Canadian School Grades by Age (2024-2025)

Education in Canada is governed by each province. At Canadian public schools, not only elementary and junior high school but also high school up to G12, when students turn 17, is compulsory education, and tuition is covered by the provincial government, making it free.
However, free schooling applies only to Canadian residents attending public schools; international students pay tuition. To be considered a Canadian resident, conditions include holding citizenship or permanent residence, or having a parent who holds a work permit or a study permit to attend a university, graduate school, college, etc.

The education system differs somewhat depending on the province you live in, but the above is the most common one and is used in British Columbia, where Vancouver is located.

The Canadian education system generally uses a semester system, with the school year divided into two semesters. The first semester runs from September to January of the following year, and the second semester from February to June. Summer vacation lasts from the end of June until the new school year starts in September. In Japan, by contrast, the new school year starts in April, and the cut-off date for school years is April 1. In Canada, the new school year starts in September, and in principle each grade is made up of children born in the same calendar year.

In the Canadian education system, children can attend Pre School and Kindergarten (Kindergarden) when they are young, and then begin elementary education with Grade 1. In this system, students advance through a continuous count from Grade 1 in elementary school to Grade 12 in high school. For example, the first year of junior high school in Japan corresponds to “Grade 7” in Canada, and the first year of high school in Japan corresponds to “Grade 10.”

Although it may vary by region, many areas of Canada divide schooling into 7 years of Elementary and 5 years of Secondary, providing 12 years of education in total. Some regions are instead structured into Elementary, Middle and Secondary schools.

There is a big difference in how grades are assigned in Canada and Japan. In Japan, children born between April 2 and April 1 of the following year are placed in the same grade, but in Canada, the year of birth determines the grade. The new school year starts in September, and all children born in the same year are in the same grade. For this reason, the Japanese concept of “hayaumare” (早生まれ, being born early in the calendar year, between January 1 and April 1) does not exist in Canada.

Education is compulsory up to Grade12, and public schools are tuition-free for local students. When parents and children study abroad together, depending on the parent’s visa status, there is a way for the child to attend public school as a local student, which makes international student tuition of more than $15,000 a year free. This is a method with major benefits, but it is not easy to time the visa application correctly or to meet the eligibility requirements and complete the preparations needed. Many sound judgements based on the situation are needed at each key stage.

When you are considering moving to Canada as a family or having your child study abroad, it is helpful to be aware of the timings that make it easier for children to settle smoothly into a new environment: the fact that the new school year starts in September, the point when they finish Elementary and enter Secondary School, and the start of G10, when the high school diploma program begins.Let’s move to Canada as a family!