Pinetree Secondary (Coquitlam): Catchment Buyer Guide

The school, in plain English

Pinetree Secondary opened in 1996 at 3000 Pinewood Avenue, Coquitlam, BC V3B 7Y7: a newer SD #43 secondary relative to Centennial (1950s-era) and Port Moody Secondary, sited to serve the build-out of Coquitlam Town Centre and Westwood Plateau. The Evergreen Extension SkyTrain (Lafarge Lake–Douglas Station, in service December 2016) reinforced the corridor a generation later. SD #43 (Coquitlam) serves Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore, and Belcarra. Verify live administrator details on sd43.bc.ca.

Programmes: Honours, Advanced Placement, Cisco, and where IB runs

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. Pinetree does not run it. School District 43’s IB Diploma Programme is at Port Moody Secondary, which has offered it since 1986: a two-year curriculum covering Grades 11 and 12, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization, with six subject groups, Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay, and Creativity, Activity, Service. Admission is by application, so a Pinetree-catchment student who wants the Diploma applies to Port Moody Secondary. A premium paid for a Pinetree-catchment home buys no IB access.

Honours and Advanced Placement. Pinetree’s programs of choice include Honours and Advanced Placement courses. Verify the current course list on the school’s programs-of-choice page (sd43.bc.ca/pinetree).

Cisco Networking Academy. The Pinetree Cisco Networking Academy is the school’s other program of choice.

French Immersion. Pinetree does not run French Immersion, and it has no mini school. Families committed to a French Immersion pathway through Grade 12 should check which SD #43 secondaries offer it for their year of entry.

Athletics + arts. Pinetree carries significant athletic and arts programmes, meaningful for families considering the school on quality-of-life grounds beyond academics.

Catchment: Town Centre, Westwood Plateau, and Burke Mountain to check

• Coquitlam Town Centre: the high-density mixed-use Evergreen-Line-anchored core around Lafarge Lake–Douglas Station, with new-construction condo and townhouse inventory layered onto the existing single-family edges. See the Coquitlam Town Centre neighbourhood guide.
• Westwood Plateau: the established detached-dominant master-planned plateau community north and west of Coquitlam Town Centre. See the Westwood Plateau neighbourhood guide.
• Burke Mountain: the ongoing new-construction build-out at the city’s northeast corner. Check the catchment for each address. SD #43 is building Burke Mountain Secondary, planned for fall 2027, and boundaries can change when it opens. See the Burke Mountain neighbourhood guide.

SD #43 catchment maps are reviewed periodically. Always pull the live map for the specific address before paying a Pinetree-catchment premium: not a 2024 map, not a 2023 map, the live one.

Feeder pattern: middle + elementary

SD #43 uses a Grade 6–8 middle-school structure, so the secondary feeder math runs through middle school. The principal Pinetree feeders (subject to live SD #43 boundary verification, since each edge has moved across past reviews) are below.

Pinetree vs. Centennial vs. Heritage Woods vs. Port Moody

• Pinetree Secondary (3000 Pinewood Avenue, Coquitlam). Honours and Advanced Placement courses, and the Pinetree Cisco Networking Academy. Not an IB Diploma school. Catchment: Coquitlam Town Centre and Westwood Plateau.
• Centennial Secondary (570 Poirier Street, Coquitlam). Runs the Advanced Placement (AP) programme as its accelerated stream: an à-la-carte course-by-course model where students take individual AP courses and write the corresponding May AP exams for college credit. One of SD #43’s longest-established secondaries.
• Heritage Woods Secondary (1300 David Avenue, Port Moody). Strong locally-designed Honours / accelerated streams, particularly in sciences. Does not run the IB Diploma Programme. Catchment is Port Moody / Anmore / Belcarra-leaning.
• Port Moody Secondary (Port Moody). SD #43’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme school, offering it since 1986. Two-year curriculum covering Grades 11 and 12. Application-based.

The right school depends on which programme model fits the student. Catchment and programme access are different decisions: many SD #43 advanced streams are application-based and accept students from outside the school’s catchment. Confirm both the live boundary AND the application path.

Real-estate impact: the catchment-pricing read

Pinetree’s catchment is one of the meaningful family-buyer pulls across Coquitlam Town Centre and Westwood Plateau, alongside Evergreen Line SkyTrain access, the Coquitlam Centre amenity base and the Westwood Plateau detached supply. The premium is real but compounds with those factors and is not isolatable from a single school. Four practitioner checks before paying it:

1. Pull the live SD #43 catchment map for the specific address.
2. Price no IB access into a Pinetree-catchment home; SD #43’s Diploma is at Port Moody Secondary.
3. For French Immersion, look beyond Pinetree; it does not run the programme.
4. For Burke Mountain, confirm the lot’s catchment today, and ask how Burke Mountain Secondary, planned for fall 2027, changes it.

Frequently asked questions

• Does Pinetree run the IB Diploma Programme?

  No. School District 43's International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme runs at Port Moody Secondary, which has offered it since 1986. It is a two-year programme covering Grades 11 and 12, and admission is by application, not catchment. A Pinetree-catchment student who wants the Diploma applies for a seat at Port Moody Secondary. The application timeline and eligibility are on sd43.bc.ca and change year to year.

• Are Burke Mountain lots in the Pinetree Secondary catchment?

  Check the address; this page cannot say. SD #43 is building Burke Mountain Secondary, a new combined middle and secondary school on the mountain, with planned completion in fall 2027 according to the district's capital projects page. Catchments for Burke Mountain lots can change when it opens. Pull the live SD #43 catchment for the specific address before paying a Pinetree-catchment premium.

• What is the buyer-pricing impact of the Pinetree catchment?

  Pinetree's catchment is one of the meaningful family-buyer pulls for Coquitlam Town Centre and Westwood Plateau, alongside Evergreen Line SkyTrain access and the Coquitlam Centre amenity base. The catchment premium is real, but it compounds with those factors and is not isolatable from a single school. Verify the live SD #43 boundary for the specific address and price the home on its property fundamentals. The catchment does not carry IB access: SD #43's Diploma is at Port Moody Secondary.

• Pinetree vs. Centennial vs. Heritage Woods: which SD 43 advanced-program school is right?

  SD #43 runs its IB Diploma at Port Moody Secondary, not Pinetree; Centennial Secondary (570 Poirier Street, Coquitlam) runs the Advanced Placement (AP) programme as its accelerated stream, not IB; and Heritage Woods Secondary (1300 David Avenue, Port Moody) is known for Honours / accelerated streams and a strong sciences track but does not run the IB Diploma Programme. Different programme models: IB's two-year integrated curriculum, AP's à-la-carte course model, or Heritage Woods's locally-designed accelerated streams. Catchment and programme access are separate decisions: many SD #43 advanced streams are application-based and accept students from outside the school's catchment.

• What programmes of choice does Pinetree run?

  Honours and Advanced Placement courses, and the Pinetree Cisco Networking Academy, according to the school's programs-of-choice page on sd43.bc.ca. Pinetree does not run a mini school, French Immersion or the IB Diploma; SD #43's IB Diploma is at Port Moody Secondary.

• Does Pinetree offer French Immersion?

  No. Pinetree does not run French Immersion. Families committed to a French Immersion pathway through Grade 12 should check which SD #43 secondaries offer it for their year of entry on sd43.bc.ca.

• When did Pinetree Secondary open?

  Pinetree Secondary opened in 1996 at 3000 Pinewood Avenue, Coquitlam, BC V3B 7Y7: a newer SD #43 secondary relative to Centennial (1950s-era) and Port Moody Secondary. The 1996 opening date tracks the build-out of Coquitlam Town Centre and Westwood Plateau; the school was sited specifically to serve the family-housing growth that the SkyTrain corridor and Coquitlam Centre had begun pulling into the area.

What to read next

• · Coquitlam Town Centre neighbourhood guide: the Evergreen-Line-anchored core feeding Pinetree
• · Westwood Plateau neighbourhood guide: the detached-dominant plateau feeding Pinetree
• · Burke Mountain neighbourhood guide: the new-construction build-out + boundary-review caveat
• · BC Property Transfer Tax: bracket schedule + worked examples
• · Property Transfer Tax calculator: model the line item for a Coquitlam offer
• · BC Real Estate Codex: primary-source-cited reference