Community Involvement

All students must complete a minimum of 40 hours of unpaid community involvement activities before graduating from CWS high school. This requirement is additional to the 30 credits needed for a high school diploma.

CWS Students will be able to choose their own community involvement activities, within guidelines that will be provided by CWS. CWS Students will be responsible for fulfilling this requirement on their own time.  CWS students are required to submit their community involvement record to the Principal for record-keeping purposes. The data will be placed on the OST and kept in the student’s OSR.

Before beginning any community involvement activity, CWS students must complete and submit a “CWS NOTIFICATION OF PLANNED COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES” Form.  CWS provides forms necessary for the community involvement activities upon request.

CWS students under the age of eighteen must complete the form in consultation with his or her parents, and must also have one parent sign the form. More than one such form may be submitted when additional activities are planned that were not included on a previously submitted form.

When the activity is completed, CWS students must fill out the “CWS COMPLETION OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES” Form. The sponsor of the activity – that is, the person or organization that provided the community involvement activity – will complete the appropriate sections of the form to verify that the activity has been completed, and will sign the form. The form must also be signed by one of the student’s parents if the student is under eighteen years of age. CWS students must submit the form to CWS Principal upon completion of the 40 hours, or at appropriate intervals determined by the principal.

CWS students will provide their parents with a copy of the document given by CWS School.  CWS students will also give a copy of this document to the sponsor of the community involvement activity.

CWS principal will determine whether the CWS student has met the community involvement requirement, and, if so, will indicate on the Ontario Student Transcript that the student has completed the requirement.

CWS students are to select community activities appropriate to their age, maturity, and ability. Students are not to partake in any activity in which the student’s safety will be compromised. Any activity, NOT on CWS approved list, must receive written approval of the Principal of Canadian World Schools before beginning the activity.

Activities not approved:

• Any paid activity (i.e. babysitting);
• Cooperative education or other school program activities;
• Playing on sports teams;
• Any involving the operation of a motor vehicle or power tools or scaffolding;
• Any involvement in the administration of medications or medical procedures to another person;
• Any occurring in an unsafe or unsupervised environment;
• Any displacing a paid worker;
• Any in a logging or mining environment if the student is under 16 years old;
• Any in a factory, if the student is under 15 years of age;
• Any taking place in a workplace other than a factory, if the student is under fourteen years of age and is not accompanied by an adult;
• Any involving the handling of substances classed as “designated substances” under the Occupational Health and Safety Act;
• Any requiring the knowledge of a tradesperson whose trade is regulated by the provincial government;
• Any involving banking or the handling of securities, or the handling of jewelry, works of art, antiques, or other valuables;
• Any consisting of duties normally performed in the home (i.e., daily chores) or personal recreational activities;
• Any involving activities for a court-ordered program (e.g., the community-service program for young offenders, probationary program).

Activities approved:

• Fundraising for non-profit organizations
• Coaching or assisting sports at the community level
• Church activities such as helping teach Sunday school, bazaars, etc.
• Assisting seniors with chores
• Involvement in community committees, food banks, fairs, etc.
• Participation in environmental projects such as recycling projects, etc.

CWS has developed a list of approved activities and shall provide it to students and parents/guardians upon request.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Principal

The Canadian World Schools is responsible for the implementation of Community Involvement Activities for students who are the sole responsibility of CWS School. A list of approved community involvement activities has been developed. This list is included in this information package, along with a list of activities that the Ministry of Education has stated are ineligible. CWS school will not approve student participation in any activity that is on the ministry’s list of ineligible activities.

CWS Principal is required to provide information about the community involvement requirement to parents, students, and community sponsors. CWS Principal is also required to provide students with the information and forms they will need to complete the community involvement requirement, including the board’s list of approved activities from which to choose. After a student completes the 40 hours of community involvement and submits all documentation of their completion to CWS School, the principal will decide whether the student has met the community involvement requirement and, if so, will record it as completed on the student’s official transcript.