Kara Knows London
Woodfield · Guide 4 of 9

Schools in and around Woodfield, the family's deep guide

Programs, applications, what's actually strong, and the questions parents ask before they buy.

Most families looking at Woodfield are thinking about three school decisions at once: an elementary school, a secondary school, and whether to commit to French Immersion. The neighbourhood is unusually rich on all three fronts, it’s one of the few central London pockets where you can walk a kid from JK through Grade 12, but the real picture is more textured than the hub-page list suggests. What follows is the version that comes out at the open-house wine table.

The two boards, and what the choice actually means

Woodfield falls inside both the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB, secular/public) and the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB, separate Catholic). Same property taxes either way, Ontario funds both. The practical differences:

The Woodfield-specific reality: most families default to TVDSB because Woodfield FI and St. George’s are right there, but Catholic Central’s IB program pulls a meaningful number of Woodfield kids out of Central each September.

The elementary schools

Woodfield French Immersion Public School (TVDSB)

440 Princess Ave. JK–Grade 8. French Immersion.

Renamed from Lord Roberts French Immersion in May 2024 by community vote (Woodfield was the top choice with 55% of community ballots). The building, the staff, and the program didn’t change, only the sign out front. Older parent reviews online still use the Lord Roberts name.

Program: Early French Immersion. Instruction is roughly 100% French in the early grades, easing toward an English/French split by Grade 8. There is no English-track stream at this school; if you want English-track in central London, that’s St. George’s.

Strengths: It is the central-London French Immersion anchor, with a long-running track record. The building itself, a heritage school steps from Victoria Park, is genuinely lovely to drop a kid off at.

Catchment: Most of Woodfield proper falls in. Streets near the western edge (toward Richmond) and the southern edge can flip, always check TVDSB’s Find My Local School tool by address, because boundaries have been adjusted as enrollment shifted.

Practical: Standard TVDSB bell times. Before/after care via licensed third-party operators on-site, wait-list is real, get on it the moment you have a closing date. Pack a lunch.

The FI realities to know: Demand exceeds supply some years and TVDSB runs an entry lottery if applications are over capacity. There is no late French Immersion entry at Woodfield FI, TVDSB offers late immersion at a few other sites starting Grade 7, but not here. A Toronto-FI transfer in Grade 4? Usually accommodated if there’s space, but call the school, not the board, first.

St. George’s Public School (TVDSB)

782 Waterloo St. JK–Grade 8. English-track.

The English-track public option for Woodfield. Around 320 students. Notably, St. George’s hosts a TVDSB Developmental Education Centre serving students ages 4–14 with developmental disabilities, a small, specialised program that draws from across the city. The presence of the DEC shapes the school culture in a way that families consistently mention positively: kids grow up around peers with very different needs, and integration is matter-of-fact.

Program: English-track core, French as a Second Language starting Grade 4 (TVDSB standard). Active arts and outdoor-learning programming; the school’s proximity to Victoria Park gets used.

Catchment: Covers most of Woodfield and parts of Old East Village west of Adelaide. Confirm by address.

Strengths: Smaller than Woodfield FI, tight community, the DEC integration. It’s the school people pick when they want English-track and don’t want to drive.

St. Michael Catholic Elementary (LDCSB)

926 Maitland St. JK–Grade 8. Catholic.

Built in 1912, one of the oldest operating school buildings in London. Small (typically under 250 students), parish-attached to St. Michael’s Parish, walkable from most of Woodfield north of Dufferin.

Program: English-track Catholic curriculum, French as a Second Language from Grade 4, sacramental prep embedded in the school year (First Communion in Grade 2, Confirmation typically Grade 7). LDCSB does not run French Immersion at St. Michael; the closest Catholic FI option is elsewhere in the city.

Strengths: Genuine community feel, the Catholic families in Woodfield and Old North know each other through this school and the parish. Heritage building with the trade-offs that implies (charm, stairs, no AC in older sections).

Catchment: LDCSB Catholic catchments are larger than TVDSB’s and St. Michael draws from a wide swath of the central city. Verify on the LDCSB boundary map.

The secondary schools

Central Secondary School (TVDSB)

509 Waterloo St. Grades 9–12.

Founded 1864. Roughly 1,000–1,100 students. The default public secondary for Woodfield.

Program: Full academic stream, all the standard Ontario destinations (university, college, workplace, apprenticeship pathways). Strong music program, Central is the school known city-wide for instrumental and vocal music, with multiple concert bands, jazz band, choirs, and a long competition-circuit history. Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) in Arts and Culture. French Immersion continuation is not offered at Central, Woodfield FI grads who want to continue FI through Grade 12 transfer to Montcalm Secondary School (a roughly 15-minute drive northeast), which is the TVDSB FI continuation school for this region. This catches a lot of families off-guard.

Central is not an IB school. Don’t confuse it with Toronto’s Central Tech or other IB-named schools elsewhere, the IB option in London is at Catholic Central.

Strengths beyond music: Solid academics, well-regarded drama, strong school spirit, and the building itself is a draw. Athletics are middle-of-the-pack city-wide.

H.B. Beal Secondary School (TVDSB)

525 Dundas St. Grades 9–12.

Roughly 1,800 students, the largest secondary in central London. Comprehensive in the truest sense: trades, tech, arts, academic.

The destination programs:

Application timing: BealART portfolio deadlines usually fall in late January / early February for September. Check the BealART page directly each fall, dates shift. Families serious about BealART often start portfolio prep in Grade 7.

Catchment / open access: Beal accepts students from across the city for its destination programs. For general academic enrollment, catchment applies; Woodfield is split between Central and Beal depending on address.

Catholic Central High School (LDCSB)

450 Dundas St. Grades 9–12. Catholic.

The Catholic secondary serving central London.

The destination program: International Baccalaureate (IB). Catholic Central is the IB option in London at the secondary level. The IB Diploma Programme runs in Grades 11–12, with a pre-IB enrichment stream typically beginning in Grade 9. Application is academic-record based; a Grade 8 transcript and sometimes a writing sample or interview. Spots are limited (cohort size varies year to year). Successful applicants are usually consistent A-students with strong English and math.

Other strengths: Specialist High Skills Majors, strong robotics and athletics. Confirm current full program list at cch.ldcsb.ca.

Non-Catholic admission: Accepted at the secondary level. Religion class is required. Mass attendance during school liturgies is expected of all students.

Fraser Institute and EQAO, read carefully

The Fraser Institute publishes its annual Report Card on Ontario Schools, ranking elementary and secondary schools on a 0–10 score derived almost entirely from EQAO test results. Methodology is widely criticised by Ontario educators (and by EQAO itself) for collapsing a school’s complexity into a single number that correlates strongly with neighbourhood income. Use it as one signal among several, not as truth.

For specific current ratings, look up each school directly at compareschoolrankings.org, numbers shift year to year and posting an exact rating that goes stale serves no one. EQAO results (the actual underlying data) are published on each school’s TVDSB or LDCSB profile page and are more useful than the Fraser ranking. They show the percentage of students meeting provincial standard in reading, writing, and math at Grades 3, 6, 9.

If a school’s EQAO numbers swing 15 points in a year, that’s usually a small cohort, not a program collapse.

French Immersion in London, the realistic version

What Woodfield families need to plan for:

  1. Apply early. Watch TVDSB’s annual FI registration window in the fall before kindergarten starts. If applications exceed capacity, TVDSB has historically used a lottery, not first-come-first-served.
  2. Grade 1 entry is space-dependent. Don’t bank on it.
  3. Late French Immersion (Grade 7 entry, English-track up to that point) exists at select TVDSB schools, but not at Woodfield FI, your child would attend the late-immersion site, then continue at a secondary FI school.
  4. Continuation at the secondary level goes to Montcalm Secondary, not Central. The FI cohort that walked together from Woodfield FI splits up at Grade 9, many families opt out of FI, switching to Central or Catholic Central, partly because Montcalm is across town.
  5. Mid-year transfers from other FI programs (Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec) are handled case-by-case; call the school directly with the child’s current French level and any assessments.

Be honest with yourself about whether you’ll drive to Montcalm at age 14. A lot of Woodfield families don’t, and that’s a legitimate exit point.

Private school alternatives

Briefly, because this page is mostly public:

None are in Woodfield itself. All require a drive.

Childcare and early years

Five questions families ask most often

1. Which is stronger academically, Central or Catholic Central? For a strong student aiming at university, Catholic Central’s IB program is the more rigorous academic track in London, full stop. For a strong student who isn’t IB-suited, Central is comparable or better, with broader course offerings. They’re not really competing on the same axis.

2. Can my Toronto-FI kid slot into Woodfield FI mid-year? Usually yes if there’s space in the grade, occasionally no. Call the school directly, not the board’s central office, with your child’s current grade and a sample of recent French work. Decisions happen at the school level.

3. Will my kid get into BealART? Realistic answer: maybe. The portfolio matters more than report-card grades. Kids who get in usually have two-plus years of focused art-making behind them, range across media, and an interview where they can talk about what they make. Strong artists who only show one style sometimes don’t get in.

4. What if we don’t drive, can the kids walk safely? Within Woodfield, yes. Woodfield FI, St. George’s, Central, Beal, and Catholic Central are all walkable from most addresses, and the residential streets are quiet and gridded. Dundas Street is the one crossing to mind for younger kids walking to Beal or Catholic Central.

5. Are there enough Catholic families for St. Michael to be a real community vs. catchment-of-convenience? Yes. St. Michael’s Parish is active and most St. Michael Elementary families are practising Catholic; it’s a community school in the genuine sense, not a school of last resort.

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