New Brunswick Education

New Brunswick Education is provided free to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents aged 18 years and under. As with the rest of Canada, education is a Provincial responsibility to administer.

New Brunswick is a member of the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training (CAMET), established in 2004. CAMET comprises of the four Atlantic Provinces, their aim is to improve education in the Atlantic region by joint development of a wide variety of products and services.

New Brunswick education has the highest high school graduation rate in all of Canada. For education in New Brunswick, students are legally required to attend school between the ages of 6 and 16 years, although most students continue until they are at least 18 years to receive a high school graduation.

It is extremely important that you find out when the registration period is to ensure that your kids get the places at the schools you want. The registration normally takes place several months before the year starts (I.E. register in Feb. for September). Contact the particular school to find out the precise details. There may well be an administration fee charged to register your child!

Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by New Brunswick Education District Councils, and there are both Anglophone and Francophone School Districts. The school year usually running from the beginning of September through to the end of June. However, there may be variations to this within different regional school boards.

Most schools close down for the months of July and August as well as breaks at Christmas and Easter. There are a number of different types of schooling options available for New Brunswick education. The choices are Anglophone, Francophone, French Immersion and Private schools. Parents also have the option of home schooling their children. There are two languages of instruction available, English and French.

Elementary and Secondary Schools

New Brunswick education Kindergarten and elementary schooling generally starts at the age of 5 years. Although some school boards do have different age cut off dates. The student will attend 5 days of either morning or afternoon classes. It is normally part of the school that your child will attend in Grade 1 and is good preparation for full time school.

This age or younger is a very good time to think about saving for your child's post secondary education. Fees for post secondary education are very expensive. There is a savings plan available in which the Federal Government will input a percentage of your contributions. These are called Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP).

Students continue at elementary school from Grade 1 (age 6) to Grade 5 (age 11), middle school from Grade 6 (age 12) to Grade 8 (age 14) and High School from Grade 9 (age 15) to Grade 12 (age 18).

Most students will continue with their New Brunswick education at high school to graduate. This is a necessity for post secondary education institutes and is also recognized by most employers.

Transfer From Abroad

Students who are coming to complete their education in New Brunswick from a different school system should submit an official statement of previous standing, such as a report card, to the school they want to enroll in. You should also have the previous school records and transcripts, copies of course outlines and content.

After considering a number of factors including the students age, records and test results they will be placed in the appropriate grade. It will definitely be worth contacting any particular schools before you move to ensure you have everything you need. Even enquire about faxing documents to be sure they meet the requirements.

Post Secondary Education

There is a good variety of Post Secondary Education in New Brunswick with plenty of high quality institutes to choose from. There are four publicly funded Universities which have seven campuses through out the Province and a Community College system with 11 campuses. There are also a number of private colleges and schools. New Brunswick education is bilingual and the post secondary institutes cater for this. The Universite de Moncton, is a French-language university, the largest out side of Quebec in North America. Five of the eleven community college campuses are designated as Francophone and the remaining six as Anglophone.

Student Loans

As with all of Canada, the Post Secondary education in New Brunswick is NOT free. Several years ago, the Canadian Government launched RESP's to help parents save for their children's future education needs. These are great if you start them early, but if your kids are about to start when you land it is too late. (see link above for more details).

The Federal (Canada Student Loan, CSL) and Provincial governments provide loans to supplement, not replace, the financial resources you are expected to contribute. The New Brunswick Student Financial Services (SFS) is a scheme that provides financial assistance to eligible post secondary students. The amount of assistance you receive is based on financial need.

There are a number of different factors that will qualify you for a loan, but you must be a resident of New Brunswick, a Canadian citizen or Landed Immigrant, demonstrate you have financial need and you must be enrolled as a full time post secondary student in an approved program at a designated school.

For your convenience, here are the links to our other pages for education:

1. Alberta
2. British Columbia
3. BC Post Secondary Education
4. Manitoba
5. New Brunswick

1. Newfoundland and Labrador
2. Nova Scotia
3. Ontario
4. Prince Edward Island
5. Saskatchewan