About High School Too
A culture of consent and care
High School Too brings students and educators, parents and caregivers, advocates and experts together to create meaningful tools, resources and policy change to how Ontario schools respond to sexual and gender-based violence.
Everything we do is co-designed with the people most impacted: students.
Student knowledge and lived experiences are responded to, respected and resourced.
How we work…
Our guiding principles are rooted in a care-first model of support before reporting, for students impacted by sexual assault.
Everyone belongs
Care is a shared responsibility
You are the expert of your experience
We name the roots of harm
Co-design leads to meaningful tools and resources
Hurt people can hurt others, and have the right to heal
Consent is how we show care
Accountability, justice, and healing take many forms
Collaborators and funder
High School Too, a province-wide initiative, is led by Possibility Seeds. The government of Ontario funds it as part of Ontario-STANDS: Standing Together Against gender-based violence Now through Decisive actions, prevention, empowerment and Supports.
Our roots
High School Too is part of a much larger movement to build a culture of consent that began long before us and will continue long after. We are here because of the courage and work of generations of survivors, youth leaders, and organizers who made this moment possible. We honour them by continuing to build safer, more caring communities. High School Too started in early 2022. Possibility founder had witnessed an emerging trend of student walkouts across the country, urging for consent culture to be embedded in schools. Working with students from the Consent Action Team, they reached out to the student leaders to connect and learn from each other.
The founding members include Sofia Alda, Carolyn Bridgeman, Keneisha Charles, Kaitlyn Demeria, Bronte Ibbotson, Farrah Khan, Jenna Meier, Lynn Nguyen, Fechi Onyegbule, Lidija Projkovski and Tiffany Wong, a mix of high school students, university students and an adult ally. Within months, they had published the 10 Calls to Action. We remain inspired by the high school students who continue to demand safety, care and accountability, and who refuse to believe sexual violence is the price students should pay to graduate high school.
Our history
High School Too formed in 2022, after a year of student walkouts across Canada.
Before
Before us
The name High School Too is a thank-you to Tarana Burke, who created the #MeToo rallying cry in 2006 to reach survivors of sexual violence, especially young Black women, and let them know they were not alone. MeToo is now a global movement.
In 2019, CBC's Marketplace surveyed 4,000 Canadians aged 14 to 21. Fifteen per cent of girls and nine per cent of boys said a peer had subjected them to a forced sexual act. The same investigation reported that schools lacked the policies to respond when students came forward.
Statistics Canada has run national research on sexual violence at post-secondary institutions. It has not done the same for high schools.
Oct 2021
Feb 2022
Students walk out
Beginning in October 2021, high school students across Canada walked out of class over sexual violence in their schools and how their schools responded to it. By spring 2022 there had been 16 walkouts, from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia.
| Date | School | City | School board | Province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2021 | Waterdown District High School | Waterdown (Hamilton) | Hamilton-Wentworth DSB | Ontario |
| Oct 8, 2021 | Sir Winston Churchill Secondary | St. Catharines | District School Board of Niagara | Ontario |
| Oct 12, 2021 | Charlottetown Rural High School | Charlottetown | Public Schools Branch | Prince Edward Island |
| Oct 19, 2021 | Avon High School | Windsor | Annapolis Valley RCE | Nova Scotia |
| Nov 10, 2021 | Cawthra Park Secondary | Mississauga | Peel DSB | Ontario |
| Nov 16, 2021 | Central Memorial High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 16, 2021 | Western Canada High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 22, 2021 | Henry Wise Wood High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 22, 2021 | Centennial High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 24, 2021 | Pauline Johnson Collegiate | Brantford | Grand Erie DSB | Ontario |
| Nov 25, 2021 | Foothills Composite High School | Okotoks | Foothills School Division | Alberta |
| Nov 25, 2021 | Pauline Johnson Collegiate | Brantford | Grand Erie DSB | Ontario |
| Nov 25, 2021 | Nelson High School | Burlington | Halton DSB | Ontario |
| Feb 14, 2022 | Mount Boucherie Secondary | West Kelowna | Central Okanagan Public Schools | British Columbia |
| Feb 17, 2022 | Rutland Senior Secondary | Kelowna | Central Okanagan Public Schools | British Columbia |
| Feb 17, 2022 | Kelowna Secondary | Kelowna | Central Okanagan Public Schools | British Columbia |
Six walkouts took place in Ontario, five in Alberta, three in British Columbia, one in Prince Edward Island and one in Nova Scotia. Four were at Calgary Board of Education schools and three at Central Okanagan Public Schools, which is part of why the first four Calls to Action were addressed to school boards.
Earlier accounts of this period count 17 walkouts. That figure listed the Central Okanagan school district alongside three of its own schools, so the count here is 16.
Carolyn Bridgeman counted around 200 students at the Ontario walkouts, some as young as twelve.
2022
High School Too forms
We reached out to students through every channel we could find and secured funding to build a virtual space for shared learning. The funding came from the TMU Consent Action Team, a peer leadership program created by Consent Comes First, the Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education.
Through Instagram chats and FaceTime calls, High School Too came together: a national grassroots group of high school students, university students, and an adult ally.
We recognized how many student walkouts were happening in high schools and how many students were protesting sexual violence. We started thinking about what we can do to help them and how we could address this problem.
Carolyn Bridgeman
Organizing happened online, across provinces, during a pandemic. Sofia Alda, then 19 and in Toronto, described what it was like to have a group of people on a call who all cared about the same cause and were working toward it.
The founding group included Sofia Alda, Bronte Ibbotson, Carolyn Bridgeman, Keneisha Charles, Kaitlyn Demeria, Farrah Khan, Jenna Meier, Lynn Nguyen, Fechi Onyegbule, Lidija Projkovski, and Tiffany Wong.
Apr 2022
10 Calls to Action
We launched a ten-part platform, grouped by who could deliver each change.
Four actions school boards can take
Implement stand-alone Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment policies at every school board across the country, with clear and transparent communication to the school community, especially students, about those policies.
Implement updated dress code policies and protocols with students, so that learning environments are equitable, shame-free, welcoming and inclusive at every school board.
Implement a student-led Consent Committee at each school board across the country to provide meaningful insight and feedback on the school's ongoing work to address sexual violence.
Mandate that each school has collaboration agreements in place with local gender-based violence organizations, including local rape crisis centres, to provide education to schools and support to survivors and families affected by sexual violence. Work with community services to ensure high school students can access them.
Four actions provincial and territorial governments can take
Provide ongoing funding to school boards for comprehensive curriculum development and student education, and for trauma-informed, healing-centred, violence-informed training for education staff, students and parents on responding to disclosures. Fund school boards to implement sexual violence and harassment policy, response and adjudication. Increase ongoing sustainable core funding to sexual assault centres.
Build and mandate provincial standards for collecting data on sexual violence against high school students, for incidents occurring both inside and outside school.
Establish a National Consent Awareness Week adopted by schools nationwide, providing educational opportunities for students, parents and staff during the third week of September. Provide funding to school boards to carry out annual programming.
Ensure mandatory comprehensive sexual violence and consent education for all grade levels in every province and territory.
Two actions the federal government can take
Provide research funding for a national survey on sexual violence and harassment in high schools. Statistics Canada has conducted national research on sexual violence in post-secondary schools, but not high schools. This must change so we know the real scope of the problem.
The National Action Plan must include the voices and concerns of young people in Canada so it can meaningfully address the harm we are subjected to. The federal government must consult with and include youth leaders in planning it.
Video
In their own words
Press
In the media
- Toronto Star, April 21, 2022. Students across Canada are demanding consent education, resources to combat sexual violence in schools, by Madison Wong. Bronte Ibbotson, Jenna Meier, Sofia Alda and Kaitlyn Demeria set out the case for the 10 Calls to Action, days after the platform launched.
- Humber News, April 2022. Coverage of the launch of the 10 Calls to Action.
- CBC Radio, The Current, April 25, 2022. Full transcript.
- CTV News, Your Morning, April 27, 2022. These students want you to know sexual assault happens in high school too, and it needs to stop, by Brooklyn Neustaeter. Jenna Meier and Bronte Ibbotson, then 17, from Niagara, Ontario, argued for consent education starting earlier than high school.
- Toronto Metropolitan University, May 2022. On the student leaders behind the campaign.
Sept 2022
onward
Consent Awareness Week
Of the ten calls, Consent Awareness Week has travelled furthest.
The students chose the third week of September. The first six weeks of the school year are known as the Red Zone, when sexual violence rises.
Kaitlyn Demeria, then 15 and in British Columbia, told the Toronto Star that her consent education had ended in Grade 10 and had lasted two class blocks. A student who missed those two blocks missed consent education. A week, she argued, could reach students, staff and parents.
In April 2022, Bronte Ibbotson told CTV that her own school board had already turned the idea down, and that going to government was the next step if boards would not act.
The first national Consent Awareness Week ran in September 2022, led by Possibility Seeds and High School Too. It has since been recognized by provinces, territories and cities, including permanent recognition in Alberta and a private member's bill in Ontario.
Consent Awareness Week has an earlier precedent. In 2016, at the Ontario University Sexual Violence Network, Sarah Scanlon and Farrah Khan created Consent Action Week, held on Ontario campuses during the last week of January. A few people ran it that first year. Sexual violence support offices across the province now take part.
Now
Where we are now
High School Too is a Possibility Seeds project. Current work includes the BRAVE model, the CARE model, the Consent Futures Fellowship, and free Consent Awareness Week guides for students, parents and educators.
Much of the 2022 platform is unfinished. Statistics Canada has still not run a national survey of sexual violence in high schools.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is High School Too?
High School Too is a network working to end sexual violence in high schools. It began in 2022 as a national student network and is now a Possibility Seeds project focused on Ontario schools, providing resources, policy advocacy and free guides for students, parents and educators.
Where does the name come from?
The name is a thank-you to Tarana Burke, who created the #MeToo rallying cry in 2006. High School Too makes the point that sexual violence does not begin at university. It is happening in high school too.
Who started High School Too?
It was started by the Consent Action Team, a peer leadership program created by Consent Comes First, the Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education at Toronto Metropolitan University. The founding group brought together high school students, university students and an adult ally from across Canada.
Why did it start?
Between October 2021 and February 2022 there were 16 student-led walkouts at Canadian high schools over sexual violence and how schools responded to it. High School Too formed to connect those students and support their organizing.
What are the 10 Calls to Action?
A platform released in April 2022, grouped by who could deliver each change: four actions for school boards, four for provincial and territorial governments, and two for the federal government. They cover stand-alone sexual violence policies, dress codes, student consent committees, community partnerships, funding, data collection, Consent Awareness Week, mandatory consent education, a national survey, and youth inclusion in the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence.
When is Consent Awareness Week?
The third week of September each year. In 2026 it runs September 21 to 25.
Why the third week of September?
The first six weeks of the school year are known as the Red Zone, when sexual violence rises. The students chose that timing deliberately so education lands before the risk peaks rather than after.
Has anything changed since 2022?
Consent Awareness Week is now a national initiative with permanent recognition in Alberta and a private member's bill in Ontario. Much of the rest of the platform is unfinished. Statistics Canada has still not run a national survey of sexual violence in high schools.
How can my school get involved?
Start with the Take Action page, which has separate guides for students, parents and caregivers, and educators and schools. The Consent Awareness Week guides are free to use.
You are not alone
While High School Too addresses complex topics, we do not offer therapy or crisis response. If you or someone you know needs help, connect with the services on our support page, including Kids Help Phone and Justice for Children and Youth.
Last updated
Our history
High School Too formed in 2022, after a year of student walkouts across Canada.
Before
Before us
The name High School Too is a thank-you to Tarana Burke, who created the #MeToo rallying cry in 2006 to reach survivors of sexual violence, especially young Black women, and let them know they were not alone. MeToo is now a global movement.
In 2019, CBC's Marketplace surveyed 4,000 Canadians aged 14 to 21. Fifteen per cent of girls and nine per cent of boys said a peer had subjected them to a forced sexual act. The same investigation reported that schools lacked the policies to respond when students came forward.
Statistics Canada has run national research on sexual violence at post-secondary institutions. It has not done the same for high schools.
Oct 2021
Feb 2022
Students walk out
Beginning in October 2021, high school students across Canada walked out of class over sexual violence in their schools and how their schools responded to it. By spring 2022 there had been 16 walkouts, from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia.
| Date | School | City | School board | Province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2021 | Waterdown District High School | Waterdown (Hamilton) | Hamilton-Wentworth DSB | Ontario |
| Oct 8, 2021 | Sir Winston Churchill Secondary | St. Catharines | District School Board of Niagara | Ontario |
| Oct 12, 2021 | Charlottetown Rural High School | Charlottetown | Public Schools Branch | Prince Edward Island |
| Oct 19, 2021 | Avon High School | Windsor | Annapolis Valley RCE | Nova Scotia |
| Nov 10, 2021 | Cawthra Park Secondary | Mississauga | Peel DSB | Ontario |
| Nov 16, 2021 | Central Memorial High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 16, 2021 | Western Canada High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 22, 2021 | Henry Wise Wood High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 22, 2021 | Centennial High School | Calgary | Calgary Board of Education | Alberta |
| Nov 24, 2021 | Pauline Johnson Collegiate | Brantford | Grand Erie DSB | Ontario |
| Nov 25, 2021 | Foothills Composite High School | Okotoks | Foothills School Division | Alberta |
| Nov 25, 2021 | Pauline Johnson Collegiate | Brantford | Grand Erie DSB | Ontario |
| Nov 25, 2021 | Nelson High School | Burlington | Halton DSB | Ontario |
| Feb 14, 2022 | Mount Boucherie Secondary | West Kelowna | Central Okanagan Public Schools | British Columbia |
| Feb 17, 2022 | Rutland Senior Secondary | Kelowna | Central Okanagan Public Schools | British Columbia |
| Feb 17, 2022 | Kelowna Secondary | Kelowna | Central Okanagan Public Schools | British Columbia |
Six walkouts took place in Ontario, five in Alberta, three in British Columbia, one in Prince Edward Island and one in Nova Scotia. Four were at Calgary Board of Education schools and three at Central Okanagan Public Schools, which is part of why the first four Calls to Action were addressed to school boards.
Earlier accounts of this period count 17 walkouts. That figure listed the Central Okanagan school district alongside three of its own schools, so the count here is 16.
Carolyn Bridgeman counted around 200 students at the Ontario walkouts, some as young as twelve.
2022
High School Too forms
We reached out to students through every channel we could find and secured funding to build a virtual space for shared learning. The funding came from the TMU Consent Action Team, a peer leadership program created by Consent Comes First, the Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education.
Through Instagram chats and FaceTime calls, High School Too came together: a national grassroots group of high school students, university students, and an adult ally.
We recognized how many student walkouts were happening in high schools and how many students were protesting sexual violence. We started thinking about what we can do to help them and how we could address this problem.
Carolyn Bridgeman
Organizing happened online, across provinces, during a pandemic. Sofia Alda, then 19 and in Toronto, described what it was like to have a group of people on a call who all cared about the same cause and were working toward it.
The founding group included Sofia Alda, Bronte Ibbotson, Carolyn Bridgeman, Keneisha Charles, Kaitlyn Demeria, Farrah Khan, Jenna Meier, Lynn Nguyen, Fechi Onyegbule, Lidija Projkovski, and Tiffany Wong.
Apr 2022
10 Calls to Action
We launched a ten-part platform, grouped by who could deliver each change.
Four actions school boards can take
Implement stand-alone Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment policies at every school board across the country, with clear and transparent communication to the school community, especially students, about those policies.
Implement updated dress code policies and protocols with students, so that learning environments are equitable, shame-free, welcoming and inclusive at every school board.
Implement a student-led Consent Committee at each school board across the country to provide meaningful insight and feedback on the school's ongoing work to address sexual violence.
Mandate that each school has collaboration agreements in place with local gender-based violence organizations, including local rape crisis centres, to provide education to schools and support to survivors and families affected by sexual violence. Work with community services to ensure high school students can access them.
Four actions provincial and territorial governments can take
Provide ongoing funding to school boards for comprehensive curriculum development and student education, and for trauma-informed, healing-centred, violence-informed training for education staff, students and parents on responding to disclosures. Fund school boards to implement sexual violence and harassment policy, response and adjudication. Increase ongoing sustainable core funding to sexual assault centres.
Build and mandate provincial standards for collecting data on sexual violence against high school students, for incidents occurring both inside and outside school.
Establish a National Consent Awareness Week adopted by schools nationwide, providing educational opportunities for students, parents and staff during the third week of September. Provide funding to school boards to carry out annual programming.
Ensure mandatory comprehensive sexual violence and consent education for all grade levels in every province and territory.
Two actions the federal government can take
Provide research funding for a national survey on sexual violence and harassment in high schools. Statistics Canada has conducted national research on sexual violence in post-secondary schools, but not high schools. This must change so we know the real scope of the problem.
The National Action Plan must include the voices and concerns of young people in Canada so it can meaningfully address the harm we are subjected to. The federal government must consult with and include youth leaders in planning it.
Video
In their own words
Press
In the media
- Toronto Star, April 21, 2022. Students across Canada are demanding consent education, resources to combat sexual violence in schools, by Madison Wong. Bronte Ibbotson, Jenna Meier, Sofia Alda and Kaitlyn Demeria set out the case for the 10 Calls to Action, days after the platform launched.
- Humber News, April 2022. Coverage of the launch of the 10 Calls to Action.
- CBC Radio, The Current, April 25, 2022. Full transcript.
- CTV News, Your Morning, April 27, 2022. These students want you to know sexual assault happens in high school too, and it needs to stop, by Brooklyn Neustaeter. Jenna Meier and Bronte Ibbotson, then 17, from Niagara, Ontario, argued for consent education starting earlier than high school.
- Toronto Metropolitan University, May 2022. On the student leaders behind the campaign.
Sept 2022
onward
Consent Awareness Week
Of the ten calls, Consent Awareness Week has travelled furthest.
The students chose the third week of September. The first six weeks of the school year are known as the Red Zone, when sexual violence rises.
Kaitlyn Demeria, then 15 and in British Columbia, told the Toronto Star that her consent education had ended in Grade 10 and had lasted two class blocks. A student who missed those two blocks missed consent education. A week, she argued, could reach students, staff and parents.
In April 2022, Bronte Ibbotson told CTV that her own school board had already turned the idea down, and that going to government was the next step if boards would not act.
The first national Consent Awareness Week ran in September 2022, led by Possibility Seeds and High School Too. It has since been recognized by provinces, territories and cities, including permanent recognition in Alberta and a private member's bill in Ontario.
Consent Awareness Week has an earlier precedent. In 2016, at the Ontario University Sexual Violence Network, Sarah Scanlon and Farrah Khan created Consent Action Week, held on Ontario campuses during the last week of January. A few people ran it that first year. Sexual violence support offices across the province now take part.
Now
Where we are now
High School Too is a Possibility Seeds project. Current work includes the BRAVE model, the CARE model, the Consent Futures Fellowship, and free Consent Awareness Week guides for students, parents and educators.
Much of the 2022 platform is unfinished. Statistics Canada has still not run a national survey of sexual violence in high schools.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is High School Too?
High School Too is a network working to end sexual violence in high schools. It began in 2022 as a national student network and is now a Possibility Seeds project focused on Ontario schools, providing resources, policy advocacy and free guides for students, parents and educators.
Where does the name come from?
The name is a thank-you to Tarana Burke, who created the #MeToo rallying cry in 2006. High School Too makes the point that sexual violence does not begin at university. It is happening in high school too.
Who started High School Too?
It was started by the Consent Action Team, a peer leadership program created by Consent Comes First, the Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education at Toronto Metropolitan University. The founding group brought together high school students, university students and an adult ally from across Canada.
Why did it start?
Between October 2021 and February 2022 there were 16 student-led walkouts at Canadian high schools over sexual violence and how schools responded to it. High School Too formed to connect those students and support their organizing.
What are the 10 Calls to Action?
A platform released in April 2022, grouped by who could deliver each change: four actions for school boards, four for provincial and territorial governments, and two for the federal government. They cover stand-alone sexual violence policies, dress codes, student consent committees, community partnerships, funding, data collection, Consent Awareness Week, mandatory consent education, a national survey, and youth inclusion in the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence.
When is Consent Awareness Week?
The third week of September each year. In 2026 it runs September 21 to 25.
Why the third week of September?
The first six weeks of the school year are known as the Red Zone, when sexual violence rises. The students chose that timing deliberately so education lands before the risk peaks rather than after.
Has anything changed since 2022?
Consent Awareness Week is now a national initiative with permanent recognition in Alberta and a private member's bill in Ontario. Much of the rest of the platform is unfinished. Statistics Canada has still not run a national survey of sexual violence in high schools.
How can my school get involved?
Start with the Take Action page, which has separate guides for students, parents and caregivers, and educators and schools. The Consent Awareness Week guides are free to use.
You are not alone
While High School Too addresses complex topics, we do not offer therapy or crisis response. If you or someone you know needs help, connect with the services on our support page, including Kids Help Phone and Justice for Children and Youth.
Last updated