Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School started out as two campuses known as the "Tin Can", one which later became
Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts and a demolished relocatable. It was founded on January 23, 1985, during the 400th anniversary of Mary Ward's birth, The school came to existence due to overcrowding population secondary schools at
Francis Libermann and
Senator O'Connor. The North Campus of Mary Ward was situated on 25 Canongate Trail at Birchmount and Steeles with 102 students in
relocatables; the South Campus is located at 36 Greenfield Avenue with 47 students until they were consolidated in the Canongate campus in 1986 with 400 students. By 1987, another "South Campus" was built with 600 students and 70 portables on the present site at 3200 Kennedy Road. The modern building for 861 students was built and completed by September 1991 as the school was opened and blessed in January 1992, designed specifically for its
self-directed learning program (formerly called Direction 2000 established in the late 1980s). By the 1992–93 school year, the school had grown to over 1,000 students. In 1995, MWCSS became a founding member of the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning Schools (CCSDL). By 1996, the school had an independent learning system. Sandra Gionas of the
Toronto Star in 1996 explained, "There are no classes or classrooms at Mary Ward. It's sometimes said the teachers don't teach. There's no first period or second period, no semester system or terms. And students decide when to write exams." ==Campus==