UPDATE DEC 2022: Rankings for York Region North have been discontinued. Please continue to see school rankings for the following:
Mississauga
Oakville
Burlington
Etobicoke
West End/High Park area
Vaughan
Richmond Hill
Markham
Brampton
Milton
Georgetown
Hamilton

As real estate agents who know a whole lot about schools, our clients ask us about French Immersion programs at Catholic schools in York Region North quite frequently. Our clients feel that French Immersion schools provide “better education”, and this is based on EQAO stats through recent years. This is not without merit. At public schools in Oakville and York Region, where you can directly regionally-compare the EQAO pass-rates of French Immersion students vs. English-track students, we found a 17% difference in performance in 2014. Does that mean that FI students perform 17% better than English-track students? Not necessarily, as the program does indeed attract students from (generally) more-concerned parents. But the numbers are certainly intriguing.

Should you put your own child into French Immersion? Perhaps this article and this article and also this article can help you with your decision.

Here is information about the French Immersion programs at Catholic schools in York Region North…

• In York Region North, French Immersion for Catholic schools starts in Grade One. And up until and including Grade 3, the children spend 85% of their day learning subjects in French and 15% learning in English. Beginning in Grade 4, the learning in each language is 50/50 (50% learning in English, 50% learning in French), until Grade 8. the program is then continued at select Catholic secondary schools in York Region.
• Getting into the French Immersion program at the Grade One level in York Region North is automatic IF you apply by the deadline AND there is space, but if the program is too popular that year and there aren’t enough spaces for everybody, there MAY be a lottery to determine who gets in. If you apply PAST the deadline, you may not get in if there isn’t any space available.
• For a fuller breakdown of the Catholic French Immersion program, please visit the York Catholic Board’s FI web-page HERE. Please note that there is a registration deadline for French Immersion (for September placement), and that date is usually in late-January.
• A list and ranking of the schools in York Region North that offer French Immersion programs is at the bottom of this page. (They have been ranked by 7-year EQAO scores only, as opposed to our regular rankings where Potency and Consistency also affect the rankings.)

RELATED: The Public French Immersion program in York Region North

Why such a demand for French Immersion? Perhaps a comment from “Willy999” on the cbc.ca forums puts it best… He wrote:
“Some of the demand for French Immersion comes from parents who view the program as a better learning environment for their children as opposed to a program that stresses French. The program is viewed as a “private school” within the public system. The demand for French Immersion could be reduced by offering these parents an alternative English based program.”

It is true that schools with French Immersion programs generally do better in the EQAO tests than schools without. Is this indicative of the level of education given, or is it just that they attract a “smarter” student? We believe it is more of the latter. However, we still recommend these French Immersion schools to our clients as most parents would prefer to have their children be influenced by peers who do well in school.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO KNOW about Catholic French Immersion in York Region North, including the crazy boundaries that may change from year to year! Be very careful when moving to York Region North that you know exactly where your child is going to be attending.

Here are the rankings for the 5 Catholic elementary schools in York Region North that currently offer the French Immersion program:

BEST CATHOLIC FRENCH IMMERSION SCHOOLS IN AURORA, NEWMARKET & YORK REGION NORTH 2019

Here is a list of the Catholic High Schools in York Region North that currently offer the French Immersion program:

• St. Maximilian Kolbe SS [Aurora]