Community Involvement Requirements
The Ministry of Education also requires 40 hours of Community Involvement before graduation. If a student arrives from outside Ontario and starts at The York School on or after January 1 of their Grade 10 year, 20 hours of Community Involvement will be required.
Successful completion of both the Literacy Test and the 40 hours of Community Involvement will be recorded on the Ontario Student Transcript. Service Learning is an important component of our Senior School. To receive the Ontario Secondary School Diploma, students must fulfill a minimum commitment of 40 hours of Community Involvement. The IB also requires students to perform meaningful service, as part of the Service as Action (SA) component in the MYP and the Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) component in the DP.
The York School strongly recommends that students in Grades 9 and 10 perform a total of 40 hours of volunteer service over the two years in the school or in the community. Students in Grades 11 and 12 in the IB DP are required to perform regular meaningful service experiences over an 18-month span as part of their CAS Program. All IB Diploma students are required to plan, act, observe and reflect upon their experiences.
York Students volunteering at the TDSB’s Beverley School which serves students with exceptionalities
The Director of Student Life and Belonging and the CAS Coordinator act as resources in helping students to find meaningful service opportunities in and outside the school. The Student Council’s Co-Directors of Community Service are also active in organizing student participation in service activities. In-school opportunities may include organizing fundraising for various charities, awareness campaigns, student-coaching, peer-tutoring, and mentoring younger students. Local non-profit organizations offer a wide variety of service opportunities which students may seek out and participate in.
Students in Grades 9-12 use an online software to record their community involvement hours and reflections; this is backed by the school’s database. Students use ManageBac, an online software platform that allows students to develop a portfolio of their experiences (https://york.managebac.com/login). Students involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Program also use the Duke of Edinburgh Award online record book (http://onlinerecordbook.org/). The system is checked regularly to ensure that students are engaging in safe and meaningful activities. Approval of activities is given by a student’s teacher advisor, in consultation with the CAS Coordinator and Principal