Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM)

Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) logo

Specialist High School Major (SHSM) is a ministry-approved specialized program that allows students to focus their learning on a specific economic sector while meeting the requirements to graduate from secondary school. It also assists in their transition after graduation to apprenticeship training, college, university or the workplace.

St.Paul’s offers a SHSM in Health & Wellness.

Pursuing an SHSM enables students to:

  • Customize their secondary school education to suit their interests and talents
  • Develop specialized knowledge and skills
  • Earn credits that postsecondary educational institutions and the sector recognize
  • Gain sector-recognized certification and career-relevant training
  • Develop Essential Skills and work habits documented through the Ontario Skills Passport
  • Identify, explore and refine career goals and make informed decisions about their future
  • Remain flexible, with the option to shift between pathways, should their goals and plans change.

Students who successfully complete a SHSM receive:

  • an Ontario Secondary School Diploma with an embossed red seal
  • an SHSM Record documenting his/her achievement
  • formal recognition on his/her Ontario Student Transcript.