcoe County District School Board:
  • York Region District School Board:
  • Toronto District School Board:
  • Toronto Catholic District School Board:
  • Peel District School Board:
  • Halton District School Board:
  • Halton Catholic District School Board:
  • Durham Catholic District School Board:
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board

Dufferin-Peel is based out of Oshawa, Ontario. The district serves approximately 21,600 students as well as providing Continuing and Adult Education.

Eastern Region

  • Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est:
  • Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario:
  • Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien:
  • Limestone District School Board:
  • Ottawa-Carleton District School Board:
  • Upper Canada District School Board:
  • Renfrew County District School Board:
  • Ottawa Catholic School Board:
  • Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario:
  • Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board:

North-Eastern Region

  • Near North District School Board:
  • Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board:

Northern Region

  • Lakehead Public Schools:
  • Sudbury Catholic District School Board:
  • Rainbow District School Board:

Southern Region Region

  • Waterloo Region District School Board:
  • Waterloo Catholic District School Board:
  • Upper Grand District School Board:
  • Niagara Catholic District School Board:
  • Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board:
  • District School Board of Niagara:
  • Conseil scolaire Viamonde:

Western Region

The Western Region of Toronto's School Boards spans a large are on the Western side of Ontario. Much of this area is more rural.

  • Thames Valley District School Board:
  • Lambton Kent District School Board:
  • Greater Essex County District School Board:
  • Avon Maitland District School Board:

Ontario STEM Efforts

Ontario emphasizes STEM in its education programs.

In 2022, sought new goals around STEM by altering the education in Grades 1st through 8th, and then added new curriculum in 9th grade around Science.

This new province-curriculum covers many on the mainstream subjects, inlcuding physics, biology, chemistry, and Earth-science.

Info about Ontario High Schools

High schools in Ontario are usually in English or French. There are private school options as well -- most in English.

With both major urban areas and rural towns, these schools come in many different sizes such as Waterford District High School with less than 400 students. In the Toronto School District, there a many high schools this size as well, but many of these schools are just a few miles from each other.