Halfway through November! Some of you are finishing courses already and ready for more, and if that applies to you, see below! For our grade 12 students, post-secondary schools are beginning to take applications for September 2026, it is recommended you check out the websites of the programs you are considering to be aware of important dates.
As a full-time student high school student with EBUS, we will email you each a credit check detailing your progress in the graduation program showing the courses and required assessments completed, courses you are registered in and what remains to be complete to satisfy graduation requirements. All full time students should have this by now, and if you need an update, please email your academic advisor.
REQUIRED GRADUATION ASSESSMENTS
Students graduating under the 2023 graduation program will need to complete a total of 3 assessments to meet graduation requirements: Literacy 10, Numeracy and Literacy 12. These assessments must be written in person under the supervision of a teacher and are written in high schools across BC. EBUS will help our full-time students find a seat in a local high school for the January and June sessions.
Students need to complete these only one time.
For students looking to write in the January session, EBUS can help you find a school close by for you to write in. You can register for that HERE between November 3 and December 8. Registrations received after the 8th will be accepted but we cannot guarantee a seat.
You can get all the details at https://ebus.ca/welcome-package/grade-10-12-homeroomnews/graduation-assessments-provincial-exams/ Students can find also find information, including practice assessments in the Graduation Assessments section of the Grade 10-12 Homeroom, accessed through their EBUS dashboard.
For students looking at post-secondary education, UBC requires students score a 3 or better on the Literacy 12 assessment, with no requirements for the Literacy 10 or Numeracy. Currently other colleges and universities have not indicated the Literacy 12 result will be used as part of their admissions requirements, and students are responsible to research their future college or university to ensure you meet all admissions requirements. It is recommended grade 12s write their assessments in January as June assessment results are not released by the ministry until late July each year.
For the required graduation numeracy and literacy assessments, all BC students will need government issue photo ID. If you need a school ID card please send a current colour photo to ebusresources@sd91.bc.ca well in advance of your assessment date.
The next session EBUS will organize is for June 2026, and registration for this session will open in early April.
REQUESTING NEW COURSES
For full time students wanting to add a new course, please email your new request to your advisor. Be sure to put the full student name and the specific course you are requesting, like English New Media 10 or Foundations Math 11. A new course will only be added if you are nearly finished a current course, we do not automatically add new courses at the end of January. As students complete or drop courses they finish or are not interested in taking, that frees up a seat for another, so it is in all students’ interests to not have inactive courses on your dashboard and to finish courses as soon as you can. We strongly recommend students request all new courses by February 10 2026. Summer session registration will open the beginning of May each school year and we will have more info about that after Spring Break.
COURSE REMINDERS
This year it is essential students start all courses on your dashboard given the volume of new students we are welcoming this year. Note that students who have not submitted any work within 4 weeks of having the course on your dashboard risk being withdrawn for inactivity. If you need help with something reach out to the teacher right away, or if you need to make a course change, let your advisor know. Our goal is not to stress students out with this information; we want to support each one of you with your goals of learning and high school graduation. As a guideline, students working in 4 or more courses should plan for a minimum 25 hours each week for learning time, scheduled flexibly when it works for you. Your teachers are available during the traditional school day as indicated in their course, and we work hard to respond to student questions within 1-2 school days. Note if your teacher works part time, it may take longer to respond.
AI and EBUS
Responsible Use of AI
AI tools (like ChatGPT, Gemini or Grammarly) can be helpful, but only when your instructor allows it. If it is not explicitly stated by your instructor, consider it not permissible.
Rules
– Ask first: Check if AI is allowed.
– Be honest: Include an AI Use Statement if you use it.
Example: “Used ChatGPT (May 2025) to brainstorm ideas; rewrote in my own words.”
– Cite it: List the tool name and date in your references.
– Do your own thinking: Do not submit AI work as your own reasoning or answers.
Okay: Brainstorming, grammar check, idea generation (with citation).
Not okay: AI-written essays, code, or images submitted as your own.
If you use AI for images or media, include the tool name, prompt, and edits.
At EBUS, you’re expected to complete your own work and use tools—including AI—responsibly. Integrity means showing what you know and giving credit when you use help or ideas from others.
WHAT ABOUT?
To ensure our full-time high school students have all the information about EBUS Academy needed to be successful, our website contains lots of information vital to student success. In this section of our bi-weekly newsletter, we will highlight some of the elements of EBUS that we get lots of questions about.
Sooo…what about when your dashboard is down?
This one is short and simple so we will do a threefer on this newsletter. If you cannot access your courses, check our social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter, along with the website. We post any interruptions to our courses there and anticipated timelines to course restoration. In the meantime, play with your pet, go for walk or do something away from technology while you have the chance.
For the second what about, sometimes students and families find there are struggles with their learning or course work, what about navigating this?
The first step is to contact your teacher and have a detailed conversation about the issue(s). If the challenge affects more than 1 or all your courses, you should have the discussion with each teacher. Your teacher is the one who knows what can be arranged in their course and how to best support you with completing the curriculum. Your academic advisor is also happy to discuss issues and explore solutions for students and families as well. Depending on the nature of the challenges it may be helpful for all your teachers to meet together to discuss best ways to support you and your learning. If that is the case, we will likely contact you to fill out some forms to give us more information and then invite you and your parent/guardian to join in a virtual meeting about this. Ultimately, we want to see all our students engaging in learning and being successful in their educational journey at EBUS.
And the final What About? involves funding that is currently provided by the Ministry of Education for full-time Distance Learning students to offset the costs of memberships and lessons tied to the student learning plan. An example of a membership would be a gym membership for a student to get their activity hours in a PE course at EBUS. Note that the funds can be used for a gym membership even if you are not in PE, we want to encourage all of our students to be physically active as a positive lifestyle choice. If a student is in a Piano high school course with EBUS and wanted to have a few local lessons related to this EBUS course, these funds can be used for this as well. All the details about the funds, how they can be accessed, the plan needed to be approved and how businesses can become a vendor of School District 91, are found here https://ebus.ca/welcome-package/learning-support-funds/ Note students wanting to access the funds need to be 10% complete or more in 4 courses, the Ministry does not allow the funds to be used for tutoring costs for non-Inclusive Education students, and students should have their plan submitted by March 1 to meet Ministry deadlines. The intent of Learning support funds is to support the current year’s learning, so all support funds must be applied for before Spring Break.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES 2025-26
- Nov 21 Pro D Day – EBUS staff unavailable, courses open
- Nov 21 report card 1 guarantee date – all work handed in by this date will be assessed for the Dec 12 report cards
- Dec 11 assembly
- Dec 12 report cards available
- December 19 EBUS closes for winter break, teachers not available, courses open
- January 5 2026 EBUS reopens
- Jan 15 assembly
- Feb 6 Pro D
- Feb 10 all new courses should be requested by this date
- Feb 12 assembly
- Feb 16 Family Day EBUS closed, courses open to students
- Feb 20 report card 2 guarantee date – all work handed in by this date will be assessed for the March 14 report cards
- Mar 12 assembly
- March 13 EBUS closes for Spring Break, staff unavailable, courses open
- March 14 report cards available
- March 30 EBUS reopens
- April 3-6 Easter Break – EBUS closed, courses open
- Apr 9 assembly
- Apr 24 Pro D
- May 5 summer session registration opens
- May 8 Pro D
- May 14 assembly
- May 18 Victoria Day
- June 18 assembly
- June 12 report card 3 guarantee dates
- June 24 report cards released
- June 26 school closes
- Note that Term end dates are guidelines for students to finish courses, if you do not finish by the November or January term end date you can continue with your studies without penalty. New courses are not automatically added at the Term change, students must request them as they finish current courses.
You can find the full year school calendar at
PARENT ACCESS
Parents, you can access your student’s progress and report cards on the EBUS parent portal: https://my.ebus.ca/parentportal/login.php We recommend parents log in with their student at least once a week to stay actively engaged in their learning and progress. Students, you can access your report cards from your dashboard, look for the A+ icon in the upper right hand corner. Report cards are published 3 times a year; December, March, June and for summer session courses only, September.
As we get asked this often, if your student plans to finish their course(s) in a quarterly fashion, they should be about complete and started their course(s). For Sept starts with a planned finish by the end of semester 1 on January 19, students should be about 60%+ complete. And for students working in a linear fashion to complete by the June 13th deadlines, they should be about 30%+ complete at this time.
PHONE APPOINTMENTS
For students and families looking to connect with us by phone we are using an online system this year that is well received by our families.
Leal (for students with last names A-K) can be reached at lbaumann@sd91.bc.ca or book a phone appointment HERE
Chris (for students with last names L-Z) can be reached at cmushumanski@sd91.bc.ca or book a phone appointment HERE
Keep well, the next newsletter will be Friday December 5.