Ontario Science Centre school cancelled for another year
The decision to shutter the school for another year comes as the Science Centre looks to find “a suitable temporary home.”
Updated July 16, 2025 at 4:18 p.m.
July 15, 2025
The school ceased offering the program last school year after Premier Doug Ford’s government abruptly closed the Science Centre, citing an engineering report that found the roof in danger of collapsing.
Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star file photo
By Elissa Mendes
Staff Reporter
The Ontario Science Centre Science School is cancelled for the upcoming school year, the Science Centre says.
The decision to shutter the school for another year comes as the Science Centre looks to find “a suitable temporary home,” according to an email sent to Science Centre employees and obtained by the Star.
“This decision was not made easily,” the email reads. “Ultimately, we want to ensure that we find the best fit for a location that supports our students and the kind of teaching and learning we do.”
A message on the Science School website says though the program won’t be running for the 2025-26 school year, organizers are “actively exploring opportunities for the future.”
“I will continue working closely with colleagues within and beyond the organization to explore options for the return of Science School for the 26-27 school year,” the email continues.
A spokesperson for the Science Centre said teams are working to bring science into communities through pop-ups, events and interactive exhibits at the temporary Harbourfront Centre and CF Sherway Gardens locations.
“In addition, we are also working with schools to deliver programs in new ways from livestream learning to hands-on workshops,” the spokesperson added in an email, noting efforts to bring the Science School back are ongoing.
The school allowed up to 36 Grade 12 students at a time to spend a semester taking some of their high school science courses at the science centre. In an innovation course, students presented projects and explained exhibits to science centre visitors.
“With the government’s apparent focus on repurposing surplus schools across the province, and community colleges asking for new opportunities, it should have been easy for Ontario to find a partner to relaunch the OSC’s esteemed Science School,” Jason Ash, co-chair of Save Ontario’s Science Centre, told the Star in an email.
Ash added the lack of funding and a location for the second year in a row raises concerns about whether the school will ever be reopened.
The school similarly cancelled the program last school year after Premier Doug Ford’s government abruptly closed the OSC last June, citing an engineering report that found the roof in danger of collapsing.
The move drew ire from the premier’s political opponents, who criticized Ford’s plan to move the Science Centre to Ontario Place and put up affordable housing in its old location.
“Here’s an idea: We already have a home for the Ontario Science Centre school,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a post on X.
“It’s called the Ontario Science Centre.”
“This is a heartbreaking move that will only make it harder for children to becoming (sic) our next generation of scientists, researchers, physicians and astronauts,” Don Valley East MPP Adil Shamji said in a post on X of this year’s Science School closure.
“And why? All to serve a government’s inexplicable choice to cozy up to a foreign spa company at Ontario Place.”
The Ontario Science Centre’s closure meant the end of its popular high school labs — until now. The OSC also offered daylong workshops for high schoolers taking grade 12 chemistry or biology. Since the centre’s closure, some of the classes have been held in other laboratory environments, including on Toronto Metropolitan University’s campus, where students learn about DNA fingerprinting and how to separate DNA fragments.
In March, infrastructure officials told the auditor general’s office the OSC is expected to be back in business by 2029.
With files from The Canadian Press and Anastasia Blosser
Elissa Mendes is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: [email protected]
Original article:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ontario-science-centre-school-cancelled-for-another-year/article_266f866e-85d0-4582-a3e5-fe6779229600.html
