Thank you for choosing to send your son/daughter to Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School. The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (the "Board") is committed to providing quality Catholic education which views human life as an integration of body, mind and spirit. Rooted in this vision, Catholic education fosters the search for knowledge as a lifelong spiritual and academic quest. The expectations of Catholic school graduates, therefore, are described not only in terms of knowledge and skills, but in terms of values, attitudes, and actions. The Catholic School Graduate is therefore, expected to be; a discerning believer; an effective communicator; a reflective, creative and holistic thinker; a self-directed, responsible, lifelong learner; a collaborative contributor; a caring family member; and a responsible citizen.

The board supports freedom of religion and an individual’s rights to manifest his/her religious beliefs and observances. The right to freedom of religion, however, is not absolute and religious accommodation in the Board is carried out in the larger context of the Catholic educational system and denominational rights of Catholic schools.

The historical mandate of the Catholic school system in Ontario is to model the entire syllabus of the school on the life and teaching of Jesus. As such, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board has expectations of all students admitted.

Our religious expectations are as follows:

1. All students will enroll in a Religion course in each of the four years. All Religion courses are approved by the appropriate Catholic authority. The Government of Ontario recognizes that Religion credits count towards a secondary graduation diploma.

2. All students will participate in an annual retreat for the first four years that they are in a secondary school. The retreat normally takes place during the school day at a site off school property. The school chaplain organizes the annual retreat based on spiritual themes appropriate for adolescents.

3. All students will participate in the prayer and in the liturgical life of the school. Catholic students are expected to participate fully as mandated by their sacramental Baptism. Non-Catholic students are expected to participate to the extent that they can. It is not the intention of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board to proselytize, however, for supervision, safety and community reasons, the entire school participates in all religious events that occur during the school year. At a minimum, non-Catholic students will attend and maintain respectful silence at all religious observances. All students are encouraged to get involved.

4. Students requesting accommodations must present written notice from their parents/guardians specifying their accommodation needs relating to religious observances, including holy days on which they will be absent from school. This notice should be made in advance (preferably at the beginning of each school year) to ensure that scheduling of major evaluations, such as tests, assignments or examinations, takes the religious observances into consideration.

5. The Catholic District School Boards of Ontario follow approved provincial curriculum. Given the distinctiveness of Catholic schools, the Government of Ontario recognizes parallel curricula for our system based on Catholic course profiles. All courses in all subject areas, in a Catholic secondary school, are taught from a Catholic perspective.

We hope that your experiences in our Catholic secondary schools will be rewarding.