How do we get in
Calgary Charter school lotteries
These Calgary Charter schools admit by lottery — a random draw among every application received inside a fixed window. There is no entrance test and no catchment.
Dates for 2027 entry run from early January to mid-February, 2027.
Verified 2026-09-11 2027 entry 5 of 15 campuses
The lottery campuses
| Campus | Closes | Draw | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEM Innovation Academy South West | Lottery draw in January | Grade 5 | |
| Connect Charter School Lewis Dr SW | Draw mid-January; package due Feb 5 | Grade 4 | |
| Calgary Girls’ School Bowmont | Offers from mid-January | Grade 4 | |
| Calgary Classical Academy North campus | Feb 2 draw, offers within days | Kindergarten | |
| Calgary Classical Academy South campus | Feb 2 draw, offers within days | Kindergarten |
How a charter lottery works
You submit an application inside a published window — typically a few weeks in the fall or early winter. When the window closes, the school draws at random from every application it received. There is no scoring, no interview for most campuses, and no advantage from where you live.
Documents come later. Connect, for example, only collects report cards, a birth certificate and a writing sample after your child has been drawn. That means the application itself is short — the work is remembering to do it.
A place on the waitlist behaves differently at each school, so the lottery is not necessarily a one-shot event. Connect carries its waitlist over year to year; Calgary Classical Academy and Calgary Girls’ School hold theirs for the school year only.
Questions about lottery admission
Does applying earlier in the window help?
No. Every application received inside the window has exactly the same odds, whether you submit on the first morning or the final afternoon. A lottery is a random draw, not a queue — this is the single most common misconception about charter admissions in Calgary, and it is the opposite of how the seven rolling-waitlist campuses work.
What are the odds of getting in?
No Calgary charter school publishes its lottery odds, so any number you see is an estimate. What is published is seat count: Connect admits 104 students into Grade 4, four classes of 26. Because entry is concentrated at one grade in most schools, demand is heaviest at that entry point and thinner in later grades.
What happens if I am not drawn?
You go on a waitlist, reapply the following year, or both — and which one applies depends on the school. Connect’s waitlist carries over from year to year, so a place in line persists. Calgary Classical Academy and Calgary Girls’ School hold waitlists for the school year only, after which you apply again from scratch.