religious-education-sec
Thank you for choosing to send your son/daughter to a Catholic secondary school. The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board is committed to providing quality Catholic education which serves the academic, social, physical and spiritual developmental needs of our students.
The historical mandate of the Catholic school system in Ontario is to model the entire syllabus of the school on the life and teaching of Jesus. As such, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board has expectations that will support the development of each of all students admitted.
Our religious expectations are as follows:
- All students will enroll in a Religion course in each of the four years. All Religion courses are approved by the appropriate Catholic authority. The Government of Ontario recognizes that Religion credits count towards a secondary school graduation diploma.
- All students will participate in an annual retreat for the first four years that they are in a secondary school. The retreat normally takes place during the school day at a site off school property. The school chaplain organizes the annual retreat based on spiritual developmental themes appropriate for adolescents.
- All students will participate in the prayer and in the liturgical life of the school. Catholic students are expected to participate fully as mandated by their sacramental Baptism. Non-Catholic students are expected to participate to the extent that they can. It is not the intention of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board to proselytize, however, for supervision, safety and community reasons, the entire school participates in all of the religious events that occur during the school year. At a minimum, non-Catholic students will attend and maintain respectful silence at all religious observances. All students are encouraged to get involved.
- The Catholic District School Boards of Ontario follow approved provincial curriculum. Given the distinctiveness of Catholic schools, the Government of Ontario recognizes parallel curricula for our system based on Catholic course profiles. All courses in all subject areas in a Catholic secondary school, are taught from a Catholic point of perspective.
As people of faith, we are hopeful that all students will find richness of experience within our Catholic schools.