Upper School

Explore Upper School

Go Beyond Learning. Choose an Immersive Experience.

Ridley College offers a unique opportunity for students from Grade 9 to 12 to learn the way they want to learn. Students are empowered to guide their own learning, discover and pursue their passions, and persevere through challenges.

—Juan, Entered Ridley as a Grade 10 student

“Before I came here I did not know how to study on my own. Everything I needed to know I memorized. Once I came to Ridley I learned to understand the subjects and learned how to teach myself. Ridley has not only prepared me academically, but made me more mature. Before coming here, I didn’t know how to fly alone. I didn’t know how to make a bed or how to do laundry. These are basic little things that Ridley has you do that makes a person more mature and prepares them for the real world."

A Positive Education

Our efforts to inspire flourishing lives leverage evidence-based research in positive psychology, Visible WellbeingTM and the principles of the PERMA-V model of psychological well-being and happiness:

P: Positive emotion
E: Engagement
R: Relationships
M: Meaning
A: Accomplishments
V: Vitality

Based on this science, Ridley equips Upper School students to deal with the daily demands of life and learning by creating an environment that:
  • Generates positive emotions
  • Practices mindfulness
  • Builds on strengths not deficits
  • Models grit and resilience
  • Nurtures positive relationships
  • Encourages goal setting and accomplishments
  • Fuels our vitality

List of 4 items.

  • Individualized Learning

    Our learner-centred and inquiry-based education, combined with our curriculum and the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme, offers our Upper School students a unique, individualized approach to learning. That approach is built on critical thinking, dialogue, analysis, and immersive exploration of the ideas that will transform our globe.

  • Co-curricular Activities

    Ridley students are encouraged to balance their academic lives by participating in a variety of co-curricular activities in the arts, athletics, leadership, and community service. We offer a selection of more than 75 co-curricular activities.
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  • Physical Literacy for Flourishing Lives

    Our athletic programmes are structured to provide the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to develop physical literacy and value and engage in physical activities for life.
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  • Creative Pursuits

    To complement development of mind and body, our arts programme is designed to inspire students to develop their inner muse by igniting passions they didn’t know they had. Students have the opportunity to explore their creativity and skills in drama and music, as well as the visual, digital, and spoken arts.
P.O. Box 3013, 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C3 Canada 905 684 1889
With more than 700 students from 60 countries, the largest boarding programme in Ontario and the third largest in Canada, Ridley College is a truly international, co-educational, day and boarding school of the world that prepares students for the world. It has provided enriching learning and life-shaping experiences focused on the arts, academics, and athletics since 1889. Ridley’s Lower School offers JK-Grade 8, its Upper School consists of Grade 9-PG, and Ridley graduates attend some of the top universities and colleges around the world. Ridley is the only   co-ed independent boarding school in Canada and one of only three in North America authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum programme.