The SHSM Coordinator's 2026-27 Calendar: September to June
Very few dates in an SHSM coordinator calendar come from the Ministry. The SHSM Policy and Implementation Guide names late December for new programme proposals. It names February and June for the SHSM plan review. It asks for student record checks at least twice per semester, and student surveys at the end of each semester. Each of those is quoted with its Guide page in the step it belongs to. The pages relied on carry the stamp October 20, 2025, except Reach ahead experiences, June 10, 2026. The Guide does not date course selection, timetabling, or the three SHSM reports. For those it sends you to your board (Guide: Implementation lists for school principals, Tracking, supervision and reporting).
This page walks the 2026-27 year in the order a coordinator meets it. Each step names where it happens, what it needs, and its deadline. For the same Guide arranged by component instead of by month, read the Guide in 15 minutes.
The SHSM coordinator calendar for 2026-27 at a glance
| Window | Step | Where it happens | Guide page behind it |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | 1. Confirm enrolment and register this year’s cohort | School, with guidance | Implementing an SHSM at your school |
| September | 2. Reconvene the school SHSM team and its sector advisors | School and board | Building SHSM teams and partnerships |
| September to October | 3. Plan the certifications, then book the delivery agents | School, with the board lead | Certification and training experiences |
| October to March (the article’s window, not the Guide’s) | 4. Book the sector-partnered experience and the reach-ahead experiences | With outside partners | Sector-partnered experiences (SPEs); Reach ahead experiences |
| Late December | 5. File any new programme proposal through your board | Board, through the reporting tool | Planning and implementation |
| Twice per semester, all year | 6. Check student records; issue the official documents at graduation | Student management system | Documenting student progress |
| February and June | 7. Review the SHSM plan; run the programme evaluation | School SHSM team | Planning for the SHSM; Program evaluation |
Step 1. September: confirm enrolment and register this year’s cohort
Registration is a school process, and the Guide sets its shape. “All students within a board or school are eligible to register for the SHSM program. In some cases, students in coterminous boards may also be eligible” (Guide: Implementing an SHSM at your school, Establishing a registration process).
The same section sets the two timelines you are working with:
“Most students register for the SHSM when they enter Grade 11. This allows them to meet all the requirements of the SHSM within 2 years.”
A Grade 12 start is allowed, and it compresses everything. “Your school can choose to allow these students to register for the SHSM in Grade 12. These students can achieve their SHSM in 1 year.” Flag those students in September, not in May.
One rule is easy to miss. A student who finished a certification before joining is not recorded yet: you “may not record these SHSM components until the student enters the SHSM in their senior years”. A second condition follows, that “the components must not expire before the student graduates”. Check the expiry dates on last year’s first aid cards while you confirm the register. The SHSM requirements guide sets out what each student has to accumulate.
Step 2. September: put the SHSM team and its advisors back in the room
The Guide gives the team a job description: “This team oversees all aspects of program delivery, including: enrolment; timetabling; student tracking; monitoring program success” (Guide: Building SHSM teams and partnerships, School SHSM teams).
Sector advisors are the other half of that meeting. The Guide says they “suggest reliable service providers for sector certifications and training courses” (Guide: Building SHSM teams and partnerships, SHSM sector advisors). Have that conversation before step 3, not after.
Step 3. September and October: plan the certifications, then book them
The Guide does not date this step, but it stacks four booking tasks into it, so it earns September. Its principal checklist lists all four as delivery tasks for the school SHSM team: “choosing delivery agents for compulsory and elective certifications and training programs; negotiating and arranging payment of fees; coordinating transportation; setting timetables” (Guide: Implementation lists for school principals, The school SHSM team). The same page asks that one or more members of the team “have a plan to ensure students can obtain required certifications and training within 2 years” (Guide: Implementation lists for school principals, The 5 components of an SHSM).
Two requirements decide who you can book (Guide: Certification and training experiences, Delivery criteria):
“Certifications and training courses must be delivered by a certified trainer. This is someone recognized as an authority by the certification provider or by the sector.”
“Your school must record these courses and certifications in the student management system and include the: number of hours involved; date the certification/training was completed.”
Ask every provider for the hours and the completion date in writing on the day, because that is what you file. Which model to use is a separate decision, and the Guide has already written down the trade-offs: see the four delivery models. The Guide’s overview names “first aid, CPR and WHMIS” among the compulsory certifications. Two of those have their own guides here, worth reading before you book: Intermediate First Aid and the two types of WHMIS training.
Step 4. October to March, the article’s window: book the SPE and the reach-ahead experiences
An SPE must be “co-designed and co-delivered by sector partners and teachers”, so this is the step that depends most on somebody else’s calendar. Every student needs one: “All SHSM students must complete at least 1 sector-partnered experience (SPEs)” (Guide: Sector-partnered experiences (SPEs), Requirements). An SPE “should be approximately 6 hours in duration (may be delivered over multiple days)”. It must be “recorded in the student management system upon completion, including the focus area (ICE, coding or math literacy)”.
The Guide’s own advice is to start early: “Begin working with your sector partner as early as possible”, and at the first meeting “set timelines and deadlines” (Guide: Steps for planning and delivering an SPE, Step 2). After the day, three things close it out (Guide: Steps for planning and delivering an SPE, Step 4: after the activity).
- The student self-assessment.
- The record in the student management system, with the focus area.
- Confirmation “that any expenses incurred by the sector partner, school or school board as part of the activity have been repaid”.
Reach-ahead experiences run on the same partner calendar. They “connect with their postsecondary plans” and are for Grade 11 and 12 students (Guide: Reach ahead experiences). The certifications and ICE training guide covers what these days look like in practice. If dual credits are in your plan, the approved course list arrives annually and your board lead holds the copy: “We send this list to all school boards each year and also post it in the SHSM e-community.”
Step 5. Late December: the new programme proposal
This is the one hard Ministry deadline in the year, and it is not yours to file. The Guide is direct about both points (Guide: Planning and implementation, Step 3):
“All new SHSM program proposals are submitted through the Education Data Collection Solution (EDCS) SHSM online reporting tool. Submitting proposals is a school board responsibility.”
“This is an annual process. Submissions are usually due in late December.”
By the Guide’s own timing, then, a September idea for a new sector has about one term to become a proposal. The Guide does not say when a board’s internal date falls, and points you at the person who does: “Talk to your principal for details about your school board’s submission process.” What you may propose is constrained too: “We must approve all new SHSMs” (Guide: Sectors, Approvals). If you are still weighing a new sector, start with what SHSM is.
Step 6. All year: document progress, then issue the documents at graduation
Tracking is a requirement with a frequency attached (Guide: Documenting student progress, Tracking student progress):
“Review the student’s SHSM information in your board’s student management system at least twice per semester to check progress on completing: the bundle of credits; certifications and training; experiential learning and career exploration activities; reach ahead experiences; SPEs.”
Between those reviews, “update the student’s SHSM information throughout the semester to reflect their new credits and completed SHSM components”. Twice per semester is the floor, not the plan.
At the end, the records become documents. “We give an OSSD with an embossed SHSM seal to students who complete both the OSSD and SHSM requirements.” The record follows the student out: “the school gives the SHSM record to the student upon graduation and files a copy in their Ontario Student Record (OSR)” (Guide: Documenting student progress, Official documents). The SHSM requirements guide shows those documents from the student’s side.
Step 7. February and June: review the plan, then evaluate the programme
The plan review has actual months on it (Guide: Planning for the SHSM, Reviewing the SHSM plan):
“Review and update your SHSM plan at least twice a year to assess your SHSM program’s progress: mid-year (February); end of the year (June).”
Evaluation runs on the semester. The Guide lists “student surveys at the end of each semester” among its sources of information (Guide: Program evaluation). Its measurement indicators include a “graduate survey conducted several months after graduation”. Write the survey in January so it is ready when the semester ends.
The dates the Guide does not set
The Guide attaches no calendar date to course selection, timetabling, or reporting. It asks only that SHSM be “discussed with students during the course selection process”, without saying when that process runs (Guide: Implementing an SHSM at your school, Promoting and developing the SHSM).
For reporting it names the deliverables, then hands the dates over. The principal’s checklist expects your school’s administrative team to be the one that “knows the dates for the 3 required SHSM reports: initial, interim and final”. If unsure, it is to “reach out to the SHSM contact at your school board” (Guide: Implementation lists for school principals, Tracking, supervision and reporting). Data timelines are local too: the administrative team “sets timelines for consolidating SHSM-related data (for example, enrolment and budget data)” (Guide: Documenting student progress, Checklist: recording student progress). By the Guide’s own criteria, then, several dates a coordinator needs are the board’s to publish. Ask your board SHSM lead for them in September.
How LearnIt helps
LearnIt is an outside provider. It delivers certification and workshop days under the Guide’s industry-delivered and co-delivered models, which is the step 3 decision described in the four delivery models. The calendar logic shows in one day from last spring. On 2026-04-28, six schools from TDSB, PDSB, and YCDSB sent 150 students to Toronto Metropolitan University. There LearnIt paired a leadership and customer service certification with a campus reach-ahead experience. One booking, made once, covered two components for three boards. At the Ontario Cooperative Education Association conference from April 26 to 28, 2026 in Richmond Hill, LearnIt’s chief executive delivered a working session for SHSM Leads called “SHSM Playbook: Templates, Tools & Systems That Work”.
Your next step this week
Put the two fixed reviews in your own calendar first: the February and June plan reviews, and two record checks per semester. Then open Program evaluation and pick the two or three measurement indicators your programme will actually collect this year. Choosing them in September is what makes the June review possible.