StudyPug Learning has 25 years behind it and has helped nearly 10,000 students reach the results they wanted. 2025-2026 results: 54 private school offers (over the same period, 212 Canadian university, 65 US, 168 scholarships).
The hard part of a private school application is rarely a single form. It is the timing. Most private schools in Greater Vancouver open next year's application after school starts in September and publish their required materials then — but the work that decides the outcome, the grades, the SSAT score, the activity record and the one thing that makes an essay memorable, has to be built a year or two before that. StudyPug Learning's private school prep puts SSAT preparation, entrance-exam preparation, essay guidance and interview preparation on one timeline and works through it with you, stage by stage.
A private school application is not a deadline you file against. It is a plan you work backwards from. The order does not change:
What the parent gets: a timeline with dates on it, instead of advice to start early.
Grade range: families applying to private school from JK through Grade 12. That range spans every card below — the widest card sets the page's range.
Split by entry year: applicants for JK to Grade 3 are usually assessed by the school itself; applicants for Grade 4 and up are usually asked for an SSAT score. A minority of schools ask for both.
Typical situations: you have a shortlist but do not know what to prepare first; your child does well at school and is meeting a standardized test for the first time; the open-ended questions on the application form (the student statement and the parent statement) are a blank page; you are already at the interview stage.
Service range: the planning and applications team works in age bands, covering early years through secondary, secondary through university, and university through employment (K-12-University).
Focus: Built around what the SSAT actually tests - vocabulary, reading, writing and mathematics, each part taken apart in turn, with mathematics split into algebra and geometry. Registration, preparation and exam day are handled from end to end.
Who it's for: Applicants for Grade 4 and up, the band where most private schools ask for an SSAT score.
The edge: Our private school applications team recommends starting the SSAT at least 1 year ahead. The parts families have not done before - registration, pacing, sitting the test - are run by a teacher who has, and it continues on the same track as entrance and standardized exam prep.
Focus: Built around what each school's own assessment covers - in-house assessment, school assessment or placement exam, depending on the school. Two broad parts, English and mathematics: reading, letter recognition and drawing at the youngest entry points, moving up to vocabulary, reading comprehension and calculation.
Who it's for: Applicants for JK to Grade 3, where the school normally sets its own assessment, and applicants asked for both a school assessment and an SSAT score.
The edge: The content shifts sharply by entry year, so we align to the target school's own range for that year before the first lesson. English and mathematics are taken by the English tutoring and math tutoring teams - grades are part of the application file in their own right.
Focus: The open-ended questions in each school's application form, worked question by question. The student statement and the parent statement are handled separately, and each goes through at least 4-5 rounds of review and polish before it is submitted.
Who it's for: Applicants from Grade 5 and up usually answer the student statement themselves. The parent statement is written by every applying family.
The edge: The answers are not written in isolation. They are threaded into one story, built on the student's own character and strengths - which is what makes an admissions officer want to meet the applicant and offer the interview.
Focus: The timing is fixed: interviews normally fall in December to January and after, and the family interview date is one of the key dates on the whole application calendar.
Who it's for: Students and families who have submitted and reached the interview stage.
The edge: The interview and the essay are the same story told twice. Whatever the essay puts forward, the student has to be able to say out loud - and that is what the sessions rehearse.
What the parent gets: all four modules deliver something clear and measurable - a higher SSAT score, a defined revision range for the entrance exam, an application essay taken through 4-5 rounds of revision, and a set of interview answers the student can deliver fluently.
Format: across StudyPug Learning's tutoring as a whole: both online and in-person are offered, in-person at our local centre and online from home; 1-on-1 lessons run online over Zoom; and group sizes are deliberately kept small so every student gets to speak.
Two tracks, counted separately: SSAT preparation and subject tutoring in English and mathematics sit on the tutoring track. Admission consulting, essay guidance and interview coaching sit on the consulting track. The free first assessment applies to SSAT and subject tutoring only. The consulting, essay and interview services do not include a free assessment.
Learning platform: between lessons, students review the same material at home on the StudyPug learning platform. The StudyPug online learning platform has served millions of students and is used by school districts across Canada.
SSAT Math Teacher
SSAT Math Teacher
SSAT English Teacher
SSAT English Teacher
Parent meetings: we invite parents to regular parent meetings and report back on how the student is doing, what they have covered, and where the private school plan and application stand.
Progress reports: across StudyPug Learning's tutoring as a whole, tutors write a monthly progress report for parents, sent at the start of each month.
Timeline checkpoints: after submission there are still supplementary documents to send, including the latest report card, and an outcome to track — January onward. The team stays on those too.
Platform record: practice history on the StudyPug learning platform is visible to parents at any time.
What the parent gets: every update maps to a specific checkpoint on the timeline, not to a general reassurance.
Whether you are just starting to look at schools or your child is already preparing for the SSAT and the interview, we can pick up the timeline where you are - and our private school applications and test-prep team will map out the next step.
Book an SSAT or academic-readiness assessment. Book an assessment
Private school applications run to fixed dates: preparation for the following year's application usually starts in September, the SSAT and similar exams run September to December, application material goes in from November to January, and entrance exams and interviews follow from December.
Whether you are just starting to look at schools or your child is already preparing for the SSAT and the interview, we can pick up the timeline where you are — and our private school applications and test-prep team will map out the next step. The first assessment is free for SSAT and subject tutoring only; consulting, essay and interview services do not include a free assessment.
Call us at 604-288-8081 or email contact@studypuglearning.com. Visit us at 5831 Cedarbridge Way #102, Richmond, BC V6X 2A8.
