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• Basic School Rankings

About our rankings

OUR KIDS encourages you to go beyond rankings, to make the best decision for your child

​To create OUR KIDS' private school rankings, we use comprehensive data provided directly by the schools themselves as part of their membership with OurKids.net. Our platform includes only schools that choose to participate—those who see value in sharing detailed, verified information with families actively researching private and independent schools. While schools pay to be listed, they do not and cannot pay for preferential treatment in rankings. OUR KIDS does not include every private school in Canada, nor is it limited to Canadian schools only.

Each member school submits a standardized dataset annually, covering everything from academics to extracurriculars, student support, and admissions policies. This depth allows families to compare schools meaningfully and transparently.

Here is a guide to how data is compiled in our ranking tables:
Ranking by lowest admissions rate. Example: Schools with the lowest admissions rate
These pages and modules offer rankings based on schools' self-reported percentage of overall acceptance. You'll find this data in OUR KIDS school reports under the Admissions tab, then Acceptance rate.

Ranking by highest university placement. Example: Highest university placement
These pages and modules rank secondary schools based on graduates who have been accepted into one of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, University of Chicago, Oxford, or Cambridge (UK) in the last 5 years, as reported by the schools themselves. You'll find this information in OUR KIDS school reports' University Placement tab.

Private schools with the most notable alumni. See: Most notable alumni
We sum up the total of submitted alumni (submitted by the schools) with a Wikipedia page dedicated to them. You'll find this in school profiles under Notable Alumni. Note that not all schools qualify, so you may not see a Notable Alumni tab in some of our school reports. 

Largest or smallest private schools. Examples: Largest private schools | Smallest
We sum up total enrolment submitted by schools, including day, boarding, homestay and eSchool enrollment. This matches information submitted by schools and displayed on OUR KIDS' reports under Enrollment. Bear in mind that every school's enrollment can change at any time, so rankings are certainly not guaranteed accurate. The lists give parents a broad picture of which schools are smallest or largest.

Schools with the smallest class sizes. Example: Schools with smallest class sizes
This is reported by schools and is found in OUR KIDS' school reports right in the School Overview.

Largest or smallest enrollment per grade. Examples: Largest enrolment per grade | Smallest
This is a sum of boarding, day, homestay and eSchool enrolment divided by the number of grades. You'll find this information in OUR KIDS' reports under the Student Body tab, under Enrollment, then breakdown by grade.

Private schools with the lowest tuition. Example: Most affordable private schools
We provide the minimum and maximum of annual day tuition sorted ascendingly, submitted by schools, and displayed on school reports under the Tuition tab.

The most expensive schools. Example: Most expensive schools
These tables pull the maximum of annual day tuition, as reported by schools. You'll find this information under the Tuition tab in OUR KIDS' reports.

Schools with the most financial aid. Example: Private schools with the most financial aid 
These pages and modules list schools with the highest percentage of need-based financial assistance. You'll find this information under the Tuition tab in OUR KIDS' school reports.

Ranking high schools for sports. Example: Best high schools for sports
We rank high schools based on the number of sports programs, as reported by the schools. You'll find this in OUR KIDS' reports under the Academics tab. 

Oldest or newest private schools. Example: Oldest schools
These pages and modules sort the founding date, as submitted by schools.

Wealthiest private schools. Example: Wealthiest schools
We list schools that have an endowment of at least $100,000, sorted in descending order. 

Boarding schools: most expensive/affordable. Example: Most affordable boarding
These tables check the schools' submitted information for boarding tuition or boarding tuition for domestic students. We do not include tuition for international students in these tables.  Find this under the Tuition tab in OUR KIDS' reports.