private

Fern Hill School - Oakville

3300 Ninth Line, Oakville, Ontario, L6H 7A8

See homes near this school School website

At a glance

Grades: PS – Gr. 8
Gender: Coed
Founded: 1982
Board: Independent
Principal: Wendy Derrick

Tuition & admissions

Tuition: $26,313 – $28,442 /year
Application fee: $300, payable before assessment.
Enrolment fee: $3,000 per student: one-time, non-refundable New Student Registration Fee, submitted with the completed registration form to hold the assigned space.
Acceptance rate: Rolling admissions possible if confirmed space available. Conditional Acceptance Offers issued when classes are full or applications are high. Waitlisting occurs, with Final Offers confirmed in early February when places become available.

Admissions process

Accepting applications for the 2027–2028 school year. Applications begin in October of the year before entry; contact Admissions for an Application Package. · Pay the $300 application fee before assessment. · Preschool, JK and SK applicants complete in-person Interactive Readiness Assessments covering social interaction, behavioural development and academic readiness. Preschool children must be fully toilet-trained before the beginning of September. · Grades 1–4 applicants complete written Language and Mathematics tests. Strong reading skills are required for Grade 1 entry. · Grades 5–8 applicants complete written tests in Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Sentence Structure, Grammar and Mathematics, plus a personal interview. · JK–Grade 8 applicants must arrange for their current school to submit the applicable Early Years Observation Report or Confidential School Report directly to Fern Hill. · Rolling admission and mid-year transfers may be available depending on space and waiting lists. Qualifying applicants may be waitlisted; offers are confirmed as places become available after current-family re-enrolment in early February. · Accept an offer by its stated deadline by submitting the New Student Registration Agreement and registration fee; tuition payments follow. · International applicants need verbal English fluency for JK and written and verbal fluency for SK–Grade 8. They must live locally with a family member; a valid Student Visa or Permanent Resident Card is required for Grades 1–8.

Academics & learning

Curriculum: Traditional
Class size: 18 — 19 students

Tuition & financial aid details

Included in tuition: Textbooks, notebooks, school field trips and most activities.
Transportation: Door-to-door return-trip bus service is priced separately from tuition.
Trips and activities excluded from tuition: Typically events involving overnight accommodation or extensive travel, including ski trips, Grades 5–8 overnight Outdoor Education Camp, Grade 7 Quebec Trip, Grade 8 Outdoor Education Camp and University Science Camp, and Round Square international trips.

Course descriptions

Grades 1–6 core learning

The school describes reading, writing and mathematics foundations, French and Mandarin, culture and IT, art, music, drama and physical education. Science expands to lab work in Grades 5–6.

Grades 6–8 Grade 9 credits

Fern Hill states that eligible students may take Ontario Grade 9 credits before leaving Grade 8. Its current Grade 9 Credits page lists MTH1W Mathematics and FSF1D Academic/Core French; the Grades 7–8 page also references BTT1O Communications and Technology in Business. Confirm current availability with the school.

View course information on the school website

School images

School videos

1 / 3

Learning programs

Specializations

Environmental Field Studies and conservation · Dramatic arts · Interactive French-language learning

Languages

English

Learning support

English as a Second Language instruction is not offered.

Student life

Arts

Drama · music and visual arts. Drama includes frequent assembly performances · a Grades 1–3 Christmas play and a Grades 4–8 spring musical at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. Drama is taught by professional performers and art by studio artists.

Facilities

30-acre Burlington Campus with forest, stream, marsh and meadow · Fully functioning on-site bird banding laboratory · Native species garden · Eastern Bluebird nesting boxes · Monarch butterfly way station

Clubs & extracurricular activities

Officially listed extracurricular examples include intramural sports, chess tournaments, LEGO Robotics, Battle of the Books, dramatic musical productions, martial arts, community service projects, school clubs, house teams and competitions. The school says activities vary and the list is not exhaustive.

Outdoor activities & education

Outdoor field studies: Nature-based field studies are integrated into the weekly curriculum at the Burlington campus, which has forest, stream, marsh and meadow habitats. Activities include bird banding, bluebird nesting-box monitoring, habitat restoration, seasonal bird counts and marsh/invertebrate monitoring. This program is campus-specific; do not attribute the Burlington campus acreage/program to Oakville.
Trips and international learning: The Oakville school lists ski and overnight trips; overnight experiences are introduced in Grades 5–6 and extend in length with age. Grades 7–8 include a three-night trip and eligibility for Round Square international trips; Grade 8 lists a four-night Camp Tanamakoon leadership camp. International destinations vary by year and opportunity.

About the school

Fern Hill School serves Preschool through Grade 8, combining strong academics, broad-based social development, arts and signature programmes.

Location & school highlights

Location

Campuses in Oakville and Burlington. The Burlington Campus occupies 30 acres of green space
including forest
stream
marsh and meadow.

What makes the school distinct

High-school-style timetable with teachers assigned by subject specialty rather than one teacher per grade.
Maximum class size of 19 students in Grades 1–8, with smaller ratios in Preschool, Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten.
Weekly Field Studies Programme featuring on-site conservation, monitoring and restoration projects.
Drama teachers are professional performers, and art teachers are studio artists.
Tuition includes textbooks, notebooks, school field trips and most activities; parents are not asked or expected to contribute to capital costs or expansion plans.