Community Involvement Requirement for OSSD

To earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD), every student must complete 40 hours of community involvement activities. Students can start volunteering beginning July 1st after completing Grade 8.

These volunteer hours must be completed outside of regular school hours and in a variety of community settings. Hours earned through activities that count towards school credits, paid work, or replacing paid employees do not qualify.

For detailed information on the requirement and eligible activities, please consult the Community Involvement Manual.     You can keep track of your hours using the  Community Involvement Tracking Record.

Finding Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer opportunities are regularly posted on the Volunteer bulletin board located near the Guidance office entrance and in the Guidance Google Classrooms. Additionally, the K-W Volunteer Centre website is an excellent resource for youth volunteering in the K-W region.

Submitting Your Hours

Students must document each completed community involvement activity using the Community Involvement Google Form.

Going Beyond the Requirement

You are encouraged to continue volunteering beyond the minimum hours. Keep a personal record of these additional hours to enhance resumes, scholarship applications, post-secondary forms, and more.

The Ontario Ministry of Education has released new information about recognition for students who go above and beyond the 40 hour minimum requirement for graduation.  Starting this year, students can earn a Minister’s Certificate of Recognition for Community Involvement when they graduate. This new certificate celebrates their dedication to helping others and for completing more than 50 volunteer hours during high school.  There are now three levels of recognition for this new Certificate: 

  • Bronze Level: 50-99 volunteer hours
  • Silver Level: 100-199 volunteer hours
  • Gold Level: 200+ volunteer hours

We are currently developing a new process for tracking Community Involvement hours above the current 40 required for graduation which we will share as soon as it is available.  For now, any student interested in earning this new Certificate should continue to keep track of their hours and be ready to submit that information as soon as the new process is available.