Schools in Leslieville — Public, Catholic & Private

Leslieville sits within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) for public schools and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) for Catholic schools. Most families in the neighbourhood attend one of two TDSB elementary schools, with Riverdale Collegiate Institute serving as the primary secondary destination. The schools you're assigned depend on your exact address, and boundaries can shift year to year, which makes checking before you buy genuinely important if school placement is part of your decision.

School boundaries change annually. Always verify your address's catchment school directly with TDSB (tdsb.on.ca) or TCDSB before making purchasing decisions based on school placement.

Public schools (TDSB)

Duke of Connaught Junior and Senior Public School

Duke of Connaught on Connaught Avenue is the primary neighbourhood school for a large portion of Leslieville. It runs from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 8, which means families in its catchment stay there through the full elementary years. The school is in the middle of the residential grid south of Gerrard, close to the quiet side streets that make up the core of the neighbourhood. For many buyers looking at homes between Jones and Leslie, this is the default school.

Leslieville Junior Public School

Leslieville Junior Public School on Morse Street serves the younger grades, running from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 6. It's a smaller school with a catchment concentrated closer to the Queen Street corridor. Families north or south of the main strip sometimes find their address falls here rather than at Connaught, which is why checking your specific street matters. The school sits within walking distance of the central Queen East strip and Greenwood Park.

Withrow Avenue Junior Public School

Withrow Avenue Junior Public School serves the northern edge of what buyers often consider Leslieville, near Withrow Park between Carlaw and Logan. If you're looking at properties closer to Gerrard or in the Riverside section nearer to the Don River, Withrow may be your catchment elementary school. It's a well-regarded school in a pocket of the neighbourhood that has seen considerable family-focused investment over the past decade.

Catholic schools (TCDSB)

Families registered with the Toronto Catholic District School Board in the South Riverdale and Leslieville area are served by St. Joseph Catholic School, located near the Queen and Broadview area. TCDSB catchments follow different boundaries than TDSB, and eligibility requires Catholic baptismal registration. Families considering a Catholic school placement should verify their address directly with TCDSB, as the catchment for this part of the east end is drawn differently than the public school zones.

Secondary schools

Riverdale Collegiate Institute on Gerrard Street East, near Broadview, is the secondary school that draws the most Leslieville graduates. It offers the standard Ontario Secondary School curriculum and has historically had strong arts and music programming. Most students from the Connaught and Leslieville Junior catchments feed into Riverdale for Grades 9 through 12.

Some families also look at Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute or Malvern Collegiate, and families with specific program interests sometimes apply to Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute, which has technical and applied programming. Secondary school placement in Toronto involves a combination of your home address and any specialty program applications. The TDSB boundary tool covers secondary school catchments as well as elementary, and it's the right first stop for any secondary school planning.

Private and independent schools

There are several independent and private schools accessible from Leslieville, including a number of established schools in the Beaches neighbourhood immediately to the east and various options in the downtown core reachable by the 501 Queen streetcar. The independent school landscape in Toronto is varied enough that a specific recommendation depends on what you're looking for: faith-based, academic focus, arts, or alternative pedagogy. If private schooling is a factor in your purchase, it's worth researching which options have availability and suit your child's needs before assuming any particular school will have a spot.

French language schools

The TDSB operates French immersion programs at a number of schools across the city, and families in Leslieville can apply for French immersion placements. French immersion is not always available at your catchment school, which means families who want it often need to transport children to a school outside the immediate neighbourhood. The TDSB also has full French-language schools operated through the Conseil scolaire Viamonde and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir boards, which are separate from TDSB and TCDSB. If French-language education is a priority, check both the TDSB immersion program availability and the separate French-language board catchments for the South Riverdale area.

Questions about schools in Leslieville

What school is Leslieville in?

Most of Leslieville falls within the catchment for either Duke of Connaught Junior and Senior Public School or Leslieville Junior Public School for the elementary grades, with Riverdale Collegiate Institute as the main secondary school. Which elementary school you're assigned to depends on your specific street and sometimes your side of the street, because catchment lines run through the middle of the neighbourhood. Duke of Connaught on Connaught Avenue is the primary feeder school for a large section of the neighbourhood, particularly for addresses between Jones and Leslie south of Gerrard. Addresses closer to the Don River tend to fall in the Withrow or Riverdale area catchments instead. The only reliable way to confirm which school serves your address is through the TDSB boundary lookup tool at tdsb.on.ca.

Does TDSB have French immersion near Leslieville?

The TDSB does operate French immersion programs across Toronto, but French immersion is not available at every neighbourhood school. Families in Leslieville who want French immersion for their children typically need to apply to a designated French immersion school, which may not be the same school as their catchment elementary school. This means arranging transportation or choosing to live within reach of a school that offers the program. The TDSB publishes a list of schools offering French immersion on its website, and the registration process is separate from regular catchment enrolment. Families with a strong interest in French immersion should check the TDSB's current program offerings and waitlist status before assuming a spot will be available, particularly for Junior Kindergarten entry where demand is consistently high.

How do I check which school my address is in?

The TDSB School Boundary Locator at tdsb.on.ca lets you enter your address and see your assigned elementary and secondary school. It covers both regular catchment placements and French immersion program availability. For Catholic schools, the TCDSB has a similar boundary tool at tcdsb.org. Both tools are address-specific, which matters in Leslieville because catchment lines run through the middle of the neighbourhood rather than along major streets. Two houses on the same block can sometimes fall in different catchments. If you're buying specifically because of a school placement, confirm the catchment for the exact address you're considering, not just the general neighbourhood. Boundaries are also reviewed annually and can change, so confirming close to your purchase date is the right approach.

Is Riverdale CI a good school?

Riverdale Collegiate Institute is a longstanding east end secondary school with a broad curriculum, and it draws students from a wide stretch of the South Riverdale and Leslieville area. Assessing any school's quality is genuinely difficult from data alone, and the things that matter most to different families vary considerably: arts programming, academic outcomes, school culture, extracurriculars, class sizes, and teacher turnover all matter in different ways to different people. The most reliable way to form a view on Riverdale CI or any Toronto secondary school is to visit the school, speak with current families in the neighbourhood, and look at Fraser Institute rankings with the understanding that those rankings measure a narrow slice of what makes a school work for a child. For a first-hand view, local parent networks and the school's open house events in the fall are the best resources available.

Schools serving Leslieville families