Schools
Schools in Greater Victoria
Three public school districts serve this region and their boundaries do not follow municipal ones. A home in Saanich may be in any of two districts depending where it sits, which is why a catchment should always be confirmed by address rather than assumed from the municipality.
The three districts
SD61 Greater Victoria, SD62 Sooke and SD63 Saanich divide the region between them. SD62 covers the West Shore and Sooke; SD63 covers the Peninsula; SD61 covers Victoria and much of the central area. The boundaries are set by the districts, not by the municipalities, and they have been adjusted over time.
Catchment is by address, and it can change
Every district publishes an official school locator that returns the catchment school for a specific address. That locator is the only reliable answer, and it is the one to use, not a listing description and not a general statement about an area.
Catchments are also reviewed and can change, and a catchment school being the assigned school is not the same as a place being available in a given year. Where enrolment pressure exists, districts may direct students to another school.
Programs sit on top of catchment
French immersion, IB, Montessori, trades and other programs of choice generally have their own application processes and their own catchment or lottery rules, separate from the neighbourhood school assignment. A home being in a given catchment says nothing about admission to a program of choice.
What this site will not tell you
No rankings, no "best schools" list, and no statement that buying a particular home secures a place at a particular school. Rankings are contested and the placement question is a district decision that changes year to year. What is useful is the locator link and an accurate description of how the system works.
The three districts side by side, 2025/2026
| District | Public schools | Neighbourhood-school students, 2025/2026 | Change since 2017/2018 (our calculation) | Schools located in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD61 Greater Victoria | 46 | 20,603 | +5% | Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich, Victoria, View Royal |
| SD62 Sooke | 29 | 13,618 | +34% | Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, Sooke |
| SD63 Saanich | 14 | 6,928 | +2% | Central Saanich, North Saanich, Saanich, Sidney |
Why the lines diverge
Over the same nine school years, the West Shore district added students in every year but 2020/21, while the central district held roughly level and the Peninsula's neighbourhood schools barely moved. SD63's own total looks like growth only because its provincial online learning school expanded, from 1,396 to 3,306 students. For a buyer, the practical reading is that school capacity questions are sharpest in SD62, which is building a 2,000-student secondary school for 2030, and least pressing on the Peninsula.
Municipal lines and district lines do not match. Saanich is split between SD61 and SD63, View Royal between SD61 and SD62, and Sidney has no public secondary school of its own. Each district page below has the detail and the link to that district's locator.
Sources, checked 24 September 2026
Before you rely on any of this
This is general information about how things work in British Columbia, not advice about your situation, and it is not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules, thresholds and programs change. Anything that turns on a current figure or a statutory period should be confirmed against the primary source or with the relevant professional before you act on it.
Related
By district: Greater Victoria School District (SD61), Sooke School District (SD62), Saanich School District (SD63), the first-time buyer guide for BC, the thirteen Greater Victoria municipalities compared and all Victoria real estate guides.