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Quebec boarding schools

Where Europe meets the new world.

On this page we cover boarding schools in the province of Quebec. This includes schools in Montreal, Laval, Sherbrooke, Kirkland, and Longueuil. For a complete guide to boarding in Canada, including information about admissions, please see our introductory guide.

2. Choosing a school

Our boarding school guide has advice specific to finding boarding schools in Canada. For insights that are more general (on how to evaluate school options) we recommend you review our hub on choosing a school. You can also read our guides to questions to ask private schools and questions students get asked at school interviews.

Private school expos

Private school expos are ideal launching pads for your school-finding journey. All expos are held in the fall at a number of centres across Canada. There are three expos hosted in Ontario, one in Toronto, one in Halton-Peel, and one in Ottawa. Expos are also held each fall in Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary. All are opportunities to speak with administrators from leading boarding schools within the regions in which the expos are held.

Parent discussion forum

Word-of-mouth is another powerful tool in your school-finding arsenal. The Our Kids private school discussion forum allows you to discuss your options and debate topics around gifted education. You can use our community of parents, educational experts, alumni, and schools to help answer your questions and stimulate your thinking.

Upcoming open house events

Attending open houses is obviously a great way to learn more about a school and get a feel for the environment. For some advice on open house visits, go here. For questions to ask that are specific to boarding programs, refer to our main boarding school hub.

3. Tuition

Broadly speaking, the cost of boarding reflects the cost private school tuition in general, though with premiums added to cover housing and meals.

Many schools offer financial aid, including scholarships and bursaries. Financial aid is needs-based, and financial aid programs are created as a means of broadening the student base and attracting students, independent of means, who will contribute most to the culture of the school. Generally speaking, the larger and more expensive schools provide the most aid.

You can read more about financial aid and scholarships in our dedicated guide.

Below you'll find the range of costs at Quebec boarding schools:

Institutional metrics

Academics

Special needs support

Course pedagogies

Extracurricular clubs

Extracurricular sports (competitive)

Quebec has the highest proportion of children attending private schools in North America. Seventeen percent of high school students attend private schools, a figure that is even higher in urban areas, such as Montreal, where 30% of high school students attend private school.

One reason is cultural, based in the traditions and the values of the population. Another is because the province provides subsidies to families who send their children to private school, reducing their tuition fees more than half. That support is reflected in the quality of the schools found within the province. It has also encouraged the growth of a student population that is one of the most varied in Canada, and indeed the world, drawing from a broad swath of the socio-economic, academic, and cultural spectra.

Graduation requirements

High school graduation requirements are set by the Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports, not the federal government. Secondary school in Quebec has five grades, called secondary I-V, corresponding to grades 7 through 11. Upon completion of grade 11, students receive the provincial Secondary School Diploma (SSD). While other provinces require students to complete a grade 12 year, in Quebec students who intend to enroll at university must attend a year of college, known as CEGEP, and earn a Diploma of College Studies (DEC, Diplme d'etudes collegiales) in addition to their high school diploma. Students are free to choose between a public college, where there is no tuition required, or a private college.

Students need to complete both the SSD and the DEC in order to apply to universities or colleges within Quebec. For those intending to apply elsewhere, such as Ontario, the CEGEP year is regarded as an equivalent of grade 12, though some courses may be considered advanced placement courses, applied toward the completion of a post-secondary degree.