separate school

noun

A publicly funded school with constitutional status in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan and statutory status in Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, and operated by a school board, headed by trustees, and separate from the public school system.

Meanings

nounseparate school (plural separate schools)

plural separate schools

  1. CanadaA publicly funded school with constitutional status in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan and statutory status in Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, and operated by a school board, headed by trustees, and separate from the public school system.

    Both the separate schools and the nonsectarian public schools were and are administered by either a department or ministry of education with control over curriculum, teacher training and certification, special programs and inspection.

    1999, James H. Marsh, The Canadian Encyclopedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia, →ISBN, page 2141
    1. CanadaOntarioA publicly-funded school that falls under the constitutional definition, historically implemented only for Roman Catholics, but has been provided for Protestants since the secularization of the public school system during the 1980s.
    2. CanadaAlberta and SaskatchewanA publicly funded school provided for Roman Catholics or Protestants, whichever is considered a minority in a public school jurisdiction.

Translations

French école séparée
  • école séparéetype of school in Canada
Cite this entry
APA

separate school. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/separate%20school

MLA

“separate school.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/separate%20school. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “separate school,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/separate%20school.

Source: separate school on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.