April 3, 2026

Welcome to Monarch Park pre-IB!

If you are receiving this message, your child is registered for the Monarch Park pre-IB programme.  You may be wondering what's next?   

As you prepare for grade 8 graduation ceremonies and all the fun things that go with the end of elementary school, hopefully your student is equally excited to start their next journey with us in September.  We are completely full with 81 pre-IB grade 9 students.  

As mentioned in the November open house, students who have been successful in the IB programme usually have the following skill set.

• A strong work ethic

• Strong independent learning skills

• Be at or above grade level (gr 8) in our core subjects (Math, Science, English, French)

• Really enjoy school and being challenged academically. 

Please emphasize the importance of these skills with your student.  And continue to work on them over the summer.  This will greatly ease the transition for your student.

Students will not receive their timetables until the first day of school or a couple of days prior.  They will be able to access them through the TDSB Connect app and they will be emailed out.  There will be Student Ambassadors in the hallways on the first day of school helping our new students find their way.

You will receive an email from Monarch Park closer to the end of the school year about Head Start to High School, which is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 for the full day.   This is a great opportunity for your students - especially those who are not coming from one of our local feeder schools - to get to know other grade 9 students without the pressures of being in one of their classes.

As a reminder, you can find out more information about our IB programme on our google site: 

https://sites.google.com/tdsb.on.ca/mpcib/accepted-to-pre-ib-current-gr-8s-class-of-2030

Pre-IB students do not have a lot of leeway in their schedules as the vast majority of courses are ministry or programme requirements.  The majority of your children have selected to complete either their technology credit or civics and careers credits (these are half credits taken in the same semester) in grade 9 and will need to complete the remaining credit by the end of grade 10.  This, however, still only leaves one elective course for students in grade 10.  As such, many of our pre-IB students opt to complete one or two of their non-pre-IB courses in summer school.  These courses include technology, civics and careers, geography and history.  The TDSB does not offer summer school credits to students prior to grade 9 other than the TAS1O1 credit (click the link for more info). Students can use this as their technology credit.  Students are able to complete courses through the TCDSB prior to the start of grade 9.  Any courses completed through a board other than the TDSB are not automatically added to your student's record.  The report card will need to be brought in to me upon completion of the course so that I can manually add the course to your student's record and file the report card in their OSR.  TCDSB has not yet released their summer school registration dates.  Information should be posted here when available.  

I am looking forward to working with your children and their families in the coming school year and beyond.

February 2026

Hello Families of future Monarch Park pre-IB students!

I am honoured to be the first to welcome you to the Monarch Park family.  Monarch Park is a fantastic community with opportunities for all students.  The IB programme is one of the extra special things that we do.

I will be hosting an info session for our seated applicants likely in early March to answer the plethora of questions that you are starting to accumulate.  Please make a note of your questions so that we can address them all together.  Date to be determined once I have a list of all of our seated students.  I will post the date here and email it to our new families.

Applicants who are currently not registered with the TDSB will be sent a unique link to a registration form in February. Please complete and submit the online registration form as soon as you are able and contact Ms Smith (deborah.smith@tdsb.on.ca) to arrange an in-person registration appointment, where you will be required to provide the necessary registration documentation. Registrations should be completed before March 6, 2026. Additionally, your child will be able to select their program courses for next year at the registration appointment.

Current TDSB students can pick their courses through myBlueprint starting on February 13, 2026. Please submit your course selections before the deadline of February 27, 2026.

If you decide over the next few weeks that our program is not for you, or that you are going to attend your designated school by address, Special Education Intensive Support Program or continue in a French language program, please immediately notify the following by email so that the seat can be given to the first student on the waiting list:

• Our school guidance OA: deborah.smith@tdsb.on.ca

• Your current TDSB school

• IB@tdsb.on.ca

We want to allow as many students as possible to participate in this Central Student Interest Program opportunity. The final day that offers can be made is February 25, 2026.

We look forward to providing your student with rich and dynamic academic rigour through International Baccalaureate programming over the next four years, tapping into their keen interest and passion.

For course selection, TDSB students will complete their course selection through MyBlueprint.  Grade 8 teachers should have access to the IB course selection document, but just in case, here it is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZQjgDMRk-sAEtRzZ_Bl75alAx0E7EU08xRa9rJhQnAI/edit?usp=sharing.  For our students coming from other boards, please submit the completed course selection with your registration package.