The quality of the education system is often at the forefront of your mind when deciding to relocate. For families with young children, this priority is even higher, especially when seeking to put down roots and stay in place for a long period of time. If a city or town has high-quality schools for children of every age right through to college or university, you can stay in the home you’ve grown to love for many years.
What about Collingwood and The Blue Mountains? Many people consider them outstanding places to get away for the weekend. In the winter, visitors flock to the area for the snow hills and the skiing. In the summer, there are unlimited water and outdoor activities to look forward to. However, many long-term residents were drawn to the area because it’s a safe and fun place to raise a family. The high standard of education options also plays a significant role.
An Introduction to Our Public School System
When living in Collingwood or Blue Mountain, the Simcoe County District School Board will be your go-to resource for any information you need regarding public education. You can quickly determine what school your child will attend based on your address. You can also research a school’s dress code and safety policies and see what athletic programs are available.
If you wish to enroll your child in French Immersion, you can pull up a list of participating schools under the “French as a Second Language” tab. You can even find resources to guide you should you decide to homeschool your child.
Do you prefer Catholic education? You’ll find everything you need to know through the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board. Local schools represented by the Catholic board include:
- Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High School, 160 Collins Street, Collingwood
- St. Mary’s Catholic School, 18 Saunders Street, Collingwood
Southern Georgian Bay has so much to offer to families! Find out more in our community posts below:
- What is Southern Georgian Bay?
- Kids For Collingwood: They Love It Here!
- 5 Reasons to Move to Collingwood
How to Evaluate Your School
Everyone wants the best possible education for their children, but how do you decide what school is right? There are no black-and-white answers, but a few online resources can help you with your preliminary research.
The Fraser Rankings
Many parents turn to the Fraser Rankings to help decide on a quality school for their children. Each year, schools receive a “grade” on how well their students perform on standardized tests, with a maximum score of 10. Once schools receive their grade, they are also ranked as to how they compare with other schools in the province. You can visit www.compareschoolrankings.org to see how well any school in Ontario performs according to the rankings. For example, let’s look at Mountain Public School in Collingwood. It scores 7.8 out of 10, which puts it at 392 out of 3037 schools in the province.
These numbers may be impressive, but it’s important to remember that rankings are not everything. Every child has a unique learning style, and there’s more to education than test results.
Education Quality and Accountability Office
The EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) is an excellent resource for a more rounded rating system. From 2021 to 2022, more than 600,000 Ontario students completed assessments in Grades 3, 6, 9 and 10/11. The purpose of these evaluations is to provide insights that help to enhance school programming and instruction techniques.
These assessments don’t just factor in test results, but a student’s attitude towards learning overall. A quick search will tell you how many students perform well in reading, mathematics, and writing and whether or not they enjoy it.
Let’s take another look at Mountain Public School. Right away, you can see that 68% of students perform at or above provincial standards for mathematics, 86% are at or above average in reading, and 69% score at or above average results in reading.
What’s more, 78% of students enjoy math and reading, and 70% like to write. These results indicate that Mountain Public School is one of the top facilities in Collingwood in terms of test scores.
Below, you’ll find other schools with average or above-average ratings according to the Fraser Rankings and the EQAO.
- Admiral Collingwood Elementary School,15 Dey Drive
- Cameron Street Public School, 575 Cameron St.
- Nottawa Elementary School, 81 Batteaux Road
- Collingwood Collegiate Institute (Secondary School), 6 Cameron St.
Private Schools
Private schools can offer your child a head start in life by implementing stricter discipline, smaller class sizes, and a vocational curriculum. Since they are not regulated or subjected to government standards, you will want to conduct thorough research before enrolling your child into any program. If you decide that a private school is your best course of action, here are some great places to start:
- Little House Montessori School, which welcomes students from the ages of 2.5 to 9 years and offers a French Immersion and Extended French Montessori Program (the only one of its kind in Simcoe County!).
- Pretty River Academy, a rare learning sanctuary for students from JK to Grade 12, with a strong focus on math and science.
- Blue Mountain Wild School, where Ontario Certified Teachers lead students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 in experiential learning, which has been shown to boost academic performance.
From affordable, spacious houses to beautiful green spaces and incredible amenities, find out what makes our communities fantastic places to buy and invest:
- What Collingwood Real Estate Offers Compared to Toronto
- A Guide to Buying Vacation Property in Blue Mountain
- Should You Work With A Collingwood Realtor To Buy Your Next House?
Postsecondary Education
Growing up in Collingwood or the Blue Mountains means never having to travel very far to get a high-quality college or university education. Georgian College has a campus right in town and offers many full-time programs to help you prepare for a satisfying and lucrative career. Skilled trades, business, computer studies, and healthcare are just a few disciplines available. For adult learners, the continuing education program helps you advance your career during evenings and weekends.
For those seeking a university education, Lakehead University offers a campus in Orillia, which is within commuting distance, about an hour’s drive away. With over 57 graduate and undergraduate programs, it provides the perfect opportunity to forge your path in life.
Access to highly rated schools at all levels is just one of the reasons many families decide to make Collingwood and the Blue Mountains their home! If you want to know more about what the area offers, we’d love to chat with you. Reach out today at service@KeleherCo.ca or call 705-532-9999 to ask us anything.
