Margaret Jenkins Elementary Catchment Homes, from Fairfield to South Oak Bay

About Margaret Jenkins Elementary

École Margaret Jenkins Elementary is a dual-track English and French Immersion school at 1824 Fairfield Road, in what the school calls the heart of Victoria’s historic Fairfield district. Provincial school records list it as a Kindergarten to Grade 5 school in School District 61 (Greater Victoria).

Classes began in 1913 in a small two-room building, a free-standing annex that still stands behind the main school, and the main building opened in 1914. The school was named for Margaret Jenkins, a Victoria school trustee whom the Victoria Heritage Foundation identifies as the first woman elected to the city’s school board, in 1897. Additions came in 1956, 1963 and 1973, a seismic upgrade followed in 2008-09, and the site is on the City of Victoria heritage register.

Margaret Jenkins belongs to the Oak Bay family of schools, so even its City of Victoria addresses feed to Oak Bay High School. On the district’s pathway chart, English-program students continue to Monterey Middle School, while Early French Immersion students go to Lansdowne Middle School before Oak Bay High.

Programs and Learning

Two parallel streams share the building, with extracurriculars offered by teachers and parents as time allows. Details change from year to year, so confirm current offerings with the school.

Parents and School Community

The ÉMJS Parent Advisory Council organizes a monthly hot lunch program from October to May to raise money for the school, alongside other fundraising and a roster of volunteer parent drivers for field trips. Weekly family emails carry school news and PAC updates.

The school also takes part in 1000 x 5, a Greater Victoria children’s book-recycling project whose goal is 1,000 books by age five; families drop children’s books into a pink bin in the office, and volunteers sort the donations each week for homes across the region.

Living Within the Margaret Jenkins Catchment

This catchment straddles two municipalities. On the Victoria side it covers most of Fairfield East, from the Ross Bay waterfront up through the streets around the school, plus the eastern part of Rockland. East of Foul Bay Road, the boundary between Victoria and Oak Bay, it takes in the Gonzales area, including the waterfront streets around King George Terrace, and much of South Oak Bay out toward McNeill Bay. The map search follows the district’s published elementary catchment map, simplified, so homes right on the edge may fall on either side; check an exact address with the district.

Fairfield East is mostly detached houses on established lots, many from the early 1900s, while the Oak Bay side ranges from 1920s and 1930s character homes to large houses near the shoreline. Condos and townhomes are relatively scarce, and about ten current listings carry build years of 2024 or later, some of them not yet complete. Neighbouring catchments include Sir James Douglas to the west and Sundance-Bank Elementary to the north.

At the start of November 2026 there were nearly 80 homes listed inside the catchment, split almost evenly between Victoria and Oak Bay addresses. Detached houses dominated, with about 54 listings from roughly $1 million to $6.5 million and a median near $2.5 million; townhomes (about $550,000 to $1.7 million) and condos (about $360,000 to $1.3 million) were the entry points. One listing sits far outside that range: a multi-acre Oak Bay land offering at $52.5 million, which on its own pushes the catchment’s average asking price well above what a typical home costs. The map shows the English catchment only; the French Immersion stream draws on a separately drawn district catchment with its own registration window.

A property’s address inside these boundaries does not by itself guarantee a place at Margaret Jenkins Elementary. Catchment boundaries, registration rules and program admission can change, and some programs depend on capacity. Buyers should confirm the current catchment and registration status with School District 61 (Greater Victoria) before relying on school access as part of a real-estate decision. Compare other catchments on the Greater Victoria schools page.