Community Service Hours

Students must complete 40 community service hours, at any time in secondary school, as part of their Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) requirements.

Compulsory Course

This is a specific course students must take that fulfills part of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) requirements.

Course Code

This six-character code describes the subject, grade level and stream or destination of a secondary school course.

Credit

A credit value of 1.0 is granted upon successfully completing a 110-hour course with a minimum of 50%.

Culminating Activity

Students may be asked to complete a course culminating activity, which is a major project for each course.

Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO)

Literacy Test

The literacy test is written in Grade 10. A student must pass the literacy requirement to earn the OSSD. The purpose of this test is to ensure that students have acquired the essential reading and writing skills that apply to all subject areas in and up to the end of Grade 9.

Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics

The Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics provides individual and system data on student knowledge and skills based on the curriculum expectations in Grade 9 applied and academic programs. All students in these programs are required to participate.

Exams

Students may write an exam, which tests their knowledge on the entire course work, at or near the end of the semester.

Optional Courses

Students will select 12 courses that are of specific interest to them and which will count towards the 30-credit OSSD requirement.

Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD)

The Ontario Secondary School Diploma is granted after fulfilling all necessary credit, literacy and community hour requirements.

Prerequisite Course

This is a specific course students must successfully complete before taking another course at the next grade level.

Semester

The school year is divided into two semesters. A student will take four courses in each semester.

Student Success

Secondary schools have staff and programs in place to support and improve student learning.

Timetable

A timetable outlines the course, time, room number, lunch period, teacher and semester in which students will take all of their courses.