Alternative Education
The Avon Maitland District School board strives to meet the needs of all learners. We offer unique opportunities for students to earn credits to work towards earning their Ontario Secondary School Diploma. While supporting students with their curricular needs, alternative education staff also help students to develop the skills required to prepare for their next step and our changing world.
Alternative Education Model
As part of our ongoing efforts to better support our most at-risk secondary students, we are excited to share a unified model for alternative education support within our board. This initiative consolidates and enhances existing programming under a new umbrella framework called SSPARC – Supporting Student Progress, Achievement, Resilience, and Community.
SSPARC is not a new program, but rather a reframing and strengthening of supports that already exist, ensuring greater coherence, clarity, and access for students and staff.
SSPARC brings together a range of supports and programming options, including:
- Enhanced Support Sections (additional sections provided to schools for flexible timetabling)
- District Co-op
- Continuous Intake Online Learning
- Dual Credit
- Credit Rescue and Credit Recovery
- Bridges Programming at LDSS and SDSS
- SAL (Supervised Alternative Learning) – including part-time, in-school options
- Mental Health & Well-Being (MHWB) Supports
- mPLAR (Prior Learning Assessment & Recognition)
Dedicated SSPARC supports are intended for students who:
- Are behind in credit accumulation (typically 8–10 credits or more)
- Require consistent support
- Need flexibility in scheduling and attendance
- Benefit from differentiated access to curriculum
We are committed to ensuring that every student sees a future for themselves in our schools. SSPARC is one more way we can help create meaningful pathways for success.
Additional alternative education programs include: