Choosing an elementary school in Toronto is one of the most consequential decisions a family makes — not because any single school determines a child’s future, but because the academic habits, foundations, and pace set in Grades 1 through 8 directly shape how a student performs at the secondary level and beyond. This guide covers the best public, Catholic, and private elementary schools in Toronto, how rankings work, and what parents can do outside school hours to make sure their child is genuinely thriving.
Toronto’s top elementary schools move fast. Here’s how to make sure your child keeps up.
What Makes an Elementary School the Best?
‘Best’ means different things at the elementary level than it does at secondary. At secondary school, university placement rates and IB results are meaningful proxies for quality. At the elementary level, the signals are less obvious and more easily misread.
The most academically rigorous elementary schools in Toronto — public, Catholic, and private — share a few consistent characteristics: high expectations for literacy and numeracy from the earliest grades, a culture where academic effort is valued by the student community, strong teaching continuity, and active parental involvement in the school community. Class sizes and extracurricular depth also factor in, particularly when comparing private options to public alternatives.
What rankings measure is more limited. The Fraser Institute’s elementary school rankings for Ontario are built from EQAO Grade 3 and Grade 6 assessment results — a useful but narrow snapshot. A school rated 9/10 has strong average outcomes on those assessments. It doesn’t tell you whether a specific child will be appropriately stretched, whether the school culture is a good fit, or whether a gifted student will be pushed to their ceiling or left to coast. For a full explanation of how the ranking methodology works, see our Fraser school rankings guide.
Top Public Elementary Schools in Toronto
Toronto’s public elementary schools fall under the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), the largest school board in Canada. Academic outcomes vary enormously across the board — from schools with Fraser ratings below 4 to schools consistently rated 9 or 10. Location and community demographics are strong predictors of where a school sits on that spectrum, but they are not the only factor.
Rosedale Junior Public School, located in one of Toronto’s most affluent and educationally invested neighbourhoods, consistently earns among the highest Fraser ratings of any TDSB elementary school. The community it draws from is highly involved and the school’s academic culture reflects that.
Whitney Junior Public School (Rosedale area) is another consistently high-performing TDSB elementary school, known for strong academics and an engaged parent community.
Oriole Park Junior Public School in North Toronto is frequently cited alongside Rosedale and Whitney as among the top-performing public elementary schools in the city. Strong EQAO results and a well-regarded academic culture.
Sunny View Junior and Senior Public School and several other North Toronto public schools round out the top tier of the TDSB’s elementary sector on Fraser ratings.
Optional attendance programmes within the TDSB are worth noting for families not in the catchment areas of these top-rated schools. The TDSB offers a range of optional programmes including French immersion, gifted education, and arts-focused programmes that are accessible by application rather than address — which means the right programme can sometimes be more important than the specific school.
Top Catholic Elementary Schools in Toronto
Catholic elementary schools in Toronto fall under the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), which is publicly funded and serves the largest Catholic elementary school population in Canada.
St. Monica Catholic School in North Toronto consistently earns among the highest Fraser ratings in the TCDSB at the elementary level, reflecting both strong teaching and a highly involved parent community.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School is another consistently high-rated TCDSB elementary school, frequently appearing near the top of elementary school rankings in Toronto.
St. Clement’s Catholic School and Holy Rosary Catholic School are both well-regarded in their communities and consistently produce strong EQAO results.
The TCDSB system is publicly funded and charges no tuition, making it an important option for Catholic families who want strong academic outcomes without private school fees. Admission requires Catholic registration, and the most sought-after schools in desirable neighbourhoods can be oversubscribed — families should confirm catchment and registration requirements directly with the board.
Top Private Elementary Schools in Toronto
Toronto’s private elementary schools range from internationally recognised institutions with full IB programmes to smaller community schools and Montessori programmes. Most do not appear in Fraser rankings, as Ontario independent schools are not required to administer EQAO — which makes direct comparison with public schools on a single metric impossible.
Upper Canada College (Boys, Grades 3–12) and Branksome Hall (Girls, JK–12) are the most academically elite options in Toronto with elementary programmes, and both feed into some of the strongest secondary school outcomes in Canada. Their elementary programmes are genuinely rigorous and designed to prepare students for demanding secondary curricula.
The York School (Co-educational, JK–12, exclusively IB) offers the IB Primary Years Programme from the earliest grades — an increasingly sought-after option for families planning an IB pathway through secondary.
Toronto French School (TFS) offers French-English bilingual IB education from JK through Grade 12, drawing strongly from Toronto’s internationally mobile and diplomatically connected families.
Crescent School (Boys, Grades 3–12) and Bishop Strachan School (Girls, JK–12) both have strong elementary programmes that feed into their well-regarded secondary schools.
Montessori schools across Toronto — including Casa Loma Montessori, Rosedale Day School, and others — serve families who want a Montessori approach through the elementary years. Quality varies considerably under the Montessori name, and visiting and speaking with current parents is more informative than the label alone.
For a full breakdown of Toronto’s independent school landscape including admissions, fees, and secondary options, see our Toronto private schools guide.
How Toronto Elementary Schools Are Ranked
The primary public ranking tool for Toronto elementary schools is the Fraser Institute’s Ontario Elementary School Report Card, updated annually and searchable at compareschoolrankings.org. Schools are rated 1–10 based on EQAO Grade 3 and Grade 6 results across multiple academic indicators.
A few things parents consistently misread about these rankings:
Trajectory matters more than the current score. A school that has risen from 6.5 to 8.5 over five years is doing something meaningfully different from one that has declined from 9 to 7.5. The trend line on compareschoolrankings.org is often more informative than the current number.
Demographic intake significantly affects scores. Schools in higher-income neighbourhoods with highly educated parent communities tend to have higher ratings — this reflects the cumulative effect of home environment on test performance, not just school quality. A school in a diverse, lower-income community that consistently outperforms demographically similar schools is doing something genuinely impressive that the raw number doesn’t fully capture.
Private schools are largely absent. As noted above, most Toronto private elementary schools don’t appear in Fraser rankings. Their absence is not a reflection of performance — it’s a data availability issue.
For more detail on how to interpret Fraser rankings properly, see our Fraser school rankings guide.
What to Look for Beyond the Ranking
Rankings are a starting point, not a conclusion. The families who make the best elementary school decisions in Toronto consistently go beyond the number.
Visit and observe. A school’s atmosphere — how students interact in hallways, how teachers engage with children outside the classroom, how the office staff respond to a first-time visitor — tells you more about daily culture than any rating.
Ask about differentiation. How does the school handle a student who is significantly ahead of grade level in mathematics? How does it handle one who needs more time? The answer to both questions reveals a lot about whether the school can actually meet your child’s specific needs.
Talk to current parents. School ratings are a lagging indicator — they reflect last year’s results, not this year’s. Current parents know whether the school has changed, whether a new principal has made a difference, and whether the culture matches the marketing.
Consider the secondary pathway. Where do this school’s graduates typically end up for secondary? A strong elementary school that feeds naturally into strong secondary options matters, particularly if you are thinking ahead to high school. Our best high schools in Toronto guide is useful context for that longer view.
How to Support Your Child’s Learning at Home
Think Academy works with students from Grade 1 — building the academic habits that top Toronto schools expect. And in a city where the gap between a child performing at grade level and one performing above it is visible from the earliest grades, what happens outside school hours matters.
Mathematics foundations compound early. The Ontario math curriculum builds each year on what came before — number sense in Grades 1 and 2 underpins multiplication and division in Grade 3, which underpins fractions and algebra in Grades 4 through 6. A gap left unaddressed in Grade 2 is a larger gap by Grade 4 and a significant obstacle by Grade 6. Our Ontario math curriculum guide covers what students are expected to know at each grade level, and our Grade 4 math curriculum guide goes into detail on one of the most important transition years.
Number sense is the foundation everything else builds on. Strong intuitive number sense — the ability to reason flexibly about quantities, not just follow procedures — is the single most reliable predictor of sustained mathematical performance across the elementary years. Our number sense parent guide explains what it is and how to actively support it at home.
Reading habits outside school make a measurable difference. Twenty minutes of daily reading at a level slightly above comfort — not so hard it’s frustrating, not so easy it’s unchallenging — compounds significantly over an elementary school career. Children who read widely and regularly develop vocabulary, comprehension, and general knowledge that makes every subject easier.
Academic habits are built, not born. The most important thing a child can learn in the elementary years is not any specific piece of curriculum content — it is the habit of sustained effort, the willingness to work through something difficult, and the confidence that comes from getting better at something through practice. These habits, established early, carry through secondary school and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best elementary school in Toronto?
Among public schools, Rosedale Junior Public School, Whitney Junior Public School, and Oriole Park Junior Public School consistently earn the highest Fraser Institute ratings in the TDSB. Among Catholic schools, St. Monica and Our Lady of Perpetual Help are among the top-rated. Among private schools, UCC, Branksome Hall, and The York School are the most academically rigorous options with elementary programmes.
How do I find my catchment school in Toronto?
The TDSB’s school finder tool at tdsb.on.ca allows parents to enter their address and identify their catchment school. Catholic school catchments are searchable at tcdsb.org. Some optional programmes require application regardless of address — the boards publish programme listings and application timelines annually.
Do Toronto private elementary schools require an admissions test?
Most of Toronto’s academically selective private elementary schools require some form of assessment for entry, particularly at middle grade entry points (Grade 4 or 5 onward). The type of assessment varies by school — some use standardised tests, others use their own internal assessments alongside transcripts and interviews.
How important is elementary school choice for long-term outcomes?
More important than it might initially appear — not because any single school is determinative, but because the academic foundations and habits built in Grades 1 through 8 directly shape secondary school readiness. A student who arrives in Grade 9 with strong mathematical foundations, broad reading habits, and good study practices has a measurable advantage regardless of which secondary school they attend.
Can my child attend a top-rated Toronto elementary school if we don’t live in the catchment area?
For public schools, catchment generally determines attendance, though voluntary transfer requests are sometimes granted when space allows. Optional programme schools (French immersion, gifted, arts) are accessible by application from anywhere in the TDSB. Private schools have no catchment — they admit on the basis of application, assessment, and fit.
See our related guides: best high schools in Toronto · Toronto private schools · Fraser school rankings guide · Ontario math curriculum · Grade 4 math curriculum · number sense parent guide
The academic habits that carry a child through Toronto’s best schools start in Grade 1 — not Grade 8.
