Did you know?
OCSTA represents all of Ontario’s 29 English Catholic school boards. Together these school boards educate over 575,000 students in more than 1500 Catholic schools. Catholic schools have been operating since 1841 – well before Ontario became a province. In 1930, Catholic Trustees organized as an association to leverage their knowledge and experience in support of targetted advocacy efforts to achieve equitable funding and opportunities for Catholic schools across the province.
Ontario’s Catholic schools have a well-recognized and celebrated tradition of providing inclusive, welcoming communities where all students are encouraged to realize their full potential as unique individuals created in the image of God.
Catholic Education in Ontario:
- Catholic education is a unique partnership between the school, home, and parish. Together, this partnership seeks to develop a student’s whole person by integrating academic excellence, social development and faith formation. The central focus of Catholic education is learning about Jesus Christ and living in relationship to his teachings.
- Catholic Schools are distinctive faith communities that nurture the spiritual, academic and physical needs of students through the integration of the Ontario Education curriculum with gospel values and sacramental life. Christ is the centre of the Catholic school and his presence and teachings permeate the school building.
- Catholic schools offer an integrated curriculum of faith formation and academic development in an effort to form the student’s whole person. This puts Catholic schools in a unique position within the publicly-funded education system, one that is celebrated by the community and guided by the work of the Catholic school trustee.
Catholic Schools are different than Public Schools
Ontario’s Catholic schools are a distinctive segment of Ontario’s vibrant public education system. Catholic schools are faith-based schools whose educational purpose is not only the transmission of knowledge; but also, the formation of the whole person in terms of body, mind and spirit. Ontario’s Catholic ratepayers represent approximately one third of Ontario’s tax revenue base and fund Catholic schools through their property, income and other taxes.
Catholic, French and Public School Boards work together to create efficiencies
Catholic and Public school boards save taxpayers millions of dollars each year through a variety of partnerships such as co-operative school financing, purchasing, transportation, energy management and other shared services.
Parents choose Catholic schools for their children
At the secondary level, Ontario’s Catholic schools provide a choice to parents who want a spiritual, faith based learning enviornment, where the teachings of Christ are central to the mission and vision of the educational experience.
Catholic schools are all inclusive, welcoming school communities
Students of all races, cultures and backgrounds attend and learn together in Catholic schools, just as they do in public schools; all are welcome.
Our students are taught to respect and affirm the diversity and interdependence of the world’s people, religions and cultures.
Respecting principles of diversity and inclusion are central in the teachings of the Catholic Church and thus learning about other religious beliefs is integral to the Catholic school curriculum.
Our Catholic schools are all-inclusive and we instil in students the values of tolerance, respect, love of neighbour and community service. Catholic schools share a foundational belief that all children are loved by God, are individually unique and that the school has a mission to help each student to fulfill their God-given potential in all aspects of their person: physically, academically, socially, morally and spiritually. Therefore, all students, regardless of background, heritage, race, economic and societal status, are accepted and supported in a safe and caring learning environment.