Background: 

The District believes that it is essential that there be clear and understandable guidance for families wishing to enrol a child in a West Vancouver school regarding: 

1. the processes for registration in schools;
2. the assignment of students to schools;
3. the transfer of students between schools; and
4. the charging of tuition fees.  

 This Administrative Procedure sets out the general principles applicable to these matters.  

 Definitions:  

 The following definitions apply to words used in this Administrative Procedure: 

“Catchment area child” means a person of school age who is resident in the catchment area of a school. 

“Non-catchment area child” means a person of school age who is resident in the school district and not resident in the catchment area of a school. 

“Non-school district child” means a person of school age who is resident in British Columbia and not resident in the school district. 

“School district child” means a catchment area child or a non-catchment area child. 

“Previous school year” means the school year immediately preceding the school year for which the person is applying to enrol in an educational program. 

“Feeder school” means a school designated by the District to feed into a specific receiving school. Students completing the highest grade offered at a feeder school are ordinarily expected to enrol the following school year in the designated receiving school. 

“Receiving school” means the school designated by the District to receive students from one or more feeder schools. 

 “Continuing student” means a student who was enroled in and attended a district school during the previous school year and is continuing in the district for the following school year.  

“School age” means the age between the date on which a person is permitted to enrol in an educational program provided by a district and the end of the school year in which the person reaches the age of 19 years.  For Kindergarten, a child is eligible to enrol in the school year in which the child reaches 5 years of age on or before December 31. 

“Ordinarily resident” means the individual has provided satisfactory evidence to demonstrate to the School District that they have established residence in the community for a settled purpose together with a regular, habitual mode of life, with a sufficient degree of continuity which has persisted despite temporary absences. The determination whether a person has established ordinary residence is a decision made by the School District based upon the evidence provided by the person, and considering the factors set out by the Ministry of Education and Child Care in Eligibility of Students for Operating Grant Funding – Province of British Columbia policy. 

“Fundable Student” means a student who is not ordinarily resident in British Columbia, but who is eligible for funding as a student who falls within the other classes of persons for whom the Ministry of Education and Child Care will provide operating grant funding 

 General Principles: 

Entitlement to Funded education  

The West Vancouver School District will provide a funded educational program to every eligible student of school age who is resident in the West Vancouver School District.  The West Vancouver School District will also provide a funded educational program to every eligible non-school district student of school age who is resident in British Columbia if the District determines that space and facilities are available for that student in a West Vancouver School. For these purposes, a student is “resident in British Columbia” when the student and the student’s guardian are “ordinarily resident” in British Columbia.  A student may also be provided a funded educational program if they fall within one of the other classes of persons for whom the Ministry will provide operating grant funding as set out in the Ministry of Education and Child Care Eligibility of Students for Operating Grant Funding – Province of British Columbia policy, including certain refugee claimants and children of parents who are diplomats or who meet certain work or study permit eligibility criteria.  

The West Vancouver School District may enrol students who are not considered to be resident in British Columbia, such as students ordinarily resident in other parts of Canada or in a foreign country, as fee paying students through the District’s International Programs Department.  The enrolment procedures for such students are addressed in AP 302 Enrolment of International Students and Other Fee-Paying Students.  This Administrative Procedure 300 does not apply to fee-paying students. 

The parents or guardian of any student may be required to provide satisfactory evidence that the student is eligible for or continues to be eligible for enrolment in a West Vancouver School District school, including by providing evidence that they continue to be eligible for funding from the Province of British Columbia under the Ministry of Education and Child Care Eligibility of Students for Operating Grant Funding – Province of British Columbia policy.   

The onus of establishing ordinarily residence is on the parents or guardians of the student.  Students who are not eligible for funding must enrol in the District through the District’s International Programs Department and pay any applicable tuition fees as a condition of enrolment. 

Catchment Area Schools 

The District establishes a catchment area for each school, consisting of a geographic area that includes all or part of the school district.  The District may amend school catchment areas from time to time as it considers them appropriate to best serve the needs of its students.  Most students resident in the School District will initially attend the school in the catchment area where they normally or primarily reside with a parent or guardian.   

 Assignment to Schools 

The District may assign or reassign students to specific schools or educational programs when it determines that it is appropriate, including to meet student needs, balance enrolment, and support the safe and effective operation of schools and programs or for any reason permitted by section 75 of the School Act. 

Student placement in a school or educational program is also subject to the availability of space, facilities, programs, and resources required to meet the needs of students. Decisions about the availability of space, facilities, programs, and resources will be made by the Superintendent or designate. 

First Nations Identification of Designated School  

Under the School Act, an eligible First Nation may identify the public school or schools that eligible students living on reserve may attend. For eligible First Nation students living on reserve within West Vancouver Schools, the designated schools are Hollyburn Elementary and West Vancouver Secondary School, unless otherwise designated through the applicable First Nation schools of choice process. 

Enrolment Processes: Students wishing to enrol in a West Vancouver School District school must follow the processes set out in this Administrative Procedure.  All student enrolments are subject to the timelines and deadlines established by the Superintendent or designate. 

Application and Placement Process 

All applications for enrolment in a District school must be submitted through the District’s online admissions system in accordance with the timelines established annually by the Superintendent or designate. 

Applicants for enrolment may select up to three schools in priority order. Applications will be received, dated, reviewed for completeness, and prioritized in accordance with the admission priority order set out in this Administrative Procedure. An application will retain its initial submission date, and time provided all required supporting documentation is submitted within two weeks of the initial submission. Only applicants whose required documentation has been received and verified will be considered for an offer of enrolment or placement on a waitlist. 

 An application that remains incomplete after two weeks will be deleted. A parent or guardian who wishes to continue seeking enrolment must submit a new application, which will receive a new submission date and time. 

 Admission Priority Order 

Subject to the entitlement of eligible First Nation students to attend a designated school under section 74.2 of the School Act, student placements in a school are made in the following order: 

1. Catchment area child with a sibling attending the same school during the same school year for which enrolment is sought. 
2. Catchment area child. 
3. Non catchment area child with a sibling attending the same school during the same school year for which enrolment is sought. 
4. Non-catchment area child 
5. Non-school district child of a West Vancouver Schools employee with a sibling attending the same school during the same school year for which enrolment is sought. 
6. Non-school district child with a sibling attending the same school during the same school year for which enrolment is sought. 
7. Non-school district child of a West Vancouver Schools employee. 
8. Non-school district child. 

Within each priority category, applications will be ordered for enrolment offers and waitlist placement according to the date and time recorded by the District’s online admissions system.  

Annual re-enrolment not required 

Students will automatically be re-enroled in their school for the next school year until they have completed the highest grade offered at that school.  Students are not required to re-apply or re-register annually.  Students will automatically be enroled in the receiving school for the school year following the completion of the grades offered at the feeder school.  

Placement of Students 

If the school in which a child has sought to enrol is unable to accommodate a student due to limitations in space, facilities, resources, or program availability, the student may be placed on a waitlist for that school.  School district children who are unable to be accommodated at their catchment school or their requested school will be offered placement at another district school.  Students may be placed on a maximum of two waitlists at any one time.  

Waitlisted students will be placed in accordance with the admission priority order set out in the Admissions Priority Order of this Administrative Procedure. 

Catchment area children may remain on the waitlist for their catchment school until December 31st of the current school year.  Waitlists for non-catchment and non-school district students expire on September 29th of the current school year.   

Feeder Schools

Students who have completed the highest grade offered at a primary or elementary feeder school will progress to the designated receiving school for the following school year, irrespective of the catchment area in which the student resides.  The receiving schools for each feeder school in the West Vancouver School District are as follows:  

Applications to Transfer Schools or Attend a School Other Than the Designated Receiving School

Students currently attending a district school who wish to attend a different school must apply to transfer through the regular admissions process in accordance with the applicable timelines and procedures established by the District.  Applications will be reviewed through the regular admissions process and are subject to the availability of space, facilities, programs, and resources at the requested school, as well as the admission priority order set out in this Administrative Procedure.

Before submitting an application to transfer schools, parents or guardians are expected to meet with the student’s current school principal to discuss the potential move and any educational considerations related to the request.

Students who wish to attend a district school other than their designated receiving school must apply in accordance with the procedures in this Administrative Procedure.  If a school is unable to accommodate all feeder school students and requests for enrolment, admission priority will be as set out in this Administrative Procedure.

The District may transfer or reassign a student where the Superintendent or designate determines that the transfer is in the student’s best interest, is required to meet the student’s needs, supports a safe learning environment, or is necessary for the effective operation of a school or program.

Acceptance of offers of placement

An offer of enrolment must be accepted within the deadline stated in the offer, generally one business day.  If the offer is not accepted by that deadline, it may be withdrawn and offered to another applicant.

Admission to Programs of Choice Schools

The District offers a variety of programs of choice schools.  Students wishing to enrol in such a program must follow the enrolment procedures applicable to that program.  Some programs may be offered only at specific schools.

Applicants for admission to a specific school district educational program, program of choice, or academy must meet all program requirements and will be subject to the selection process established for that program.

A program of choice may have a district-wide admissions process that differs from the neighborhood catchment process applicable to the regular educational program at the school in which the program is located.

Applications for French Immersion

French Immersion Kindergarten

French Immersion is a District program of choice.  Admission to French Immersion Kindergarten is therefore determined through a District-wide French Immersion admission process rather than by the neighborhood catchment area of the school in which the program is located.

French Immersion Kindergarten applications must be submitted through the District’s online admissions system in accordance with the timelines established annually by the Superintendent or designate.

Applicants must rank a French Immersion school as their first or second choice to be included in that school’s lottery. An applicant who ranks French Immersion only as a third choice will not be included in the lottery.  A French Immersion Kindergarten application may include an English-language school as one of the applicant’s ranked choices. Admission to an English-language school is not determined through the French Immersion lottery and will be considered in accordance with the regular admission priority order set out in this Administrative Procedure.

Admission to French Immersion Kindergarten is determined by lottery, using the following priority order:

1. School district child with a sibling in the same French Immersion school during the same school year in which the applicant begins Kindergarten
2. School district child of a teacher working at the French Immersion school
3. School district child
4. Non-school district child of a West Vancouver Schools employee with a sibling in the same French Immersion school during the same school year in which the applicant begins Kindergarten
5. Non-school district child with a sibling in the same French Immersion during the same school year in which the applicant begins Kindergarten
6. Non-school district child of a West Vancouver Schools employee
7. Non-school district child

Within each priority category, applicants will be considered according to their school choices, with first-choice applications considered before second-choice applications.

A separate placement lottery will be held annually for each French Immersion school. Applicants who rank the two French Immersion schools as their first and second choices will be included in both lotteries. The Superintendent or designate will establish the timing of the lotteries.

The French Immersion Kindergarten waitlist will be established in the following order:

1. Applicants who participated in the lottery but were not offered placement, in lottery order.
2. Applicants who selected French Immersion as their third choice, ordered according to the general admission priority order and, within each priority category, by the date and time their complete application was received.
3. Applicants who apply after the lottery deadline, ordered according to the general admission priority order and, within each priority category, by the date and time their complete application was received.

French Immersion Gr. 1 -12

New applications for enrolment in French Immersion for grades other than Kindergarten are subject to the General Admission Priority Order set out in this Administrative Procedure and must meet program language requirements and are subject to consideration in accordance with the priorities established in this Administrative Procedure.

Failure of a student to attend their registered school at the start of the school year

Students must attend their enroled school no later than 3 pm on the Thursday following the commencement of the school year in September.  Unless the principal has received prior satisfactory communication that the student will be absent from school or require a later start for an acceptable reason, the School District may remove the student from the school’s register, assign them to an alternative school or educational program, and offer their vacated place to a waitlisted student.

Extended Absences During the School Year

Where an enroled student has been absent from school for an extended period during the school year and the school has not received satisfactory communication explaining the reason for the absence, the principal may review the student’s enrolment status.

If a student has been absent for more than twenty-five (25) consecutive school days without the provision of acceptable reasons that are satisfactorily communicated to the school the student may be removed from the school’s register.

A student who has been removed from the school’s register and later seeks to return to that school must apply through the regular admissions process, subject to the availability of space, facilities, programs, and resources.

September 2026