Bridges - Senior

Senior Bridges provides alternative educational opportunities to Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board students aged 16 to 19 years. Located at Confederation College, the program strives to assist and support students as they develop, explore and pursue their future career interests. Senior Bridges is aimed at students displaying one or more of the following:

• need only a few credits to graduate and/or enter the world of work
• have had unsuccessful experiences in regular school
• employment obligations restrict full-time attendance
• struggle with the degree of organization required for success in a regular school setting
• exhibit school phobia
• unable to cope with full-time attendance

Senior Bridges students attend the morning or afternoon session, and some may attend classes at their home school (St. Patrick or St. Ignatius) the other half of their day. The home school maintains students on the school register as full-time students, and the pupil's OSR is housed at the school where he/she is registered. Each student's program is individualized using the materials of:

• programming developed by the Senior Bridges teacher
• the program supplied by the home school
• the Independent Learning Centre (ILC) courses

All Senior Bridges students participate in the Pathways Program. This program enables students to develop essential work skills, explore the workplace through experiential learning opportunities (job interviews, shadowing and placements), and begin to build their career path. Through Pathways, students can earn credit(s) in Discovering the Workplace (GLD2O), Navigating the Workplace (GLN4O) and Co-op. Pathways provides for continued learning and work experiences which will assist students’ transition to post-secondary or work destinations.
Ideally a student attends Senior Bridges for one or two semesters, completes required credits and, is then able to graduate, successfully return to his/her home school or enter the world of work.