X

Primary education programs

Plush toys on a couch in the school library

Bloorview School Authority is an educational facility that provides innovative school programs to children and youth with special needs.

Each year hundreds of children and young people from across Ontario benefit from our individualized educational programs, which are set up in conjunction with ongoing therapeutic and medical care. Students may be clients, inpatients or day patients of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

Bloorview School Authority offers a unique setting for students in Kindergarten to Grade One. The full day program is based on The Ontario Curriculum for Kindergarten and Grade One. Our approach is holistic and child-centred and based on the students’ individual strengths and needs. Our small classes allow for an academic focus on the acquisition of early literacy and numeracy skills to create the foundation for early learning. Library, music, visual arts, adapted physical education and aquatics enrich the weekly school timetable.

Integrated Education and Therapy Program

The Integrated Education and Therapy Program (IET) is an interdisciplinary early intervention program for children with a range of physical and/or communication disabilities.

Physical, occupational and speech therapies are integrated into the child’s school day as part of the educational programming.

The therapy is provided by professional therapists working in a team setting with special education teachers and educational assistants.
The teachers, therapists and support staff collaborate to establish individual learning and therapy goals and share the responsibility of programming for the goals of each student. 

The classrooms are set up in a Universal Design for Learning model creating an inclusive environment. Appropriately designed space, furniture and equipment, augmentative and alternative communication systems, adapted technology and computer systems allow the child to gain the greatest benefit from the teaching and learning process. 

This early learning environment maximizes a child’s potential in communication, intellectual, physical, and social skills development.  Each child is encouraged to develop a sense of independence and personal responsibility. 

An Individual Education Plan is developed by the interdisciplinary team in consultation with the family to outline the strengths and needs of the students and to describe specific modifications, accommodations and strategies necessary to build success.
A school team supported by a School Transition Liaison Teacher collaborates with the community school Boards to ensure a successful transition when the student leaves Bloorview.

Bloorview School Authority Integrated Education and Therapy Program Eligibility

All students admitted to Bloorview School are registered clients of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (HBKRH) or, for York Region students, a client of Children's Treatment Network (CTN) and have a primary diagnosis of a physical disability and other associated complex needs.

Priority is given to applicants who have the potential to access the Ontario curriculum and who require a multidisciplinary approach for education and therapy.

The potential student:

  • Demonstrates complex needs in two or more of the following areas

    • Physiotherapy

    • Occupational Therapy

    • Speech and Language Therapy

  • Is of legal school age (at least four years of age by December 31, 2019), has the ability to tolerate a full day in a classroom setting and can attend to a range of activities for a short period of time.

  • Is currently and actively participating in and has demonstrated growth in two or more of the following therapies: speech and language therapy, occupational therapy or physical therapy and has shown the ability to integrate skills taught into daily activities

  • Demonstrates the ability to indicate, through a communication strategy ( e.g. body movement; verbal words; eye gaze; speech generating devices; picture communication) the following:

    • yes and no responses

    • communication of choices

Text Box: Application does not guarantee acceptance into Bloorview School. A multi-disciplinary selection committee reviews all applications. Parents are informed of placement decisions by mid-April.


School Authorities are created pursuant to Section 68 of the Education Act of Ontario, with all the duties, powers and responsibilities of District School Boards.  Section 68 Schools are housed in Children’s Treatment Centres such as HBKRH.

Bloorview School Authority is one of six Section 68 Schools in Ontario.  As such Bloorview School does not belong to any of the local District School Boards, and has its own trustees who govern the operations and policies of the school.

The Principal is the Chairperson of the Admissions Committee and is responsible for the admission and placement of students.

The initial step in a multi-step application process is the receipt of the IET Applicant Information From Referring Source form for your child from a referring practitioner.  This must be received by January 25, 2019.  We also ask that families submit a two to three minute video of their child as part of the application process and sign a Consent to Exchange Information form (see link below).

Following the receipt of these forms, a screening process will take place with the Bloorview School Authority multidisciplinary admissions team.

Consent to Exchange Information