If you are researching Canadian public schooling for a child who will study from overseas, Limestone District School Board in Kingston, Ontario is a district worth a close look. Running the region’s only fully inclusive public school system, it serves more than 20,500 students in 55 schools and 5 alternative education centres across Kingston and surrounding townships, and its International Education department manages enrolment, homestay, custodianship and insurance for international students. This guide pulls together what international families need to know — programmes, entry requirements, costs and the application support — from the board website (limestone.on.ca) and its International Education site (internationaled.limestone.on.ca) as of 5 August 2026.
Limestone District School Board at a Glance
Limestone District School Board (莱蒙斯东公立教育局) is a public school board based in Kingston, Ontario, covering roughly 7,719 square kilometres that take in the City of Kingston, the Frontenac townships, Loyalist, Stone Mills, the Frontenac Islands and the Town of Greater Napanee. All of its schools follow the Ontario curriculum, and programming across the district includes Full-Day Kindergarten, French Immersion, International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, Focus Programs, Specialist High Skills Major, Co-operative Education, Dual Credits and the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program.
International students are handled by the board’s own International Education department, based at 153 Van Order Drive, Room 109, Kingston, ON K7M 1B9. The department runs the admissions, the homestay network and day-to-day support, and its website is the single official channel for programme and application information. Because the department is part of the board rather than an outside organisation, homestay coordinators are board employees with regular access to schools and counsellors — something the site highlights as the advantage of its internal homestay model.
Programmes for International Students
Limestone District School Board hosts international students from Grades 7 to 12. The Full-Year School Program runs 10 months: students begin in September and finish at the end of June. Schools operate on two semesters — Semester I from early September to the end of January, Semester II from early February to the end of June — with four classes per day (roughly 8:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.) and a maximum of eight courses in a 10-month period. Holidays include a two-week break at the end of December and a one-week break in mid-March, with formal exams at the end of each semester.
For students aiming at the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD), the requirements are 30 credits, 40 hours of volunteer work in Canada and a pass on the Ontario Literacy Test. The site is candid about the timeline: students who want the OSSD followed by a Canadian college or university place should normally plan for at least two full academic years to build the English and credit base. The One-Semester School Program (5 months) is the shorter option — four credits in one semester, with full access to school teams, clubs and activity trips.
Beyond the academic year, the department has offered an August English Language Prep programme (about 15 students, materials included) to get new arrivals used to colloquial and academic English before September, and describes a 2-week short-stay model with half-day English instruction and city exploration, including an overnight trip to Niagara Falls, Historic Fort Henry and Ottawa. Note that the site currently states summer programmes are on pause while a new model is developed.
Secondary Schools and Their Offerings
Several of Limestone District School Board’s secondary schools host international students, and the International Education site lists them with enrolment and programme details. Bayridge Secondary School (about 575 students, Grades 9 to 12, 45 international students) offers ESL Levels A–E and AP Math. Loyalist CVI (about 650 students, Grades 7 to 12, 45 international students) has ESL A–E, AP courses in math, English, science and French, and academies in film studies, culinary arts, hair design and creative arts. Frontenac Secondary School (about 875 students, Grades 9 to 12, 10 international students) offers French Immersion and AP Math. Kingston Secondary School (about 975 students, Grades 9 to 12, 10 international students) combines French Immersion with the IB Diploma Program. LaSalle Secondary School (about 650 students, Grades 7 to 12, 10 international students) runs the Duke of Edinburgh Program, LINKS, an Emergency Response Academy and MSIP. Napanee District Secondary School (about 950 students, Grades 9 to 12, 5 international students) and Sydenham High School (about 750 students, Grades 9 to 12, 5 international students) both feature Focus and Innovation programs. International students are integrated into mainstream Canadian classes rather than separated into a parallel stream.
Entry Requirements and Application Support
Entry at Limestone District School Board starts with the online application through the True North portal. Every applicant then schedules a short, informal interview with programme staff by phone, Zoom, FaceTime, WeChat or WhatsApp — the site frames it as a conversation for the family to learn about Kingston and for staff to pass academic information to the schools. There is no published minimum English score on the official pages; language support is built into the programme through ESL Levels A–E at the schools that offer them.
The official Letter of Acceptance (LOA) is issued only after the accepted applicant pays a minimum of the first semester’s tuition and homestay fees plus ancillary fees. The LOA is the document used for the Canadian study permit. Students are assigned to a school based on their homestay address in Kingston, so the homestay search and school placement happen together after the initial fees are received.
Health insurance is compulsory in practice: students staying in a Limestone homestay must purchase insurance through the International Education Office, and the site recommends its partner plan, Guard Me, for full coverage. For minors, international students under 18 living and studying in Canada without a parent must declare a legal custodian who lives in Ontario; the board itself provides legal custodianship for students who have no such person in Canada.
Costs and Homestay
The Fees page of Limestone District School Board’s International Education site does not publish a unified tuition price list — it states that the full list of prices and programmes is provided on request, so current tuition must be confirmed from the latest official pages and the offer stage. The one published cost benchmark is homestay: the fee for 2025-2026 is $1,075 CAD per month, paid to the International Education Office and passed tax-free to the host family each month. Students with specific dietary needs (vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, or food allergies) pay an additional monthly premium and need pre-acceptance before applying. The board does not offer a dormitory.
Budget planning should therefore treat tuition as unpublished-online and confirmable at offer, homestay as the $1,075 CAD monthly benchmark for 2025-2026 (subject to change), plus the ancillary fees, the application-stage first-semester payment, health insurance, flights and personal expenses. All figures and requirements change year to year, so the official pages remain the authoritative source.
Application Timeline and Study Permit Pathway
The study-permit rules set the pace. Students intending to study in Canada for more than six months must apply for a Canadian study permit before coming (processing ranges from a couple of weeks to many months depending on the home country); nationals who are not visa-exempt need a TRV to enter, while visa-exempt nationals can enter with an eTA, and the site notes some students arrive on an eTA and apply for a study permit after landing. The board’s own arrival pages give concrete anchors for the 2026-2027 year: classes start September 2, 2026; the free airport-transport arrival window is August 28–31, 2026; orientation is September 1; Semester II arrivals run January 29–30, 2027 with school starting February 1, 2027. Toronto (YYZ) and Montreal (YUL) are each about a 2.5-hour drive from Kingston and Ottawa (YOW) about 1.5 hours; outside the free window a private driver is $450 one-way with request and approval.
A practical takeaway: Limestone District School Board combines a mid-sized Ontario public district with a fully in-house international programme — school placement is tied to homestay location, entry is interview-based without a published English minimum, and the published fee anchor is the monthly homestay charge rather than tuition. All facts in this guide come from limestone.on.ca and internationaled.limestone.on.ca as of 5 August 2026; fees, availability and dates change, so check the latest official pages before committing. If you would like help mapping your child’s grade, English level and budget against Limestone District School Board’s programmes and the wider Ontario public school landscape, our advisers can talk through the options with you.