1. Why this matters

Authentic learning requires honesty, responsibility and independent thought. To assess a student's knowledge and skills accurately under the Ministry of Education's Growing Success policy, all submitted work must be the student's own.

The purpose of this policy is not only to set rules. It is to teach proper research, citation and ethical digital citizenship, which students carry into postsecondary study and into work.

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2. What is prohibited

• Plagiarism. Taking another person's ideas, words, data or creative work and presenting it as your own without proper citation. This includes copying from websites, books or other students, and purchasing pre-written work.
• Contract cheating. Submitting work produced in whole or in part by another person, including a paid service.
• Cheating. Using unauthorised aids, materials or devices during an examination, quiz or assessment, or sharing answers with other students.
• Unauthorised collaboration. Working with other students on an individual assignment or assessment without the teacher's express permission.
• Misuse of generative artificial intelligence. Submitting work generated by an artificial intelligence tool as your own, except where the teacher has expressly permitted its use for a defined purpose and the student has disclosed it.
• Self-plagiarism. Submitting the same piece of work for credit in more than one course without the prior approval of both teachers.
• Credential misuse. Sharing account credentials, allowing another person to access the portal as the student, or sitting an assessment on another student's behalf.
• Examination security. Obtaining or distributing examination content, or attempting to circumvent the proctoring controls.

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3. Responsibilities

Students

• Ensure that all submitted coursework, projects and examinations are your own original work.
• Cite all sources properly, using the format requested by the teacher.
• Protect your portal login credentials so that no one else can submit work in your name.
• Ask the teacher for guidance if you are unsure how to cite a source or whether a resource is permitted.

Teachers and administration

• Give clear instructions on assignment expectations and on which resources are acceptable.
• Teach and model proper citation within the course.
• Use the originality checking available in the portal to review submitted work.
• Investigate every suspected case fairly, promptly and transparently, and record the outcome.

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4. How the school verifies that work is the student's own

The assigned Ontario Certified Teacher reviews drafts and staged submissions across the session, compares submitted work with the student's forum contributions and prior work, discusses the work with the student during the weekly individual contact, and administers the final evaluation under proctoring with identity verification.

Where the teacher has a concern, the teacher may require the student to discuss the work, or to complete a supervised task on the same material, before the work is evaluated.

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5. Consequences

Consequences are progressive. They take account of the student's grade, maturity, the nature of the task, the circumstances, and whether the conduct is repeated. The response is decided by the teacher in consultation with the Principal.

First or minor incident

• The teacher discusses the incident with the student so that the student understands what was wrong.
• The student redoes the task, or completes an equivalent task, under supervision.
• The incident is recorded and the parent or guardian of a student under 18 is informed.

Serious or repeated incident

• A mark of zero may be recorded for the task, with the parent or guardian informed.
• The matter is reported to the Principal, and a meeting is held with the student and, for a student under 18, the parent or guardian.
• Continued enrolment may be made conditional on agreed undertakings.

Severe or chronic dishonesty

• Failure of the course, and referral under the Code of Conduct and Safe Schools Policy, which may lead to removal from the course.
• Any refund arising from removal is governed by the school's Financial and Refund Policy and is separate from the academic consequence.

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6. Appeals

A student who believes they have been wrongly found to have breached this policy, or the parent or guardian of a student under 18, may appeal.

1. Raise the concern with the assigned teacher through the school portal. The teacher responds within three school days.
2. If it is not resolved, submit it in writing to the Principal within five school days of receiving the decision, setting out the decision complained of and the outcome sought. The Principal acknowledges within two school days.
3. The Principal reviews the evidence, consults the teacher and any other person involved, and responds in writing with reasons, normally within ten school days.

Every stage is documented and the outcome is filed. A student is never disadvantaged for raising a concern in good faith. The full process is set out in the Dispute Resolution and Academic Appeals Process.

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How courses are delivered: the two attendance formats

Every course at this school is delivered online and asynchronously. There are no set class times. The school offers two attendance formats and the student chooses one at enrolment. Every one of the school's 26 courses is available in both formats in every session, and a student may ask to change format between sessions.

The course is identical in both formats: the same learning portal, the same unit materials, the same 110 scheduled instructional hours, the same weekly milestones and deadlines, the same assessments and rubrics, the same assigned Ontario Certified Teacher, and the same final mark composition. The format determines where a student studies, not what the course is or how it is taught. Students in both formats share one cohort discussion forum.

Attendance at the Vaughan campus is a facility the school provides, not a requirement of any course. A student in the on-site format who studies remotely on a given day is not marked absent and loses no mark, because attendance at this school means completion of the weekly milestones, not physical presence. No course requires a student to be physically present at any time, except where the student chooses to write the final examination on site. Every course therefore remains an online learning credit under Policy/Program Memorandum 167 in both formats.

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