Admissions — Priorities, Criteria and Waiting Lists

Admission to and enrollment at the VOC is available to children with hearing loss, on a space-available basis, whose parents and/or guardians elect to choose an auditory-oral and auditory-verbal approach to audition, speech and language acquisition and ascribe to the VOC's educational approach.

Admissions to the VOC are based on the following priorities:

  1. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children resident in BC
  2. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children resident in Canada
  3. Siblings of enrolled children
  4. Neighbourhood children
  5. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children from other countries (see International Students) 

Criteria for enrollment of students in all VOC programmes include:

  1. Ability of professional auditory-oral teachers, audiologists, Auditory-Verbal therapists and others to provide a high quality of service to the person(s) requesting service(s), and
  2. External or VOC-based audiological assessment(s), or medical assessment(s), and required childhood vaccinations
  3. Other formal or informal assessments to determine the suitability of an auditory-oral educational programme for a candidate, and
  4. Space(s) available in the school and admittance priorities, and
  5. Personal interview with the Executive Director / Principal, and
  6. Application for Admission forms completed by the parent(s) or guardian(s) of the person(s) to be served, and
  7. A written letter of acceptance of admission signed by the Executive Director / Principal, and
  8. Other requirements that the VOC may, by statute or licensing requirement, or change in VOC policy, implement from time to time and
  9. As required, determination of eligibility for financial assistance
From time to time, based on space available and suitability of programme, siblings of students with hearing loss, English as a second language students, or area residents may be admitted if this is in the best interest of the person served and the VOC.


Final authority for an admission decision is with the Executive Director/Principal.

Waiting Lists: 

From time to time, it may be necessary for the VOC to maintain a ‘Waiting List’ if classes are full. Children placed on a 'Waiting List' may be served in the following ways:

a. Emergency admission due to health needs
b. The nature and availability of the required service such as, but not limited to, medical or deaf education habilitation or rehabilitation
c. The order in which a child's name was placed on the 'Waiting List' (first come, first served)