What about High School?

Moving to High School is a big step for young people. It truly feels like entering a whole new universe! The transition from elementary school, already made more challenging by the onset of adolescence, often brings a big wave of anxiety, excitement, and emotions that can be tough to manage.🤯

📌High school is a different world. It’s the school for big kids. It’s a new environment, a new culture, and a shift in identity — from being the oldest in elementary school to becoming a freshman in high school.

For us, as parents, and especially as immigrant parents, this stage comes with its own set of changes. Many of us didn’t attend high school in Canada ourselves, so we’re learning how it works right alongside our children.

In this post, I want to share some of the things I personally consider great about Canadian high schools… and also a few that I consider no so good😓.

Let’s start with the good things✅ :

1- Course Selection:

It’s very important to support your child during the course selection process each year. Why? ⁉Because the courses they choose will shape their educational pathway and define their future career options.

The process begins in Grade 8, when students prepare for the transition to high school and select their Grade 9 courses. From then on, around February each year, students choose their courses for the following grade. Don’t worry, I’ll explain how to navigate this process in detail in a future post! (Don’t forget to subscribe!)🙏

2- Credit System:

To earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD), students must complete 30 credits. They earn one credit for each course they successfully complete with a final grade of 50% or higher.

3- Mandatory and Optional Courses:

To graduate from high school in Ontario, students must earn 30 credits in total:  18 are mandatory, which they must complete. And 12 are optional credits, which they choose based on their interests, goals, or future career plans, from the courses available at their school.

In Ontario, the mandatory courses are:

• 4 in English (1 credit per grade)
• 3 in Mathematics (at least one in grade 11 or 12)
• 2 in Science
• 1 in Canadian History
• 1 in Canadian Geography
• 1 in the Arts
• 1 in Health and Physical Education
• 1 in French as a Second Language
• 0.5 in Career Studies
• 0.5 in Civics

The Grade 10 Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a graduation requirement as well.

The 12 optional credits offer a wide and exciting variety of subjects — from Languages, History, and Visual Arts to Construction, Business, Culinary Arts, and Automotive Mechanics, just to name a few.

What fascinates me most is the versatility of these options. Students aren’t limited to the traditional, academic education many of us grew up with. Instead, they get the chance to explore hands-on skills that are applicable to real life, whether or not they pursue post-secondary education right away.😄

Honestly, visiting a high school as a parent and stepping into an auto shop, a beauty salon, or a ceramics studio is an eye-opening experience. And just imagine how much knowledge, confidence, and real-world experience that kind of environment offers to your child. It’s not just education… it’s life preparation.

4- Semesters:

I personally think the semester system is simply wonderful! In each high school grade, students take 8 courses total, but they’re divided into 2 semesters:

• 4 courses from September to January
• 4 more courses from February to June

And why do I love it so much? ⁉ Because it gives students the chance to focus more deeply on fewer subjects at a time, which really helps reduce academic pressure and improves their ability to manage their time and workload.

5- Volunteer Hours:

To graduate from high school in Ontario, students must complete a minimum of 40 hours of volunteer work. To do so, they need to reach out to organizations that offer short-term volunteer opportunities.

The options are incredibly diverse… from helping out at a sports club or summer camp to volunteering in a library, food bank, or nursing home. This isn’t just a requirement; it’s a chance for young people to gain experience, explore their interests, and contribute to their communities in meaningful ways.

6- Counselors:

High schools also have a team of guidance counselors who support students throughout their journey. Each student is assigned a counselor who helps with:

• Course selection
• Tracking volunteer hours
• Post-secondary planning
• And any academic or personal challenges that may come up
• Continued Education:

7- Additional Courses:

Both high school students and adults have access to additional courses offered outside the regular school day. These programs are usually available through municipal education centres or newcomer support services, and they offer flexible options like evening classes, summer programs, or online learning.

These courses allow students to:

• Earn extra credits required for graduation or post-secondary programs
• Explore technical or vocational skills
• Study additional languages
• Or even recover a credit if needed

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And what is not so good about the system?😓

Based on my experience, after walking this path with both of my children through elementary and high school, I’ve noticed some particularities of the system that, while well-intentioned, can create limitations or even frustration if our children (and us) don’t receive the right support:

1- One of the biggest challenges is that the course system somehow forces young people to define a career path when many of them are not ready, either cognitively or emotionally, for such a big decision.

Let me explain. By Grade 10, students must choose the courses they’ll take in Grade 11, and these courses determine whether they can apply to college or university programs in certain fields. So, essentially, a 15-year-old needs to make a choice that will shape their future career path.😲

But what are the chances that a 15-year-old knows what he wants in life? It is quite probable that he can’t even decide between white or blue shoes! So, by the time this young person is 18 or 19 years old and discovers what he really likes (say, becoming an ‘Engineer’), and realizes he did not take the Physics courses he needed back in Grade 10 and 11, that is when the frustration kicks in.  For both kid and parent!

2- Some courses in Grade 11 and 12 require prerequisites from Grade 9 or 10. As mentioned before, so often they are unsure of their career plans, and we’re talking about decisions made by kids 14 or 15, who simply don’t have the maturity and lack of information they need. And by the time they realize what they want, it can be inconvenience when pursuing a specific professional path.

3- It is very common for students in high school and elementary, the need to resort to private tutoring in certain subjects, especially Math and Sciences. Some High schools do offer peer tutoring programs, however, in many cases, we need to turn to private tutors to get the extra support for our children.

4- One thing I find surprising is students do not receive any kind of vocational assessment to help guide their career choices. That means it is our responsibility, as parents, to support them selecting their right path⁉.

Now, when you are like me, an immigrant who didn’t attend to high school in Canada (or college nor university), this system can be just as confusing and overwhelming for you as it is for your child. Even if we think we know our children and have a sense of their abilities, strengths or talents, that may be not enough to guide them with the precision and confidence they need.

In our particular case, we decided to hire a private career counselor to assist us in the process, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier with that decision! These professionals will conduct psychological and aptitude tests to create that path and educational plan, will map out a plan and will support students and parents throughout the whole process: from the course selection, recommendations, colleges and universities visits, to the application process itself.

If you are considering this option, I highly recommend starting as early as Grade 8 or 9 for better results.

For more information, I invite you to read my post “Set your kids for a smooth and successful transition after High School“.

5- High school courses in Ontario are labeled with categories and codes.  If you are not familiar with these codes, it can very easily complicate your child’s educational plan in the future.

For example, the courses that prepare for university, have the letter ‘U’ in their code; the courses that prepare for college, have the letter ‘C’; while the courses with the letter ‘M’ are Mixed.  If your child wants to apply to university, they must have completed their required credits in courses with the letter ‘U’. We also have categories of Academic courses, Applied courses, and Coop courses, which prepare for technical careers.

My conclusion

As you can see, the positive aspects of the system far outweigh the challenges. So, what do I recommend? 📌Get involved!  Dive into the process, do your research, and take full advantage of the resources available to you. The more you understand how the system works, the better equipped you’ll be to support your children and help them make the most of their high school experience.

One great place to start is Settlement.org, where you’ll find detailed information about secondary schools in Ontario and much more.

And of course, if you want to continue learning about the education system in Canada, always from a parent’s perspective, I invite you to keep reading on my blog and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any of my new posts!.

Good luck, and may God bless you!💗

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