Burnaby's 8 Secondary Schools: A Guide for Families Buying a New Home

Burnaby has eight public secondary schools, and no current ranking of them exists. The Fraser Institute stopped publishing its B.C. high school report card in 2024, and the B.C. Ministry of Education does not rank schools. A family choosing a home for its teenagers can still compare three things that are on the record: which school serves the address, which programs each school runs, and how far the walk is.

This guide lists the eight schools with their addresses and programs from the Burnaby School District, explains how catchments and out-of-catchment requests work under the district's own rules, and then counts the new homes for sale within 1.5 km on foot of each school. On October 8, 2026, 59 of the 122 new duplex, triplex, fourplex and small townhome listings in Burnaby were that close to a secondary school.

Is there a ranking of the best high schools in Burnaby?

No current one. In a commentary dated September 5, 2024, the Fraser Institute said it "will no longer publish the Report Card" for B.C. secondary schools unless the province brings back quality provincewide testing in high schools. The report card was built from provincewide high school test results collected by the B.C. Ministry of Education. The institute says the graduation assessments that replaced the old exams raise "serious questions" about how reliable that data is.

The Ministry takes a firm position of its own. Its parent brochure on the Foundation Skills Assessment says "the Ministry doesn't make, share, or support any rankings." What the Ministry does publish is each school's own results, such as graduation assessments, completion rates and student surveys, on its B.C. Education System Performance site, with no ranking attached.

In our view, a family does better choosing by fit. A teenager who wants French immersion, an AP Capstone diploma or a hockey academy has a short list of schools, and a short walk to school matters on every school day for five years.

Burnaby's eight public secondary schools

Every Burnaby secondary school teaches Grades 8 to 12, according to the district's secondary schools page. Children move from Grade 7 at their elementary school to the secondary school that serves their address. Here are the eight schools, with the addresses on the district's address list:

• Alpha Secondary, 4600 Parker Street, North Burnaby. French immersion school.
• Burnaby Central Secondary, 6011 Deer Lake Parkway, central Burnaby. Host school for the Burnaby Winter Club hockey academy.
• Burnaby Mountain Secondary, 8800 Eastlake Drive, near Lougheed.
• Burnaby North Secondary, 751 Hammarskjold Drive, North Burnaby. AP Capstone school. The Province announced on February 2, 2024 that its replacement building was complete, with space for 1,800 students.
• Burnaby South Secondary, 5455 Rumble Street, South Burnaby. AP Capstone school. It shares its address with the BC School for the Deaf.
• Byrne Creek Secondary, 7777 18th Street, near Edmonds.
• Cariboo Hill Secondary, 8560 16th Avenue, East Burnaby. French immersion school.
• Moscrop Secondary, 4433 Moscrop Street, near Garden Village and Forest Glen. French immersion school.

Which programs each school offers

Some schools add programs that students apply to, and the district lists them on its secondary programs of choice page, updated December 2025. Most need an application in February for the following September.

• French immersion: Alpha, Cariboo Hill and Moscrop. Graduates get a bilingual designation on their diploma. A Grade 7 French immersion student moves to the immersion secondary school for their area, and the French immersion page has a separate catchment map for this.
• Advanced Placement (AP) courses: at all eight schools, for Grades 10 to 12. These are first-year university level courses. The district's AP page says the course is free and the exam has a fee.
• AP Capstone diploma: Burnaby North and Burnaby South only, for Grades 11 and 12. A Grade 10 student from another school applies to transfer to one of the two.
• Business Summit with BCIT: Alpha, Cariboo Hill, Burnaby Mountain and Burnaby South.
• Engineering Summit and the DigiPen game development academy: Cariboo Hill.
• Hockey: the Burnaby North academy is open to students from any Burnaby secondary school, and the elite Burnaby Winter Club academy requires students to attend Burnaby Central.
• Volleyball academy: held at Cariboo Hill, open to students from any school.

Many career programs, such as health sciences at Moscrop, take students from any school, who travel to the host school for those classes. The district's list includes no International Baccalaureate (IB) program at any of the eight schools.

How catchments work in Burnaby

Your address decides your school. The district's Administrative Procedure 412, revised November 2025, says students "will attend the school within the designated catchment area where the student ordinarily resides," or apply to attend another school. The family must be living in Burnaby when it registers.

To check an address, use the district's School Locator, which returns the elementary and secondary school for a street address. The secondary schools page also posts a catchment map for each school. Use the exact civic address of the home you are buying, because a new duplex can carry a different address from the house it replaced.

Three parts of the procedure matter to a buyer:

• Space comes first. A new student who lives in the catchment is placed at that school "subject to space." A family that arrives after the school has planned its year may be placed at the nearest school with room, and can move to the catchment school at the start of the next year if space opens.
• Some elementary schools feed two secondary schools. In that case, a Grade 7 student gets priority at one of the two based on where they live.
• Lines can move. Under Administrative Procedure 108, adopted in June 2026, the Board of Education approves boundary changes after at least three months of public notice.

Asking for a school outside your catchment

Burnaby takes out-of-catchment requests once a year, in February. The registration page says every request received in February has equal priority, whatever day it arrives.

If a school has more requests than seats, Procedure 412 sets the order. Siblings of current students come first. Next are elementary children in licensed child care within the catchment, then Grade 7 students choosing between two secondary schools their elementary school feeds, then students whose own catchment school has little or no room, then other Burnaby students, then students from outside Burnaby. A lottery sets the order inside each group.

Families hear back by April 15. Late requests go on a waitlist, and every waitlist closes on September 29. French immersion has its own order, where students living in the immersion catchment come before students from elsewhere in Burnaby.

New homes for sale within 1.5 km on foot of each school

On October 8, 2026, MultiLiving's copy of the MLS® feed held 122 new homes for sale in Burnaby in buildings of six homes or fewer, or with no count given: 83 half duplexes, 29 townhomes and 10 homes filed as houses that carry a unit number. Our copy holds only new homes built in 2025 or later, and the count uses active listings only, last refreshed at 10:09 AM Pacific that day. The count leaves out three larger townhome buildings, one tower home and one detached house. All prices are asking prices, and some of these homes may have sold by the time you read this.

For each home we measured the walking route on OpenStreetMap from the listing's map pin to the school grounds. One listing had no map pin, so we placed it by its street address. The distance tells you how long the walk is. The School Locator tells you which school serves the home.

In total, 59 of the 122 homes were within 1.5 km on foot of a secondary school, and 40 were within 1 km. No home was within 1.5 km of two schools. The 59 asked from $728,000 to $2,399,000, with a median of $1,599,999. The other 63 had a median of $1,799,000. With an even number of homes, we show the lower of the two middle prices.

Burnaby North: 17 homes

Burnaby North had the most new homes nearby: 17 homes in 7 buildings, from $1,359,000 to $2,278,000, with a median of $1,599,000. Three 3-bedroom half duplexes of 1,797 square feet at 6555 Carnegie Street are 398 to 534 metres away and ask $1,359,000 to $1,398,000. Five homes on Napier Street are 836 to 886 metres away at $1,575,000 to $1,749,000. Two townhomes at 6503 Winch Street, 993 metres away, ask $1,499,900 and $1,539,900. The larger homes are on Curtis Street and Grant Street at $2,228,000 to $2,278,000, and three 6-bedroom homes at 6885 Aubrey Street, 1.2 km away, ask $1,699,999 to $1,799,999. In our view, the three Carnegie Street homes are the best fit here for a family that puts school first: they are the closest new homes to any Burnaby secondary school, and each asks under $1.4 million. Our Sperling-Duthie guide covers these streets.

Cariboo Hill: 11 homes

Cariboo Hill had 11 homes in 6 buildings, from $1,599,999 to $2,298,000, with a median of $1,648,000. Four 4-bedroom half duplexes at 8483 16th Avenue are 545 metres away at $1,599,999 each. Two homes at 7609 Coldicutt Street are 676 metres away at $1,698,000 and $1,750,000. The other five are on 12th Avenue, 15th Avenue, Wright Street and 17th Avenue, all within 843 metres. Our East Burnaby guide describes the area.

Alpha: 10 homes

Alpha had 10 homes in 4 buildings, from $1,499,900 to $2,399,000, with a median of $1,599,000. Four 4-bedroom townhomes of 2,010 square feet at 1541 Willingdon Avenue are 954 metres away at $1,579,000 to $1,599,000, listed with 2027 as the year built. Two 6-bedroom half duplexes at 4331 Union Street are 1.0 km away. Two at 4828 Albert Street, 1.2 km away, ask $1,499,900 and $1,575,000, and two at 4730 Pandora Street, 1.3 km away, ask $2,399,000 each.

Burnaby South: 9 homes

Burnaby South had 9 homes in 5 buildings, from $728,000 to $2,088,000, with a median of $1,449,900. Three townhomes at 6136 Irmin Street are 854 metres away: a 3-bedroom home at $728,000 and two 4-bedroom homes at $1,178,000 and $1,238,000. A half duplex at 8029 MacPherson Avenue is 766 metres away at $1,988,000, and a townhome at 6525 Dufferin Avenue is 1.3 km away at $1,438,000. Four homes on Keith Street and Elgin Avenue sit between 1.45 and 1.48 km. A second Elgin Avenue home in the same building has its pin at 1.53 km, so we left it out.

Moscrop: 6 homes

Moscrop had 6 homes in 2 buildings, from $1,299,000 to $2,388,000, with a median of $1,389,000. Five 4-bedroom townhomes at 4561 Charlotte Court are 1.0 km away at $1,299,000 to $1,419,000, listed with 2027 as the year built. An 8-bedroom half duplex at 4419 Wildwood Crescent is 650 metres away at $2,388,000.

Byrne Creek: 5 homes

Byrne Creek had 5 homes in 3 buildings, from $1,028,000 to $1,898,000, with a median of $1,299,000. Three 5-bedroom half duplexes of 2,196 square feet at 7353 12th Avenue are 1.2 km away at $1,299,000 to $1,368,000. A 6-bedroom half duplex at 7303 14th Avenue is 1.2 km away at $1,898,000, and a 4-bedroom townhome at 7270 17th Avenue is 1.4 km away at $1,028,000.

Burnaby Central: 1 home, and Burnaby Mountain: none

Only one home was within 1.5 km of Burnaby Central: a 7-bedroom half duplex of 3,792 square feet at 5685 Forest Street, 892 metres away, at $2,290,000. No home was within 1.5 km of Burnaby Mountain. The closest, on Winlake Crescent, was a 2.5 km walk.

Homes under $1.5 million near the schools

Nineteen of the 59 homes asked less than $1.5 million, compared with 38 of all 122. The federal mortgage insurance rules require a price less than $1,500,000 for a buyer to put less than 20% down. For prices across the whole city, see our Burnaby prices by neighbourhood report.

What to check before you make an offer

• Run the address in the School Locator and save a copy of the result with the date.
• Ask which elementary school the address feeds, and whether that school feeds one secondary school or two.
• Check the program catchment if your child is in French immersion, because the immersion map is separate.
• Walk the route at 8 AM on a school day. Our distances are map routes, and a busy crossing or a hill changes how a walk feels.
• Match the move date to the school calendar. Our guide to school catchments when you move covers registration timing and proof of address.

Comparing cities? Our Vancouver schools guide covers Vancouver.

What this comes down to

• Burnaby has eight public secondary schools, all Grades 8 to 12, and no current published ranking. The Fraser Institute stopped its B.C. secondary report card in 2024, and the Ministry of Education does not make rankings.
• Programs separate the schools: French immersion at Alpha, Cariboo Hill and Moscrop, AP Capstone at Burnaby North and Burnaby South, AP courses at all eight.
• The address decides the school, subject to space. Out-of-catchment requests go in during February, with answers by April 15.
• On October 8, 2026, 59 of 122 new homes were within 1.5 km on foot of a secondary school. Burnaby North had 17, and 19 of the 59 asked less than $1.5 million.
• Distance on foot and catchment are separate questions. Check every address in the School Locator before you offer.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best secondary schools in Burnaby?

It depends on what your child needs. The Fraser Institute stopped its B.C. secondary report card in 2024, and the Ministry of Education does not rank schools. Compare the eight schools by program: French immersion at Alpha, Cariboo Hill and Moscrop, AP Capstone at Burnaby North and South, AP courses everywhere.

Does the Fraser Institute still rank Burnaby high schools?

No. In a September 5, 2024 commentary, the Fraser Institute said it will no longer publish its B.C. secondary school report card unless the province brings back quality provincewide testing in high schools. Any B.C. high school ranking you find online uses older data or another group's method.

Does the B.C. Ministry of Education rank schools?

No. The Ministry's parent brochure on the Foundation Skills Assessment says "the Ministry doesn't make, share, or support any rankings." It does publish each school's results, such as completion rates and graduation assessments, on its B.C. Education System Performance website, without placing schools in order.

How do I find which secondary school serves an address in Burnaby?

Enter the exact street address in the Burnaby School District's School Locator, linked from burnabyschools.ca. It returns the elementary and secondary school for that address. The district's secondary schools page also has a catchment map for each school. Save a copy of the result before you make an offer.

Which Burnaby secondary schools offer French immersion?

Alpha, Cariboo Hill and Moscrop. A student in Grade 7 French immersion in Burnaby moves to the immersion secondary school for their area, which follows a separate catchment map. A family new to Burnaby, or one choosing a different immersion school, sends the district's secondary application form to that school.

Which Burnaby high schools offer AP or AP Capstone?

All eight schools offer Advanced Placement courses for Grades 10 to 12, with no fee for the course and a fee for the exam. The AP Capstone diploma, for Grades 11 and 12, runs only at Burnaby North and Burnaby South. A Grade 10 student elsewhere applies to transfer.

Does any Burnaby public secondary school offer IB?

The district's December 2025 list of secondary programs of choice includes no International Baccalaureate program. Its university-level option is Advanced Placement, offered at all eight schools, plus the AP Capstone diploma at Burnaby North and Burnaby South. Ask the district directly if IB is a must for your child.

Can my child go to a Burnaby secondary school outside our catchment?

You can apply. Requests go in during February, all with equal priority, and the district replies by April 15. If seats are short, siblings of current students come first and a lottery orders each group. Late requests join a waitlist that closes on September 29.

Does living close to a school mean my child will go there?

No. The catchment decides, and two homes the same distance from a school can sit in different catchments. Our walking distances describe the trip only. Check the exact address in the School Locator, and remember that placement is subject to space at the school.

How many new homes are for sale near Burnaby secondary schools?

On October 8, 2026, 59 of the 122 new homes in our count were within 1.5 km on foot of a secondary school, and 40 were within 1 km. They asked from $728,000 to $2,399,000, with a median of $1,599,999. Our copy of the MLS® feed holds only homes built in 2025 or later.

Are there new homes under $1.5 million near a Burnaby secondary school?

Yes. Nineteen of the 59 homes asked less than $1.5 million on October 8, 2026: five near Burnaby South, five near Moscrop, four near Burnaby North and four near Byrne Creek, plus one near Alpha at $1,499,900. The lowest was a 3-bedroom townhome on Irmin Street at $728,000.

Can a catchment boundary change after we buy?

Yes. The district's Administrative Procedure 108, adopted in June 2026, lets the Board of Education change boundaries when a school is too full or too empty, or when a school opens or closes. It requires at least three months of public notice and consultation before the Board votes, then updates the School Locator.

Want a new home within walking distance of the right school for your teenager? Browse the homes for sale now, or tell us your children's grades and programs and we will list the homes near the schools that fit.