To Graduate with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma three things are required:

1. 30 Credits

2. Pass the Ontario Literacy Test or take the Ontario Literacy Course. This link takes you practice tests for 2021-2022 online literacy test.

3. Complete 40 hours of Community Involvement. Students can use the Tracking Sheet here for their own records; this would be to remember details of volunteering to add volunteer activities to their resume.  Students may submit any completed hours at any time of year. Students can exceed the 40 hour requirement.

November 2022 – Grade 12 students can submit their hours to the PHS Guidance Office on paper.  They will be asked to sign a binder when they bring them in.   For grade 9, 10, 11 students further details on how students will be submitting their volunteer hours will be posted in the Grade google classroom by December 9th.

4. Online Learning Requirement – 2 credits  Beginning with students that entered Grade 9 in the 2020-2021 school year, students must earn at least two online asynchronous credits to earn their OSSD.  If this learning method is not well suited for the student, parents may sign an Opt-Out form once their child is a PHS student to waive this requirement. Opt-Out forms can be found in the PHS Guidance Office, the PHS Main Office, the Learning Resources Room 115 and the Student Success Room 113.

Due to Covid:  During the 2021-2022 school year the Ontario Government gave permission for these three activities to be acceptable volunteering activities where they normally would not be accepted:

1. Activities that take place during the time allotted for the instructional program on a school day (e.g., walking a younger neighbour or sibling to and from school, helping
younger siblings with their homework)
2. Activities that include up to 10 hours of paid work  (e.g. grocery work during the pandemic).
3. Activities that consist of duties normally performed in the home (e.g., students could help an elderly relative with errands, provide after-school care for a sibling)

Your parents would be used as your “community sponsor’s name” if you are using the tracking form, with either their phone number or their email address. Again parents usually cannot be your community sponsor but for these 3 activities, they can be.