1. The policy we follow

Assessment, evaluation and reporting at this school follow Ontario's mandatory assessment and evaluation requirements for students in Grades 9 to 12, including the September 2026 update to Growing Success, which replaces the evaluation policy for courses in Grades 9 to 12 set out in Chapter 5 of Growing Success (2010). All other provisions of Growing Success (2010) continue to apply, including its seven fundamental principles and the separate reporting of learning skills and work habits.

Every course is assessed and evaluated by the Ontario Certified Teacher assigned to it, against the overall expectations of the Ontario curriculum policy document for that course.

2. How evidence of learning is gathered

Teachers gather evidence of learning over time from three sources: observations, conversations and student products.

• Observation. The cohort discussion forum and the record of student activity in the portal.
• Conversation. The weekly individual contact between the teacher and the student, and exchanges in the forum.
• Student products. Assignments, unit evaluations, investigations, reports and portfolio items.

Achievement is judged across the four categories of the achievement chart: Knowledge and Understanding, Thinking, Communication, and Application.

3. How the final percentage mark is calculated

The final percentage mark in every course is composed of three parts. The proportions are set by Ministry policy and depend on the grade of the course.

Classroom work, 65 per cent

The classroom work mark reflects the student's most consistent level of achievement in relation to the overall expectations, with special consideration given to more recent evidence. It is determined by the professional judgement of the assigned Ontario Certified Teacher and is not produced by unweighted averaging. Within the classroom work component the four achievement chart categories are weighted equally, at 16.25 per cent of the final mark each.

Final evaluation, 20 or 25 per cent

A course may use a written examination, a culminating task, or both. The exact split for each course is stated in that course's Outline of Course of Study and in the student course outline issued at the start of the session.

Attendance and participation, 15 or 10 per cent

This component is described in section 4 below and in the Attendance and Intake Policy.

4. Attendance and participation as part of the mark

Attendance and participation is a required component of the final mark under the September 2026 requirements. It is worth 15 per cent in Grades 9 and 10 and 10 per cent in Grades 11 and 12.

Because the school has no scheduled class times, the component is based on completion of the four weekly milestones and on the quality of the student's participation in the learning community. It is not a measure of presence at a live session, and physical presence at the campus is never marked.

The milestone completion rate establishes the level. The teacher then assigns a mark within that level's range using the participation descriptor. Where milestone completion and participation indicate different levels, the teacher exercises professional judgement and records the rationale. Excused non-completions are removed from both the count and the total before the rate is calculated, so they neither raise nor lower the band.

This component is distinct from the learning skills and work habits, which are reported separately and are never included in the percentage mark. Full detail is in the Attendance and Intake Policy.

5. The final evaluation

The final evaluation is administered in week 6 of the session. Where the course includes a written examination, it is a closed-book assessment of the overall expectations of the course. Where the course includes a culminating task, the task is introduced in week 4, developed in week 5 and submitted in week 6, and is evaluated against a rubric published to students when the task is set.

Proctoring and identity verification

Final examinations are administered under supervised conditions. Identity is verified against the photographic identification held on the student record before any result is released. Every student may choose either route, whichever attendance format they are enrolled in: online under proctoring, or on site at the Vaughan campus under staff invigilation, by prior arrangement and at no additional charge. The examination, its duration, its content and its marking are identical on both routes. The full protocol is in the Final Examination and Proctoring Guide.

If a student does not write

A student who does not complete the final evaluation within their session is recorded as Examination Pending. The credit is not granted until the final evaluation is complete. The Principal determines when and how the student may complete it, and the arrangement is recorded in the Ontario Student Record.

Accommodations

Accommodations documented on a student's Individual Education Plan, including extended time, a separate setting and assistive technology, are applied to the final evaluation. Accommodations do not alter the expectations being assessed.

6. Late and missed assignments

The purpose of the school's approach to late and missed work is to get the work done, because a mark for work that was never submitted tells nobody anything about what the student knows. Teachers therefore use a range of responses before considering any mark deduction.

• Contacting the student, and the parent or guardian of a student under 18, as soon as a deadline is missed.
• Agreeing a revised deadline, or breaking the task into staged submissions with separate deadlines.
• Requiring the student to work on the task during a scheduled support session with the teacher.
• Providing a scaffold, an exemplar or an alternative form of the same assessment where the barrier is the form rather than the learning.

Where work remains outstanding after these steps, and where the teacher's professional judgement is that a deduction is appropriate, a late penalty of up to 10 per cent of the value of the task may be applied. A deduction is never applied so as to result in a percentage mark that misrepresents the student's actual achievement.

Where a student does not submit work at all and the teacher has insufficient evidence to determine achievement of the overall expectations, the teacher records insufficient evidence and the Principal considers whether a credit can be granted.

7. Report cards and reporting periods

The school uses the Provincial Report Card, Grades 9 to 12. Two report cards are issued in every session: one at the midpoint of the session, on the date published in the School Course Calendar, and a final one within ten school days of the end of the session. Report cards are issued to the student through the portal and to the parent or guardian of a student under 18 by email, and a copy is filed in the Ontario Student Record.

Each report card shows the percentage mark, the credit earned where applicable, the median mark for the class where the class size permits it to be meaningful, the teacher's comments on the student's strengths, areas for improvement and next steps, and separate letter ratings for the six learning skills and work habits.

Learning skills and work habits

The six learning skills and work habits are Responsibility, Organisation, Independent Work, Collaboration, Initiative and Self-Regulation. They are evaluated separately from the academic mark and reported using the scale E for Excellent, G for Good, S for Satisfactory and N for Needs Improvement. They are never included in the calculation of the percentage mark and are never used as a deduction against it.

Every report card is signed by the Principal before it is issued.

8. Withdrawal from a course, and full disclosure

Full disclosure is the Ministry requirement that all Grade 11 and Grade 12 courses completed or attempted by a student are recorded on the Ontario Student Transcript. It applies from the start of a student's Grade 11 year. It does not apply to Grade 9 and Grade 10 courses.

Because sessions here run for six weeks rather than a semester, the school applies the Ministry rule in the equivalent proportion. A student who withdraws from a Grade 11 or Grade 12 course within five instructional days after the mid-session report card is issued has the withdrawal recorded with no entry on the Ontario Student Transcript. A student who withdraws after that deadline has the course entered on the transcript, with a W in the credit column and the percentage mark at the time of withdrawal recorded in the percentage grade column.

Exceptional circumstances, for example a serious illness or a family emergency, may be considered by the Principal, who may withdraw the student without the entry appearing on the transcript. The Principal records the decision and the reasons in the Ontario Student Record.

9. Related policies

The subjects below were previously summarised on this page and are now published in full on their own pages.

• Academic Integrity and Anti-Plagiarism Policy
• Final Grade and Percentage Mark Rubric Guide
• Attendance and Intake Policy
• Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) and Mature Student Assessment
• Online Learning Graduation Requirement and Opt-Out Policy
• Ontario Student Record (OSR) Management Policy
• Code of Conduct and Safe Schools Policy
• Acceptable Use of Technology and Electronic Communications
• School Course Calendar 2026-2027, including the full diploma requirements

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.