“It’s about all of us.”

Welcome to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board - “A Community of Character.” Here in the OCDSB we are committed to providing learning and working environments where all individuals feel safe, valued, respected, and welcome. 

A safe and caring learning community is one that takes a holistic approach to learning and academic achievement through the infusion of character education and opportunities for character development, respect for diversity, parent and community partnerships, and citizenship development. The fundamental building blocks to a safe and caring school community are the relationships and partnerships between administrators, staff, parents, students and the community. It is through these relationships and partnerships that all individuals in the school community have the opportunity to practice and model to one another the character attributes that are at the foundation of our board operations.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s "A Community of Character" is a set of attributes that were discussed and chosen by a myriad of stakeholders. These ten attributes were selected as they were the ones deemed to be of most importance to the OCDSB and have now been built into our Board Code of Conduct Policy. It is important to acknowledge that these attributes have been selected however; the Character Committee recognizes that this list is in no way exhaustive. 

The purpose of these attributes is to provide a standard of behaviour against which all individuals in the OCDSB hold themselves accountable.  These attributes are what will bind us together and permeate all that we do.  We believe they are the foundation for excellence and equity in education and are the cornerstone of our vision for our school communities.  In conjunction with our mission statement, “Educating for Success – Inspiring Learning and Building Citizenship,” our character attributes are the stepping stones to building our community of character.