How school catchments work
What a catchment actually guarantees, and how to check an address before it decides your purchase.
A catchment is a priority, not a promise
Living in a catchment gives a child priority for that school. It is not a guarantee of a seat: an over-subscribed school places catchment students first, then applies the district's own rules. Districts redraw boundaries as enrolment shifts, sometimes between one school year and the next.
Which boundaries are published
Vancouver, Surrey, North Vancouver and New Westminster publish their legal catchment boundaries as open data, so they can be drawn exactly. Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, West Vancouver, Delta, Langley and Maple Ridge publish PDF maps or an address lookup only.
Where no boundary data exists, our map shows an approximation computed from school locations, drawn dashed rather than solid, and the listing figures beside it say so. It tells you which school is nearest — not which one an address is entitled to.
Verify before you rely on it
Confirm any address directly with the school district before it affects an offer. Every district runs an official address lookup, and only that answer is binding.
Before you rely on any of this
These are the current rules as we understand them, written to be checked — not advice. Rates, thresholds and exemptions change. Confirm anything that affects a decision with your lender, lawyer or notary, and accountant.