Optional Attendance

Students who reside within the City of Toronto have the right to attend a school which is designated to serve their residential address. The "Find Your School" section of the website identifies the designated schools for each residential address.

Students also have the opportunity to access schools outside of the school that is designated to serve their residential address by applying on optional attendance. Acceptance at these schools is subject to space availability and program suitability. The procedures, conditions and timelines relating to optional attendance are described in the Optional Attendance Policy and the Optional Attendance Operational Procedure. Families can access the Optional Attendance: Application for an Elementary Program at a School Outside the Resident Area or the Optional Attendance: Application for a Secondary Program at a School Out of Area online. Given the current pandemic, scanned or faxed forms will be accepted.

Each year in November, schools are classified as limited or closed to optional attendance based on the space they have available for the upcoming school year. 

A school classified as limited can accept students on optional attendance. A limited school is not obliged to accept all students who apply on optional attendance. Acceptance is conditional upon space being available in the appropriate grade and program. 

A school classified as closed cannot accept any students on optional attendance. Only students residing within the school's attendance area will be accepted. 

If a school is classified as limited, and you are interested in applying to that school, please contact the school's principal. 

To find a particular school's optional attendance status, click on the first letter in a school's name below to go to the appropriate table. (For example, click the S link in the Elementary section for the table containing Sir Adam Beck Public School).

Please note that Optional Attendance status is updated every November for admission in September of the coming school year. Many schools that are limited have their available spaces filled through the Optional Attendance process.

Optional Attendance Status for 2021 - 2022