Starting high school is an exciting time--you'll have many new opportunities and new challenges. Throughout high school, you'll be working with your parents and teachers to help you make your course selections. Based on your interests and career aspirations, you will choose the courses that you need to progress towards your diploma and your future goals.

• Earn at least 30 credits (18 compulsory credits plus at least 12 additional optional credits)
• Complete 40 hours of community involvement activities
• Successfully meet the secondary school literacy graduation requirement

• 4 English (one per grade)
• 3 Mathematics (at least one in gr. 11 or 12)
• 2 Science
• 1 Canadian Geography
• 1 Canadian History
• 1 Arts
• 1 Health and Physical Education
• 1 French as a second language
• 0.5 Civics
• 0.5 Career Studies
• 1 additional credit in English, or French as a second language, or a Native language, or a classical  or international language, or social sciences and the humanities, or Canadian and world studies, or guidance and career education, or cooperative education*
• 1 additional credit in health and physical education, or the arts, or business studies, or cooperative education*
• 1 additional credit in science, or technological education, or cooperative education*

(* a maximum of 2 credits in cooperative education can count as compulsory credits)

Students must earn at least 12 additional optional credits by successfully completing courses that they have selected from the courses listed as available in the school course calendar.

Students must complete a minimum of 40 hours of community involvement activities during their years in the secondary school program. This requirement is completed outside normal instructional hours in a variety of settings. Students may not fulfill this requirement through activities that are counted towards a credit, through paid work, or by assuming duties normally performed by a paid employee.  For more information, please visit the Community Involvement page of this website.

The purpose of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is to ensure that students have acquired the essential reading and writing skills that apply to all subject areas in the provincial curriculum up to the end of Grade 9. All students who are working toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma are required to write the OSSLT in Grade 10. Students who have been eligible to write the OSSLT at least twice and have been unsuccessful at least once are eligible to fulfill the requirements through the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC). Successful completion of the OSSLT or the OSSLC is a graduation requirement. For more information visit the EQAO website.

The Ontario Secondary School Certificate will be granted on request to students who leave school before earning the Ontario Secondary School Diploma, provided that they have earned a minimum of 14 credits distributed as follows:

• 7 compulsory credits (see below)
• 7 additional optional credits by successfully completing courses that they have selected from the courses listed as available in the school course calendar.

Students who leave school before fulfilling the requirements for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma or the Ontario Secondary School Certificate may be granted a Certificate of Accomplishment. The Certificate of Accomplishment may be a useful means of recognizing achievement for students who plan to take certain vocational programs or other kinds of further training, or who plan to find employment after leaving school.

• DSBN Secondary School Course Calendar
• Ontario Ministry of Education - Curriculum Information
• Independent Learning Centre (distance education)
• People for Education
• Secondary School Information for Newcomers & ESL Students