Hamilton School Guide

Stoney Creek Schools: Rankings, Catchments, and What Families Need to Know

By Chris Ouzas, Broker, Michael Ouzas Real Estate Team, Royal LePage Signature Realty. Last updated July 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Upper Stoney Creek and lower Stoney Creek map to different schools across two boards, which raises the stakes on verifying the exact address before you buy.
• Lower Stoney Creek's elementary map was rebuilt recently. The replacement for Memorial opened in January 2021 under a new name, South Meadow, and older guides have not caught up.
• The strongest Fraser Institute scores in Stoney Creek belong to the Catholic board: St. Gabriel at 7.8 and St. Francis Xavier at 7.0 on the elementary side, and 7.4 for the Catholic high school on Gray Road.
• Both boards publish a free address lookup. Use HWDSB's School Locator on the Find My School page and HWCDSB's School Locator and Boundaries page.

Stoney Creek contains three distinct markets: the lower flats and lakefront, the historic village core around the Battlefield, and upper Stoney Creek on the Mountain. They do not share a school map. Upper and lower Stoney Creek feed different elementary schools and, in most cases, different high schools, so the address matters far more here than the neighbourhood name does.

The Ontario Ministry of Education's school contact list shows 22 publicly funded schools with a Stoney Creek address, split between the public board (HWDSB) and the Catholic board (HWCDSB). Below are five we verified against ministry and Fraser Institute sources, the high schools that matter here, and how to confirm what a specific address feeds.

Collegiate Avenue School (JK-8)

Collegiate Avenue sits in the older part of lower Stoney Creek near the village core, and it has a complicated recent history. Global News reported the school was closed from late 2018 under a 2016 board plan, with students housed elsewhere, and that trustees approved $10.2 million for the rebuild in February 2020. The ministry's School Information Finder lists it as JK-8 with about 490 students in 2024-2025. It scored 4.7 out of 10 in the Fraser Institute's Report Card on Ontario's Elementary Schools 2025, built on 2023-24 EQAO results. Newer ministry data reads better: in 2024-2025, 82 per cent of Grade 3 students met the reading standard, up 49 points over three years. HWDSB's site calls it Collegiate Elementary School.

South Meadow Public School (JK-8)

If you are searching for Memorial in Stoney Creek, this is it. HWDSB announced the new Memorial building would be renamed South Meadow, and it opened in January 2021 on the Memorial site, absorbing students from Memorial and Mountain View. The ministry lists it on Royce Avenue as JK-8 with about 590 students in 2024-2025. The Fraser Institute's 2025 elementary report card has no South Meadow entry. It still carries a Stoney Creek school under the former Memorial name at 5.4, and it is not confirmed those are the same record, so no score is attached here. On 2024-2025 EQAO, 72 per cent of Grade 3 students met the reading standard while Grade 6 math sat at 35 per cent.

Billy Green Elementary School (JK-8)

Billy Green is on Paramount Drive in upper Stoney Creek. The ministry lists it as JK-8 with about 380 students in 2024-2025, and it scored 5.4 in the Fraser Institute's 2025 elementary report card. Look at the three-year trend: by 2024-2025, 92 per cent of Grade 6 students met the reading standard, up 18 points, and Grade 6 math climbed 35 points to 58 per cent. Grade 3 reading went the other way, down 26 points to 63 per cent. Results there are still changing year to year.

Mount Albion Public School (JK-8)

Mount Albion, on Kennard Street in upper Stoney Creek, is one of the larger public elementary schools up here at about 525 students in 2024-2025. Global News reported trustees approved $8.6 million in February 2020 to add 230 elementary student spaces there, which tells you what subdivision growth has done to capacity. It scored 4.5 in the Fraser Institute's 2025 elementary report card, one of the weaker Stoney Creek results, and the report flags it as declining against its five year average. On 2024-2025 EQAO, 91 per cent of Grade 6 students met the writing standard while Grade 6 math came in at 42 per cent.

St. Francis Xavier Catholic Elementary School (JK-8)

St. Francis Xavier sits on Highway 8 in lower Stoney Creek and is the Catholic option families ask us about most in the village core. The ministry lists it as JK-8 with about 410 students in 2024-2025. It scored 7.0 in the Fraser Institute's 2025 elementary report card, and its 2024-2025 EQAO results are strong at the top end: 93 per cent of Grade 3 students met the reading standard and 100 per cent of Grade 6 students did. Grade 6 math was the soft spot at 42 per cent. The higher scoring Catholic elementary here is St. Gabriel on Barton Street East, at 7.8 with about 525 students. Both are HWCDSB schools, so admission follows the Catholic board's registration rules rather than a public catchment.

Secondary Schools Serving Stoney Creek (Grades 9-12)

Three high schools carry a Stoney Creek address. Saltfleet District High School on Highland Road West serves upper Stoney Creek and is the largest, at about 1,280 students in 2024-2025. Orchard Park Secondary on DeWitt Road serves the lower area, at about 1,070. In the Fraser Institute's Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools 2025, also built on 2023-24 results, both scored 5.3. Orchard Park's five year rating average is 6.4 and the report flags it as declining, which is worth raising with the school directly. On 2024-2025 ministry data, 85 per cent of Orchard Park's Grade 10 students passed the literacy test on the first attempt, matching the province. Saltfleet came in at 83 per cent.

The Catholic high school is St. John Henry Newman on Gray Road, which opened in 1975 as Cardinal Newman and was renamed in October 2019 after Newman's canonization. The Fraser secondary report still lists a Stoney Creek entry under the old Cardinal Newman name at 7.4 out of 10, the strongest secondary score attached to any Stoney Creek address in that report. Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary is not a Stoney Creek school, though families here ask about it constantly: the ministry lists it on Rymal Road East in Hannon, and it scored 5.9. Which one an address maps to is a question for the board's locator.

Catchments and What They Mean for Prices

Stoney Creek has no single famous catchment line that moves prices the way a few Toronto pockets do. It has a genuine split instead. Upper Stoney Creek buyers are comparing Saltfleet and the Mountain elementary schools. Lower and village core buyers are comparing Orchard Park, Collegiate Avenue, South Meadow, Eastdale, and the Catholic schools on Highway 8 and Barton Street East. Those are two different conversations, so the same listing photo can mean two different things depending on which side of the escarpment it sits on. Boundary streets are not listed here because the boards redraw them, and any line published today could be wrong by the time you read it. In lower Stoney Creek especially, the school a house fed five years ago may not be the one it feeds now.

How to Verify a Catchment Before You Buy

For public schools, go to HWDSB's Find My School page at hwdsb.on.ca/find-school and use the School Locator tool there. Enter the exact street address. One practical warning from the board's own page: it states that mobile devices and tablets are not supported, so run it on a computer. For Catholic schools, use the School Locator and Boundaries page under School Life at hwcdsb.ca. Do this before you buy, not after. HWDSB runs boundary reviews on a rolling basis, French Immersion boundaries are drawn separately from English program boundaries, and out of catchment placement is a separate application with its own deadlines. If a listing says "great schools," treat that as marketing until the board's tool confirms it for that address.

Frequently asked questions

Can Chris check the schools for a specific house?

Yes. Send him the address and he will run it through both boards' locators and tell you what comes back, including the French Immersion picture.

Does Chris only work this area?

No. Chris works all of Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville, and his son Michael covers Toronto at michaelouzas.com.

How do I get in touch?

Pick a time on the booking page and Chris will call you. It is free, and there is no pressure.

In short

Stoney Creek gives families real choice, but it is choice split across an escarpment and two boards, with a lower area rebuilt and renamed inside the last six years. The Catholic board holds the strongest published scores here, the public high schools sit mid pack with Orchard Park trending down, and the elementary picture varies street by street. None of that means avoid the area. Run the board's lookup on the exact address before you buy.