On what grounds can a transferring student be deemed eligible?

Question

Accepted Answer

The Transfers Committee may rule a student eligible under these criteria (the Committee decides at its sole discretion, and producing documents does not guarantee eligibility):

(a) Change of residence or system: you and your immediate family completely and permanently moved to a new permanent residence (outside the sending school's board boundaries, or closer to the receiving school); you moved to Ontario from outside Canada and the United States; your former school closed; or a school board placed you (the board-placement ground can be used only once during your eligibility unless the transfer relates to student safety).
(b) No interschool sport: you did not play any interschool sport in the 12 months before the transfer (not available to students in their first year of Grade 9); or you accept ineligibility but ask for eligibility in sports you did not play in those 12 months; or you were away from your previous school for less than a school year and are returning, without playing interschool sport meanwhile. Written confirmation from the previous school is required.
(c) Placement or programs: an IPRC placement; a move from an independent school because of an educational exceptionality it could not accommodate; completion of an English or English Dialect Learner program where the board requires the move; or a move to a French-language school for a rights-holder or admitted student.
(d) Exceptional circumstances: a move before Grade 10 for exceptional personal, social or academic reasons; living with a custodial parent or new court-appointed guardian; leaving an abusive home; leaving an independent school because of financial hardship; bullying where the sending school agreed a transfer was in your best interests; or a regulated mental health professional's recommendation.

The Committee will not consider as reasons for transfer the relative ranking of schools, differences in course delivery, or that a sport or team is no longer offered at your previous school. Refugee students are not treated as transfer students and are eligible for all sports for their first two years from their date of entry into school.

Source: OFSAA Transfer Policy at September 2026.