FAQ
General Questions
Q. What is the eligibility to participate?
A. Your school must be in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and have students in grade 7 and 8.
Q. When does the olympics begin and end?
A. You can find a general timetable for the day here.
Q. How many students should I bring to MSEO? Is it beneficial to bring over 20 students?
A. We recommend schools bring 20 students with a mix of both grade 7 and 8. Having more students makes it easier to distribute your students among all the events but it also means that there may be more students that are not in a scheduled event at some point during the day.
Q. Can I pay by cheque on the day of the competition?
A. No you can not pay by cheque. We only accept payment in the form of a journal entry. Your office administrator (OA) would know how to do this. Payment is required before your spot in the olympics is confirmed so the fees must be paid prior to the competition date. You can find more information about payment here.
Q. What is the registration fee used for?
A. The registration fee pays for all the materials that are used during the olympics from the competitive events to enrichment programs to signs and banners. It also covers the 2 snacks that are provided to participants. The majority of the cost is used to purchase the awards that are given out to the participants at the closing ceremony.
Q. How many staff or parent volunteers do I need to bring?
A. Please check with your own school for the rules about excursion in the elementary system. We do not set the student to adult ratio.
Q. Do you provide lunch or do students need to bring their lunch?
A. We do not provide lunch. You can find information about food and snacks here.
Q. Do you provide busing?
A. Sorry we do not provide busing. We are a TDSB public school. We do not receive specific funding for this event. The entire event is solely run by volunteer high school students along with their staff advisors who are high school teachers.
Event Questions
Q. Do we need to prepare for the events? How do we prepare for the events?
A. For the majority of the events, no prior preparation is needed. All the materials and instructions are given out on the day of the event. However, there are usually 2 events that require prior preparation. These events will have a more detailed and specific outline that will be sent out by the first week of February to the participating schools in the competition package.
Q. How long is each event?
A. Each event is 45 minutes long. A general schedule of the day can be found here.
Q. Where can I find more information about the events?
A. A description of the events are usually posted on the website by the first week of February. The events change from year to year.
Q. Do I have to participate in the teacher event? Can a parent volunteer participate in the event instead?
A. All events in the olympics are optional including the teacher event. However, any school that has a participating teacher earns points for their school whether or not the teacher wins the event. Only a teacher (or administrator) can participate in the teacher event. A parent volunteer can NOT participate.
Q. What is the teacher event? Do I need to prepare for it?
A. Teacher events are made to be fun (and even silly). There is no trivia nor curriculum content and thus there is no need to prepare for this event. The teacher event changes year to year. A description of the event will be available by the first week of February and will be posted on the website along with all the other events for that day.