Craig Johnston Personal Real Estate Corporation · Brokerage: Royal LePage Elite West
Middle · Maillardville · West-Central Coquitlam · SD43 Coquitlam School District
Updated October 2026 · Craig Johnston, REALTOR® V99960
A Coquitlam REALTOR®'s read on École Maillard Middle — how its English and Early French Immersion streams work, why Late FI isn't offered here, and what buying in Maillardville, Coquitlam's historic francophone neighbourhood, looks like for families.
5.0 across 36+ Google reviews Top 1% Team — Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, 2023–2025 47+ years in the Tri-CitiesQuick Answer
What should you know about Maillard Middle?
École Maillard Middle School — École Maillard Middle School is a middle school in Coquitlam, serving grades 6–8 in the Maillardville · West-Central Coquitlam area. A Maillardville dual-track middle school (English and Early French Immersion); FI students continue at École Dr. Charles Best Secondary. Address: 1300 Rochester Avenue, V3K 2X5. Phone 604-931-3574.
Verify your exact address
Check whether your address is actually inside the Maillard Middle 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.
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Catchments follow street addresses, not neighbourhood names. Browse what’s for sale in Maillardville, then confirm any address in the SD43 locator above before you book a showing. Or let me watch it for you: I’ll set up a daily MLS® alert for the streets Maillard Middle serves.
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Verified school facts · SD43
School type
Middle
Grades
6–8
District
SD43 (Coquitlam School District)
Address
1300 Rochester Avenue, Coquitlam, BC V3K 2X5
Phone
Website
Administration (2025–26)
Steven Roos (Principal)
Enrolment
370 students, School Year 2025–2026, across the Middle French Immersion continuation stream and the English stream. Confirm current-year totals with the school office.
Local representation
School Trustee: SD43 Board of Education contact → · MLA: Coquitlam-Maillardville
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
Published enrolment figures for Maillard Middle, 2025–26 school year.
Current enrolment
370 students
2025–2026 school year
Grades served
6–8
Middle French Immersion + English streams
Enrolment by grade
School Year 2025–2026
Only the Grade 7 count (124 students) is published for this school, so Grades 6 and 8 are shown as not published. Confirm current numbers with the school office.
Enrolment and per-grade figures sourced from schoolguide.vtco.app's published school profile, retrieved September 2026 (School Year 2025–2026).
What this school is best known for
Maillard is the Maillardville-area dual-track middle school — Early French Immersion plus a standard English neighbourhood program for grades 6–8. Its FI students began immersion in Kindergarten at one of SD43's Coquitlam Early FI elementaries (Nestor, Panorama Heights, Porter Street and Rochester list the program), and continue at École Dr. Charles Best Secondary, where completing FI earns a Bilingual Graduation Certificate alongside the Dogwood. SD43's school page says about 30% of Maillard students have been in immersion since Kindergarten. Maillard does not offer Late French Immersion. Families who want French to start in Grade 6 apply through SD43's Programs of Choice for Late FI at École Citadel, École Moody or École Montgomery.
Quick Answer
What should you know about École Maillard Middle School?
École Maillard Middle (1300 Rochester Avenue, Coquitlam) is an SD43 grades 6–8 dual-track school: an English neighbourhood program plus Early French Immersion continuation, with about 30% of students in immersion since Kindergarten. It does not offer Late FI — that runs at Citadel, Moody and Montgomery. FI students continue at École Dr. Charles Best. Confirm any address with the SD43 School Locator.
Programs & academic profile
Standard BC middle-school curriculum taught by subject specialists.
Music, performing arts, visual arts, technology education, home arts.
Volleyball, basketball, cross-country, track — typical SD43 middle-school program.
SD43 inclusive-education model — resource teachers, learning support, counselling.
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.
SD43 has discontinued regular bus transportation district-wide.
| Area (GVR) | Detached benchmark | Detached YoY | Townhouse benchmark | Townhouse YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maillardville | $1,625,000 | −5.4% | $683,400 | −10.1% |
| Coquitlam West | $1,634,400 | −8.6% | $1,029,900 | −9.3% |
| Central Coquitlam | $1,614,800 | −6.5% | $663,200 | −9.0% |
| Coquitlam (city-wide) | $1,584,400 | −6.6% | $976,600 | −6.4% |
Source: Greater Vancouver REALTORS® MLS® Home Price Index, September 2026. GVR sub-areas do not follow SD43 catchment lines — confirm any address with the SD43 School Locator.
Catchment, feeders & cross-catchment
Maillardville and west-central Coquitlam — Rochester Avenue corridor. The Early FI stream follows students from SD43's Early FI elementaries rather than home address.
English stream: the neighbourhood elementaries whose catchments lead to Maillard — confirm for a specific address with the SD43 School Locator. FI stream: Early FI students continuing from SD43's Coquitlam Early FI elementaries; Banting and Maillard are the two Coquitlam middle schools that continue the program, so confirm which one your child's elementary leads to.
French Immersion students continue at École Dr. Charles Best Secondary; English-stream students continue to the secondary school assigned to their home address — confirm with the SD43 School Locator.
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
Maillardville is Coquitlam's historic francophone community — French-Canadian millworkers recruited to Fraser Mills arrived in 1909, and the City describes it as having become the largest francophone centre west of Manitoba — and the City's Maillardville Neighbourhood Plan allows a mix of detached homes, small-scale ground-oriented housing, townhouses and apartments, with heritage-character areas around Laval Square. That mix means a Maillard-catchment budget can stretch from a townhouse to an older detached lot.
The verified record
École Maillard Middle serves grades 6-8 as a public School District 43 site. Its address is 1300 Rochester Ave, Coquitlam, V3K 2X5; the school office answers on 604 931-3574. Steven Roos is the principal, and 04343081 is the school's provincial code.
Those details come from the province's Student Success record for the school, cross-checked against SD43's 2025–26 school listings, which also name Harpreet Esmail as vice-principal.
Programme track
SD43 lists this school as dual-track: English and Early French Immersion. 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 gives your child priority for Maillard's English program. It does not open a seat in the French Immersion stream: at Maillard that stream continues students who began Early FI in Kindergarten, and new Grade 6 starters apply for Late FI at Citadel, Moody or Montgomery through SD43's Programs of Choice, which uses a random draw when applications exceed spaces.
If French Immersion is what you are buying for, the Maillard catchment is neither required nor enough — the Early FI elementary your child attends, or a Late FI application, decides the path. Read the district-wide immersion picture before you commit to an address.
The pathway
French Immersion students here continue at École Dr. Charles Best Secondary; English-program students move on to the secondary school assigned to their home address.
In Maillardville the elementary, middle and secondary boundaries are drawn separately, so a home near Rochester Avenue can be in Maillard's catchment for Grades 6–8 and still have its own elementary and secondary assignments to check.
English-stream students leave Maillard for the secondary assigned to their address, while FI students go to Dr. Charles Best — so a Maillardville family with one child in each stream may be planning for two different high schools. Confirm both before subjects come off.
The catchment on the ground
The catchment covers maillardville and west-central Coquitlam — Rochester Avenue corridor. The Early FI stream follows students from SD43's Early FI elementaries rather than home address.
Around Maillard you'll find older detached homes on original lots, newer townhouse projects and low-rise apartments closer to the Brunette Avenue neighbourhood centre, which the City's plan designates for higher-density mixed use. For the streets, the stock and the price bands, read best coquitlam neighborhoods for families and cariboo coquitlam guide.
GVR's Maillardville sub-area and SD43's Maillard catchment are not the same shape, so a listing labelled 'Maillardville' still needs its own locator check.
Feeder elementary schools
Lord Baden-Powell Elementary, École Nestor Elementary, École Panorama Heights Elementary and École Rochester Elementary feed into Maillard Middle. Each entry below carries the school's provincial record — principal, address, office line, grades and official school code — taken from the B.C. Ministry of Education's Student Success database rather than a directory copy. Catchment boundaries for elementary and middle are drawn separately, so confirm any boundary-edge address through SD43's locator before relying on it.
Grades K-5, public, School District 43. 450 Joyce St, Coquitlam V3K 4G4. Office 604 936-1436. Principal Mike Parkins. Provincial school code 04343034.
It offers the English program, with no French Immersion stream on site.
Catchment: Southwest Coquitlam — Joyce Street / Brunette / Lougheed area, Maillardville-adjacent.
For the housing in that footprint, read maillardville detached and maillardville neighbourhood guide.
Grades K-5, public, School District 43. 1266 Nestor St, Coquitlam V3E 2A4. Office 604 464-9422. Principal Chris Hunter. Provincial school code 04343047.
It offers both the English program and Early French Immersion. Living in the catchment gives you a place in the English program; French Immersion places are allocated through SD43’s application process.
Catchment: Westwood Plateau / north Coquitlam — Nestor Street area. The FI program is district-wide via Programs of Choice.
For the housing in that footprint, read hockaday coquitlam guide and maillardville detached.
Grades K-5, public, School District 43. 1455 Johnson St, Coquitlam V3E 2T1. Office 604 944-4840. Principal Ashif Jiwa. Provincial school code 04343048.
It offers both the English program and Early French Immersion. Living in the catchment gives you a place in the English program; French Immersion places are allocated through SD43’s application process.
Catchment: Westwood Plateau — Johnson Street area. The FI program is district-wide via Programs of Choice.
For the housing in that footprint, read moving to westwood plateau and scott creek coquitlam guide.
Grades K-5, public, School District 43. 411 Schoolhouse St, Coquitlam V3K 4Y7. Office 604 939-4624. Principal Michelle Allen-Ciolfitto. Provincial school code 04343055.
It offers both the English program and Early French Immersion. Living in the catchment gives you a place in the English program; French Immersion places are allocated through SD43’s application process.
Catchment: Maillardville / west Coquitlam — Schoolhouse Street area.
For the housing in that footprint, read best coquitlam neighborhoods for families and cariboo coquitlam guide.
No. Maillard is an Early French Immersion middle school: its FI stream continues students who started immersion in Kindergarten. SD43 offers Late French Immersion (Grade 6 entry) only at École Citadel, École Moody and École Montgomery. If your child hasn't been in immersion, the route is a Late FI application through SD43's Programs of Choice, which opens in January and uses a random draw when applications exceed spaces — living near Maillard doesn't change that.
According to the school's own SD43 page, about 30% of Maillard's students have been in an immersion program since Kindergarten; the rest are in the English program. SD43 states that roughly 80% of instruction is in French for Early FI students in grades 6–8. Maillard also offers exploration classes to all students, and those are taught in English, so FI and English-program students mix in electives.
Maillard groups students into four cohorts named Wolf, Raven, Bear and Orca, according to the school's SD43 page. Because it is dual-track, students take core classes in the language of their program — English or French — while exploration classes are offered to everyone in English. The school's stated motto is "Be Awesome! Be Your Magical Self!" For current timetables and bell times, check directly with the office at 604-931-3574.
It depends on the stream. French Immersion students continue at École Dr. Charles Best Secondary on Como Lake Avenue — SD43's two Early FI secondaries are Best and Riverside. English-program students go to the secondary school assigned to their home address, which you should confirm separately with the SD43 School Locator. A family with one child in each stream can end up planning for two different high schools.
In parts of Maillardville, yes. The City of Coquitlam's Maillardville Neighbourhood Plan sets out two heritage character areas — Laval Square and Allard-LeBleu — where new development must keep the historic block and lot patterns, and Laval Square's low-density apartment areas are limited to four or fewer units per building. Some redevelopment also requires a Heritage Revitalization Agreement. If you're buying near Maillard with renovation or redevelopment plans, I check which policy area the lot sits in before you write an offer.
There are two answers. For the English program, it's whichever neighbourhood elementary catchment your address falls in that maps to Maillard — confirm a specific address with the SD43 School Locator. For French Immersion, students arrive from SD43's Coquitlam Early FI elementaries (Nestor, Panorama Heights, Porter Street and Rochester list the program), split between Maillard and Banting. Ask the elementary office which middle school its FI students move on to.
Only if space allows. SD43's cross-catchment process runs in February for the following year and fills available seats by random draw: siblings of current students first, then SD43 residents, then out-of-district families. In-catchment students have priority, and an application doesn't guarantee approval. If Maillard's English program is the priority, buying an address inside the catchment is the dependable route.
For September 2026, Greater Vancouver REALTORS® put the Maillardville detached benchmark at $1,625,000 (−5.4% year over year) and the townhouse benchmark at $683,400. Nearby Coquitlam West benchmarked at $1,634,400 detached and Central Coquitlam at $1,614,800. Benchmarks describe a typical home, not a specific street. If you'd like help weighing a townhouse in-catchment against a detached home nearby, book a strategy call.
Continue your Coquitlam school research
Main hub
The full SD43 schools guide for the Tri-Cities.
Hub
A guide to comparing Coquitlam SD43 schools by program, grades and catchment.
Programs
Every SD43 French Immersion entry point.
Private
Independent schools serving Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam.
Sources & methodology
School facts verified against the SD43 Maillard Middle 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 (370 students, 2025–2026) and program confirmations (Middle French Immersion, Indigenous Education Support, SD43 International Student Program) are cross-referenced against schoolguide.vtco.app’s published school profile, retrieved September 2026; the Grade 7 count (124) is the only per-grade enrolment figure published there for this school — Grade 6 and Grade 8 per-grade counts were not published at the source and are not estimated here. Real estate commentary is the professional opinion of Craig Johnston, REALTOR® license V99960, working under Royal LePage Elite West and serving the SD43 Tri-Cities market.
Page reviewed and dated June 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 Maillard Middle catchment before they hit the public market.
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Maillard is two schools in one building — an English program that follows your address and an Early French Immersion stream that follows your child's elementary. I set up the search around the one that matters to you.
I start by asking whether you're buying for Maillard's English program or its Early FI stream. If your child hasn't been in immersion, I explain that Maillard won't be the FI route and that Late FI runs at Citadel, Moody or Montgomery, so we don't pay for a catchment that doesn't deliver what you want.
For each Maillardville address I check elementary, middle and secondary assignments with the SD43 School Locator, because they are drawn separately. I do it while subjects are still in place, and I keep a copy of the result with your offer paperwork.
Maillardville mixes older detached homes, townhouses and low-rise apartments, plus heritage-character pockets around Laval Square. I walk you through what the City's neighbourhood plan allows near a given home, so you know what could change on the street around you.
I compare a home's price with recent Maillardville sales and with nearby Coquitlam West and Central Coquitlam, so you can see whether you're paying a catchment premium and whether a townhouse inside the line beats a detached home just outside it.
For examples of how I've approached catchment-driven moves, read my Tri-Cities case studies — see my Tri-Cities case studies. Read the Tri-Cities case studies →
5.0 stars across 36+ verified Google reviews. Three from recent clients below.
“Craig kept me informed of the local market for a couple of years before I asked him to handle my Coquitlam sale. He laid out the strategy upfront, the listing generated a lot of interest, and we had an acceptable offer in under a month. I was stressed going in — Craig helped me overcome a lot of my anxiety. I’ve already introduced him to my sister, who plans to sell soon.”Fj Young
“Craig was there with us everyday. Guiding us to our next step we were kept informed daily sometimes multiple times a day as to what was happening… Our home sold in only 6 days with multiple offers.”Gerry & Aline Howitson
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Thinking about the move, not just the school?
If you're weighing a move into this catchment, the hard part usually isn't the school — it's the timing and the tax math: when to sell your current home, how the property-transfer-tax works on the next one, and how to buy into the right catchment without overpaying. That's the work I focus on across the Tri-Cities. Start with the move-up guide, then get a no-obligation read on what your current home could sell for today.