School Boundary Changes 2026 | OCDSB Elementary Program Review
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is Ottawa (and all of Eastern Ontario)’s largest school board with over 70,000 students. With the proposed elementary program review for 2026 it is estimated about 11,000 students will change schools that year. (Compared to the usual 6,000 - 8,000 per year)
The OCDSB has been reviewing changes to their elementary program and has proposed some very significant changes to be implemented for the school year starting September 2026. These are not yet official and they are still taking input from parents and community members. See more info and fill out the online survey here.
The Trustee Vote and decision on the proposed program model is April 2025.
A quick summary of some important proposed changes —
Increasing the amount of French instruction in the English stream (“Enhanced English”, 16% French now vs 12.5%)
Decreasing the amount of French instruction in French Immersion in Grade 1 (Currently 80% French and 20% English in Grade 1 - will be consistent with 60% French 40% English every year for Grades 1 - 6)
Phasing out alternative schools - the current alternative schools (Lady Evelyn, Riverview, Churchill, Regina Street, and Summit at Fisher Park) will become neighbourhood schools. These schools won’t be accepting new enrollment but current students will be able to finish their programs. Alternative schools do not place much focus on grades or competition (no report cards, awards, etc) and have students learning at their own pace in mixed-age classes. Many parents that send their children have drawn comparisons to Waldorf/Montessori style learning which is typically only available in an expensive private setting.
Phasing out (over 2-3 year periods) 39 SPCs (Specialized Program Classes) including the Gifted Program, Language Learning Disability Program, Learning Disabilities Specialized Intervention Program and Primary Special Needs Program. Children will be in regular classrooms with learning supports. 103 Specialized Program Classes for other programs will remain in place.
Phasing out Middle French Immersion, children must be in their chosen stream by Grade 4. (Can switch from French Immersion to Enhanced English but not the other way)
And the most important to us when considering moving and buying/selling real estate - is school boundary changes.
The OCDSB outlines that the proposed school boundary changes are meant to keep children attending school within their community and enable more children to walk to school and have shorter bus rides.
In practice.. there are always homes on the outer limits of school boundaries, and it appears that another major reason for restructuring school boundaries is to even out enrollment at OCDSB schools. Both the school boundaries, the makeup of grades within a school (elementary schools will be either K-3, K-6, or K-8) and restructuring of FI and English programs will even out enrollment. Schools are funded based on the amount of students attending so it is advantageous for all parents to send their children to well-attended/well-funded schools.
School Locators
Boundary Maps
CURRENT | PROPOSED - Click Boundaries Tab
Be very sure when using the School Locator to check off ALL grades you are interested in at your address or the home you are interested in. At this point in time, and perhaps this will all change with community feedback, is that families with multiple children may have children close in age attending different schools with different start times. Some schools are grandfathering current students but most are not. There will be no grandfathering for siblings of current students. Whether there is grandfathering or not (and what grades it is for) will be on the proposed 2026 boundary map for that school. If it is not listed there will not be grandfathering for current students.