Education & Child Care in Toronto & Ontario

About the TDSB French Immersion program

It is important to understand that living in a school's catchment area is not a guarantee that your child will be sent to this particular school for his/her French immersion education. TDSB students apply to the program, not to a particular school, and your child could end up being sent to a different school. However, the TDSB does try to minimize bussing, so children living in the catchment area do have a better chance of being sent to this school — but, again, there is no guarantee. Also, be aware that TDSB attendance boundaries and admission criteria for schools and/or programs may be changed at any time in accordance with Board policy and procedures.

I offer the above warning because families are sometimes persuaded to buy a home in a particular neighbourhood on the promise of a careless Realtor that this will guarantee their child entry to a French immersion class in a particular school. Not so.

TDSB webpage on the French Immersion program

City of Toronto

With the help of early childhood professionals at the City of Toronto, and in the community, Children's Services has developed A parent's guide to licensed child care in Toronto (pdf). This guide will help parents understand the licensed child care system, recognize the signs of a quality program and find child care that meets the needs of their family.

Toronto Child Care Operating Criteria Ratings
The City of Toronto believes children benefit from a quality child care experience. All child care centres with a service contract for fee subsidy are assessed by the City for quality standards using the Toronto Operating Criteria. The quality ratings from this assessment are one of the tools parents can use to make an informed child care choice.

KidsSpace ... you won't want to leave!
The City of Toronto offers information and programs that promote the health of children & families through Toronto Public Health, licensed child care programs and early learning opportunities for children through Children's Services, recreation & leisure activities for all ages through Parks & Recreation including skiing and ice skating this winter and connections to the history, culture and art of Toronto through Culture.

Newcomers' Guide to Elementary School (Public School Board)

Newcomers' Guide to Elementary School - Catholic School Board

Newcomers' Guide to Secondary School (Public School Board)

Newcomers' Guide to Secondary School (Catholic School Board)

These guides provide information to help newcomer students and parents in Ontario's schools. They are available for both Public and Catholic school. The guides are available in 18 languages.

The Newcomers' Guides is a project of the Settlement Workers in Schools program (SWIS), a partnership between agencies in the settlement sector, school boards and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The text was written by stakeholders in the program and reviewed by the Ministry of Education. The guides were designed by The Type and Image Group.

The settlement.org website seeks to improve the quality of information and services provided to newcomers to Ontario. The site offers links to sites with excellent information and to services in their local community. The site was developed by Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) and funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Ontario government.

Children's aid societies

These four provincially mandated child protection agencies serve Toronto and work to protect children from neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse:
» Children's Aid Society of Toronto
» Catholic Children's Aid Society
» Jewish Family and Child Service
» Native Child and Family Services of Toronto