Primary and Secondary Education

Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by district school boards. Working within the framework of the Education Act and its regulations, district school boards adapt provincial education policy to local situations. They must also provide and maintain within their jurisdiction adequate teaching and support staff and appropriate facilities. Trustees, as elected members of the board, represent the local community, providing a link between electors and the education system.

In Ontario, all permanent residents between the ages of 6 and 16 must attend school. Most students continue to attend after the required period, to receive a graduation diploma in their twelfth or thirteenth year of school.

Elementary schools provide junior kindergarten and kindergarten programs (for children aged 4 and 5) and programs for grades 1 through 8. Secondary schools currently offer programs from Grade 9 through to Grade 12, as well as Ontario Academic Courses (OACs).

Students must earn a total of 30 credits (one for every 110-hour course successfully completed) to obtain a high school diploma. Eighteen of the credits are compulsory, earned in a specified number of courses from a list of subjects that every student must take. The remaining 12 credits are optional, earned in courses that the student may select from the full range of courses offered by the school. Students must also complete 40 hours of community involvement activities and must pass the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, which is taken in Grade 10. For more information on high school diploma requirements please click here.

Students planning to attend university can include the required six Ontario Academic Courses in these thirty credits. Beginning in 1999, new standards for education were introduced in high schools across the province.

All Ontario residents can take secondary school courses through distance education, either for diploma credit or for personal interest. These correspondence courses are offered by the ministry's Independent Learning Centre at www.ilc.org.

Private schools also provide elementary and secondary education. They are independently operated and do not receive funding from the government. A list of the registered private elementary and secondary schools in Ontario is available from http://mettowas21.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/privsch/

Most of Ontario's two million elementary and secondary school students study in English. About 100,000 students whose first language is French study in French.

Current policy, curriculum, and support documents are available from www.edu.gov.on.ca