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Admissions

Criteria

The student must:

  • Qualify as a resident pupil of a school board (Education Act: Section 32).
  • Be under the age of 21 years on the first day of the school year, or 4 years of age (deafblind), 5 years of age (blind) as of December 31st, of the school year for which application is made.
  • Be assessed visually impaired/blind, educationally deafblind as their primary exceptionality. This identification is the result of:
    1. A medical assessment which includes visual acuity and hearing loss, and
    2. An educational assessment based on findings from:
    3. A W. Ross Macdonald School (WRMS) Resource Services assessment, or
    4. A visit to our school. A residence assessment may also be included where appropriate.
  • Students who are legally blind have a best-corrected acuity of 20/200 or less, or visual field reduced to 20 degrees or less in the better seeing eye. Students who are visually impaired have an acuity of 20/70 or less after the best correction.
  • Demonstrate the ability to benefit from the methods and techniques provided by WRMS, as determined by the staff with input from the parent(s).
  • Require an alternate medium to conventional print (e.g., Braille, tape, large print, or intervention if deafblind).
    Students will be given the opportunity to participate in class and residence activities prior to a scheduled WRMS Admissions Meeting. (Alternative arrangements may be made for deafblind students.)
  • Students will be reviewed each year. Placement at the WRMS may cease to be appropriate at that time and alternate placement may be required.

Residence

  • Students may be admitted to residence if they live beyond reasonable commuting distance from the school. Reasonable commuting distance is no longer than 70 minutes travelling time from pick-up to school.
  • Students who demonstrate social/emotional/maturity/behavioural difficulties which cannot adequately be accommodated within the residential program will not be admissible to the program.
  • The student must register in their home school, in the board in Ontario for which they qualify as an Ontario resident pupil.
  • Once the application for admission, and all necessary documents are received by the Principal, a trial placement is scheduled. Upon completion of this trial, the WRMS Admissions Committee will consider the student's application, and make their recommendation to the Superintendent.
  • An Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) meeting shall be held by the board, and the IPRC must recommend that the student be placed at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Visually Impaired and Deafblind.
  • The board shall provide to the WRMS Admissions Committee a copy of the IPRC statement, indicating recommended placement at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Visually Impaired and Deafblind.
  • Admission may be deferred, depending upon available space in the classroom program and/or residence. These are factors to consider when determining the student's start date.

Appeals From decisions regarding Admission

The Superintendent, the parent of an applicant or an applicant who is eighteen (18) years of age or over may request in writing that the Minister of Education appoint a committee to hear and decide any question concerning the eligibility for admission of the applicant.

Upon receipt of a request, the party will be sent a letter setting out the process for the hearing of an appeal.

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