{"id":552,"date":"2012-08-30T18:28:36","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T18:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:55:36","slug":"welcome-to-esu-essential-skills-upgrading","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Free upgrading of your reading, writing, math, computer and other skills for work, life and learning.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/locations-and-contacts\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2026\/05\/Contact-ESU-1200-x-40-px.png\" alt=\"Contact ESU\" width=\"1200\" height=\"40\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">High school interrupted by COVID?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 We can help you upgrade to move on to college or apprenticeship.<br \/>\n(see Note 1 below)<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Employment interrupted by COVID?<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 We can help you upgrade the skills you need to make a change.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Upgrading to get ready to write the GED replacement &#8211; the CAEC (Canadian Adult Education Credential) to earn a high school equivalency certificate (see our <a href=\"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/ged-update\/\">CAEC &#8211; the GED replacement!<\/a> page for links to CAEC)<\/li>\n<li>Upgrading to get ready for apprenticeship and college.<\/li>\n<li>Upgrading for career advancement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2026\/05\/When-3-scaled.png\" alt=\"lists of reasons why to attend, list of times and places, and list of eligibility criteria\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>What people are saying about ESU:<\/h2>\n<p><em><strong>&#8220;This makes my brain happy and excited&#8221; ~<\/strong><\/em>R.P.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong><em>I like how coming here has made me feel. The [training plan] was made just for me. [The teaching staff] made me feel important, and I value their teaching. I highly recommend ESU<\/em>.<\/strong>&#8221;\u00a0 ~M.C.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/testimonials\/\">Testimonials<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">ESU:Essential Skills Upgrading is an Employment Ontario <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontario.ca\/page\/adult-learning-literacy-program\"><strong><em>Get SET<\/em><\/strong><\/a> program<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2297\" src=\"http:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-300x67.jpg\" alt=\"Government of Ontario logo and word mark saying &quot;Get SET&quot; (Get Skills, Education and Training)\" width=\"300\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-300x67.jpg 300w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-768x171.jpg 768w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-1536x342.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-2048x456.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-165x37.jpg 165w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-355x79.jpg 355w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-1140x254.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-945x211.jpg 945w, https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/files\/2025\/11\/get-set-en-750x167.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Notes about eligibility:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Note 1: To be eligible for ESU, a person must be 18 or over and not a current student at a high school<\/p>\n<p>Note 2: English Speaking and Listening requirement: ESU is not an ESL or LINC program.\u00a0 The level of speaking and listening skills will be determined at assessment, or may involve a Language Assessment.\u00a0 For reference, Speaking and Listening should be roughly equivalent to CLB6<\/p>\n<p>Note 3: if Social Insurance Number (SIN) begins with 900, see Ministry memo: <a href=\"https:\/\/eopg.labour.gov.on.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/eo-memo-900-sin-policy-2022-en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Access to Employment Ontario Programs for Individuals with 900 Series Social Insurance Numbers (December 2022)\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Free upgrading of your reading, writing, math, computer and other skills for work, life and learning. High school interrupted by COVID?\u00a0 We can help you upgrade to move on to college or apprenticeship. (see Note 1 below) Employment interrupted by COVID?\u00a0 We can help you upgrade the skills you need to make a change. Upgrading [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\" role=\"complementary\"><a href=\"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/\"><strong>Read more about<\/strong> <cite>Home<\/cite> &#187;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14141,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"no-sidebars.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2476,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/552\/revisions\/2476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.wrdsb.ca\/esu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}