As thousands of new Grade 12 graduates start college and university next week, hundreds more are returning to high school after receiving their diplomas in June.
Currently, there are 390 graduates registered to return to public schools across the county where a total of 4,475 students will be attending Grade 12.
At Catholic schools, 273 students are returning grade 12s that have already graduated.
"Some of the graduates returning for another year have been working with guidance staff, the student success teacher or special education teacher on a pathway plan and they are returning to high school with a purpose," explained Heather Hamilton, Principal, student success at the Simcoe County District School Board.
"They may be short a critical credit or mark to get them into the college or university of their choice.
A small number of students registered to return will find other opportunities over the summer and not end up back to high school.
"Of the remaining students that are registered to return, many find that they are more mature than high school students and are definitely ready to move on and do so at the end of the first semester," Hamilton said.
The Ministry of Education encourages students to complete all the credits they need in four years at secondary school.
However, there are no restrictions limiting students from returning aftergraduating.
"There are many opportunities for students that have graduated to upgrade their grade 12 courses," said Hamilton. "These range from taking e-learning courses or continuing education courses in either the day or evening."
The Ministry of Education also supports recent graduates at some secondary schools through the Experience Ontario Program - a pilot project designed to serve recent high school graduates with an interest in attending postnsecondary education or apprenticeship training, but who need help in choosing their career direction.
School Boards receive full funding from the Ministry of Education for all students attending high school, but funding is reduced if the student has completed 35 credits.
Priority for filling a class is given to students who need the course as a prerequisite for post secondary education.
"Students can stay full-time - in fact we encourage them to take a full course load when they come back as opposed to just one or two courses - more focussed on school/studies when they are full-time," said Pauline Stevenson, communications manager at the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.
"Typically the more students we have in a school the more courses or programs we are able run," she said.
"We encourage them to take a full course load when they come back as opposed to just one or two courses because they are more focussed on school when they are full-time."
Guidance teams at both boards work to transition students into post-secondary programs.
In 2010-11, over 20,000 students across Ontario who graduated in four years returned for at least another semester.
That's when new rules were introduced to "shift the culture in our schools and encourage students to graduate and move on to the next stage in their lives after four years."
Students who want to take more than 34 credits are still be able to do so, but starting in September 2013, the ministry decreased funding for those credits.
Thirty credits are required to graduate.
