For parents, one of the primary considerations when moving is the availability and quality of local schools. Growing up in Kelowna and having a wife who is a beloved elementary music teacher have given me a deep appreciation for how lucky we are to live in a place with so many great schools.
For home buyers, a choice of school depends on a lot of difference factors:
- Availability of Special Needs Programs
- Availability of Secondary Languages
- Sports Teams
- Music Programs
Or it may simply be where one’s family and friends attend.
To get into “your school”, the School District #23 Student Placement Regulations say that priority shall be given to students on the following basis:
- catchment area students who, in the previous year, attended the school;
- catchment area students who, in the previous year, were ‘placed’ by the district in a different school;
- siblings of catchment area students;
- new catchment area students;
- siblings of non-catchment area students currently enrolled in the school;
- non-catchment area students who request to attend the school which is other than their catchment area school;
- non-district area students;
- international students.
As you can see from this list being “in the catchment” is a very important criterion.
For Realtors, it is really important to know what “catchment area” any given property is in. School Catchment areas do not always follow “logical boundaries” and can result is some odd results. For example students on the north side of Sarsons Road are in the Dorothea Walker catchment whereas those on the south side of Sarsons Road are in the Anne McClymont catchment.
The general catchment area maps for School District #23 are here (Catchment Maps).
French Immersion is a popular program within the school district, however it is not offered by every school. This means that the catchment areas for French Immersion often differ than the general catchment maps.
The SD #23 Schools that offer French Immersion are here
Written by Kelowna Real Estate Lawyer Peter Borszcz