OCDSB-Japan Exchange
Since 2016, OCDSB students and students at Yamate Gakuin High School in Yokohama, Japan, have participated in bi-annual cultural exchanges.
Japanese students come to Ottawa in April of every 2nd year for two weeks to stay with host families, attend school a few times, and participate in various tours and activities in and around the Ottawa area.
The exchange will take place again in 2025 with Ottawa families hosting Japanese students April 11 - 25, 2025 and Ottawa students travelling to Japan to be hosted there (2 per family) July 18 - August 2, 2025.
Schools confirmed to be participating so far are Gloucester High School, Brookfield High School, Glebe Collegiate, Lisgar Collegiate, Nepean High School, Merivale High School and AY Jackson Secondary School.
The application is linked here and is due by December 9.
The slides shared at our October 2 information session are linked here.
Please click here to see answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Slideshows of the 2023 Exchange:
Yamate Phase 1 - April 2023 Hosting in Ottawa
Yamate Phase 2 - July 2023 Going to Japan
The OCDSB / Aix-Marseille-Nice Reciprocal 5-Week Exchange
This exchange started in 2017 and has seen groups of between 15 and 40 OCDSB students host students from the Aix-Marseille-Nice region every fall and then travel to France every spring. Students attend school in French during that time.
The 2024-2025 Ottawa - Provence Exchange application is now closed. The 2025-2026 application will open in late January of 2025 and will be open to students in Core French or Immersion with preference given to students in the International Certificate Program.
The slide show from the information session on February 13, 2024 is linked here and the recording of the information session is linked here.
The Application and Information Session Details will be available on this page by the last week of January, 2025.
PHASE 1: Fall 2023
PHASE 2: Spring 2023
The OCDSB-China Cultural Exchange
This exchange started in 2024 with groups of students travelling to Chengdu, China to stay with host families for just under 10 days.
The application to participate in November 2025 will open in late January of 2025 to grade 9 - 11 students from any OCDSB high school with priority given to students in the International Certificate Program.
The slides from our spring 2024 info session are linked here and answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found here.
The Application and Information Session Details will be available on this page by the last week of January, 2025.
A short video of the April 2024 exchange
For more information about this exchange, please contact Mr. Sean Oussoren, International Education Coordinator, at 613-239-0314, Ext. 2108.