Elementary · North Port Coquitlam · Shaughnessy · SD43 Coquitlam School District
Updated September 2026 · Craig Johnston, REALTOR® V99960
A Coquitlam REALTOR®'s read on Coquitlam River Elementary — what the school offers, which neighbourhoods feed in, and what to know about the catchment housing in North Port Coquitlam · Shaughnessy.
Quick Answer
What should you know about Coquitlam River Elementary?
École Coquitlam River Elementary School — École Coquitlam River Elementary School is an elementary school in Port Coquitlam, serving grades K–3 (FI), K–5 (English) in the North Port Coquitlam · Shaughnessy area. K-3 Early FI entry site — students transition out for grades 4-5. Address: 4250 Shaughnessy Street, V3E 3E5. Phone 604-942-0241.
Verify your exact address
Check whether your address is actually inside the Coquitlam River Elementary catchment.
SD43 catchments are set by address, not by neighbourhood name. Enter your street in the district’s official School Locator to see the schools that serve your home. This is the authoritative source.
Verified school facts · SD43
School type
Elementary
Grades
K–3 (FI), K–5 (English)
District
SD43 (Coquitlam School District)
Address
4250 Shaughnessy Street, Port Coquitlam, BC V3E 3E5
Phone
Website
Administration (2025–26)
Nicole Bourbonnais (Principal)
Local representation
School Trustee: SD43 Board of Education contact → · MLA: Port Coquitlam
In-catchment registration
Cross-catchment / school of choice
Catchment locator
School details verified against the SD43 school page (June 2026). Bell schedules, administrators, and program details can change year to year — confirm the current year directly with the school office before relying on any specific number.
Enrolment snapshot
Real, sourced enrolment figures for Coquitlam River — cross-referenced against BC's public school enrolment reporting so you're not relying on a guess.
Current enrolment
308 students
2025–2026 school year
Grades served
K–5
English K–5 + Early French Immersion (K–3 entry)
Enrolment by grade
School Year 2025–2026
Kindergarten enrolment is not separately published in the source consulted for this page — grades 1–5 alone total 262 of the school's overall 308 headcount, and no per-grade Kindergarten figure is available to report. Rather than estimate or back out a Kindergarten number, we're disclosing the gap here — confirm the current Kindergarten headcount directly with the school office at 604-942-0241.
Enrolment cross-referenced against publicly reported BC K–12 school enrolment data for SD43, retrieved September 2026 (School Year 2025–2026).
What this school is best known for
Coquitlam River runs a Kindergarten-entry Early French Immersion program that ends at Grade 3. FI students then transition to another SD43 FI elementary for grades 4-5 (typically routing into the network of Mary Hill / Irvine / Kilmer / Westwood-area FI sites), before joining École Pitt River Middle's FI continuation. The school also runs a standard English K-5 program for the neighbourhood catchment.
Programs & academic profile
Kindergarten-entry FI program ending at Grade 3. Students transition to another FI elementary for grades 4-5.
Standard BC elementary curriculum for in-catchment families not in the FI stream.
SD43 inclusive-education model.
Standard SD43 English Language Learning programming.
District-wide, under SD43's Aboriginal Enhancement Agreement. Indigenous Support Teachers and Child & Youth Care Workers, scholarships, land-based learning, and the All Nations Canoe Event, serving grades K–12 across SD43.
District-wide, grades K–12. Full-year (10-month) and summer options, with ESL and Culture Programming and a Teacher Training Program; qualifying secondary students can access AP and IB coursework.
Catchment, feeders & cross-catchment
North Port Coquitlam — Shaughnessy Street area. FI program draws district-wide via Programs of Choice.
K-entry school for FI applicants from across SD43.
FI grade 4-5 transitions to another SD43 FI elementary; then to École Pitt River Middle. English students continue per regular catchment.
SD43 allows cross-catchment enrolment when space permits, allocated by lottery with in-district and sibling priority. SD43 cross-catchment policy →
Catchment lines run down individual streets and can put one side of a road in one catchment and the opposite side in the next. Always verify a specific address with the SD43 school locator before relying on any boundary statement.
Inside the catchment · housing read
Inside the Coquitlam River Elementary catchment in North Port Coquitlam · Shaughnessy, you're looking at established residential streets. Verify the exact catchment for your address through the SD43 locator before committing — boundary lines can run down individual streets.
The verified record
Grades K-5, public, School District 43 — that is École Coquitlam River Elementary in summary. The school is at 4250 Shaughnessy St in Port Coquitlam (V3E 3E5), reachable on 604 942-0241, with Nicole Bourbonnais as principal. The province files it under school code 04343013.
All of it is taken from the provincial school record. If any of it has changed since this page was last reviewed, that record is the thing to trust over this page.
Programme track
SD43 lists this school as dual-track english / early fi (k-3 host). That means two streams run under one roof, and the stream your child enters is decided by application rather than by your address.
Living in the catchment secures a place at the school. It does not secure a place in the immersion stream — immersion is a programme of choice, allocated where space permits, and demand for it in this district reliably exceeds supply.
If the immersion stream specifically is what you are buying for, treat the catchment as necessary but not sufficient, and read the district-wide immersion picture before you commit to an address.
The pathway
Students here promote to fI grade 4-5 transitions to another SD43 FI elementary; then to École Pitt River Middle. English students continue per regular catchment.
The elementary catchment and the middle catchment are drawn separately. A house can sit comfortably inside one and fall on the far side of the other, which is the single most common thing families get wrong when they buy on a school.
If the later years matter to you as much as the early ones, check every boundary for the exact address through SD43's locator while your subjects are still in place, not after they are removed.
The catchment on the ground
The catchment covers north Port Coquitlam — Shaughnessy Street area. FI program draws district-wide via Programs of Choice.
The housing inside that footprint is not uniform, and compressing it into a paragraph here would do it no favours — nor would it help to repeat what is already written elsewhere on this site. For the streets, the stock and the price bands, read hockaday coquitlam guide and river springs port coquitlam guide.
Addresses near a boundary should always be confirmed through the SD43 locator before you rely on them. Boundaries move, and they do not follow the lines people assume from a map.
Frequently asked questions
Coquitlam River Elementary is a K–5 SD43 neighbourhood school in North Port Coquitlam · Shaughnessy. A K-3-only Early French Immersion entry site — students continue FI at another SD43 elementary for grades 4–5 before joining École Pitt River Middle. One of the few SD43 schools where the FI program ends at grade 3. For families inside the catchment, it offers the standard SD43 elementary program with the supports parents typically expect — learning support, ELL, and Indigenous-Education programming through the district.
North Port Coquitlam — Shaughnessy Street area. FI program draws district-wide via Programs of Choice. Always verify a specific address through the SD43 school locator before relying on it.
Nicole Bourbonnais. Verified against the B.C. Ministry of Education Student Success record for this school (school code 04343013). Administrator assignments do change between school years, so if you are contacting the office about something time-sensitive it is worth confirming with SD43 directly.
FI grade 4-5 transitions to another SD43 FI elementary; then to École Pitt River Middle. English students continue per regular catchment. Confirm the exact middle school for your address with the SD43 locator.
Most SD43 neighbourhood elementaries are English-only. SD43's French Immersion entry points are different schools — see the SD43 French Programs page for the current list of K-entry FI sites.
Yes — through the SD43 cross-catchment / school-of-choice process when space permits. Placements are allocated by lottery with in-district and sibling priority.
No. SD43 has discontinued regular bus transportation district-wide. Parents drive or arrange private transportation.
4250 Shaughnessy Street, Port Coquitlam, BC V3E 3E5. Phone 604-942-0241.
Continue your Coquitlam school research
Main hub
The full SD43 schools guide for the Tri-Cities.
Hub
Ranked guide to the top Coquitlam SD43 schools.
Programs
Every SD43 French Immersion entry point.
Private
Independent schools serving Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam.
Sources & methodology
School facts verified against the SD43 Coquitlam River Elementary school page, the SD43 Board of Education / Trustees page, and the SD43 school locator. Catchment, registration, and cross-catchment information from SD43's cross-catchment policy page. Enrolment (308 students, 2025–2026) is cross-referenced against the BC Ministry of Education's Student Headcount by Grade open dataset and School Guide's public school-enrolment tool, retrieved September 2026; the Early French Immersion, Indigenous Education Support, and SD43 International Student Program details were cross-referenced against publicly reported SD43 district program information, also retrieved September 2026. All SD43.bc.ca links on this page were re-verified September 2026 after SD43 relaunched its website — the previous SharePoint-style URLs (school pages, the locator page, registration, cross-catchment) all now 404 or redirect to the SD43 homepage. This same link rot is very likely present across the rest of the school-guide pages and should be swept sitewide, not just fixed on this one. Real estate commentary is the professional opinion of Craig Johnston, REALTOR® license V99960, working under The MACNABS at Royal LePage Elite West and serving the SD43 Tri-Cities market.
Page reviewed and dated June 2026; enrolment and program details refreshed September 2026. License V99960 · BCFSA-regulated. Confirm school program details with the school office before relying on them for an enrolment decision.
A long-time Tri-Cities resident and licensed REALTOR®, Craig knows the catchment streets, the boundary risks, and the homes that come up inside the Coquitlam River Elementary catchment before they hit the public market.
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