As we are in the final day before Winter Break, we want to thank you all for choosing EBUS as your school this year. Many families are new but a number of you have been with us for years, and regardless of the time as a full-time student here, we appreciate you all and the efforts you are making this year. We hope you all have a safe and restful holiday over the next two weeks and come back energized for learning in 2026.
EBUS will be closed from the end of the day December 19 and will reopen Monday, January 5, 2026. During this time, courses are open except December 22 and 23, but there are no teachers scheduled to work, set up tests, mark assignments or answer questions. Often after a holiday like this, teachers come back to a higher than normal email and marking load; we appreciate your patience as we try and catch up as quickly as possible after the break.
As a full-time student with EBUS, since this past September, your advisory emailed 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 meet graduation requirements. In the new year, we will be updating these and sending to families, please be sure to review the document to ensure it is accurate.
Also, in January we will begin sharing information about scholarships and graduation for our grade 12 students.
REQUESTING NEW COURSES
As you finish a current course or are 80+% complete, full-time students can email your advisor with new course requests. Be sure to put the student name and the specific course you are requesting, like English New Media 10 or Foundations Math 11. We do not automatically add new courses at the end of January for the beginning of semester 2. 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. To drop a course, use the “drop course” button on your dashboard, but be sure to let your academic advisor know first so we can check the implications of that on your graduation status. The latest courses should be added this school year is February 10. Students can contact their advisor if they are looking at adding a course after this date, however, the chance that courses fill-up and close increases as time passes.
The term 2 end date is January 23 but if a student is not finished a course by that date, not a problem at all, keep working! There are no late marks or penalties to continue, and once finished, students can request new courses to finish by June 12.
IMPORTANT – 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 fulltime students find a seat at a local high school for the January and June sessions.
Students need to complete these only one time.
Registration for the January session is now closed. There will be an opportunity to sign-up for the June assessment session in the spring. Look for information in the Grade 10-12 Homeroom and in the newsletter.
Students who registered before the deadline should have received an email confirming the time and location for your session. Check your spam mail folder as well. If you have not received this email, please contact your academic advisor.
You can get all the details at https://ebus.ca/welcome-package/grade-10-12-homeroomnews/graduation-assessments-provincial-exams/
For students looking at post-secondary education, UBC requires students applying there to 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.
For the required graduation numeracy and literacy assessments, all BC students will need government issue photo ID. A BCID card or a public school ID card will qualify. 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.
EBUS YEARBOOK
Did you know that EBUS has a yearbook team who regularly meets to create a digital 2025-26 EBUS Yearbook? They have created some fun monthly photo challenges, including a cooking fails challenge and holiday share poster challenge. You can view the posters for those challenges and upcoming challenges through the Grade 10-12 Homeroom Announcements and the following Yearbook Padlet Link: HERE. The Yearbook Team is hoping to have the 2026 grad class highlighted in this year’s yearbook. Expect to see more information in the new year.
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.
2025-26 WELLNESS PROJECT DECEMBER RELATIONSHIPS
For the month of December, the focus is on relationships. Humans are hard wired for connection, meaning that is a basic requirement we all have, we must be in meaningful, safe relationships. As we head into a two-week holiday, this can be a good time to slow down, reflect on the relationships you have and how they can be improved. Some questions to consider could be: What relationships are important to you? How are you investing in them regularly? How can you improve?
WHAT ABOUT?
Lots of new things to being a fulltime online student. And often you only realize the questions you have after you’ve been in the learning trenches for a bit to then see the things you don’t know.
Sooo…what about my transcript?
All high school students should be familiar with their Ministry of Education transcript found HERE, the official record of high school courses successfully completed. This record only shows courses and grad assessments successfully completed; failed, incomplete or withdrawn courses are not recorded there.
Your transcript is created by the Ministry about 2 weeks after you finish your first grade 10, 11 or 12 course. EBUS sends marks to the Ministry two times a week, so if you finish a course and it disappears from your dashboard, it should show up on your transcript about 10 school days later.
For graduating students looking to attend college or university, this is also the site where you can provide transcript access to these schools you are applying to for your application.
As this is a Ministry of Education service, you will need to create an account called a BCeID, and then access your account. Instructions on how to do this are found in the “Transcript of Grades” section of the Grade 10-12 Homeroom. For students wondering if they wrote their required grad assessments, you will find that on your transcript as well. Grad assessment results show up 6-8 weeks after the assessment date.
We recommend students check their transcripts at least 1-2 times a year as there can be errors or courses missing. If you find something amiss, send your advisor an email and we will look into it.
MENTAL HEALTH MINUTE
Over the years we have collected a number of free online resources to help with mental health. We encourage you to email your advisor if you have a great free resource not listed here!
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
- Dec 15 report cards available on student dashboards and parent portal
- Dec 20-Jan 4 EBUS closed for Winter Break – teachers unavailable but courses open
- January 5 2026 EBUS opens
- January 14 Academic Advising Drop-In to ask questions
- January 15 school assembly
- January 13-30 grad assessment session
- January 23 date for students to aim to finish semester 1 courses and email request semester two courses
- February 6 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- February 16 Family day – EBUS closed, courses open
- February 20 – deadline to request semester two courses
- March 14 report cards published
- March 14 to March 29 Spring Break – EBUS closed, courses open
- April 3-6 Easter EBUS closed, courses open
- April 24 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- May 8 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- May 18 Victoria Day – EBUS closed, courses open
- May 23 Kamloops in person grad
- June 8-19 grad assessment session
- June 6 Vancouver in person grad
- June 12 work submission deadline for report cards
- June 24 report cards published
- June 26 EBUS closed for the school year, reopening September 8
- Note that Term end dates are guidelines for students to finish courses, if you do not finish by 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 HERE
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 I get asked this often, if your student plans to finish their course(s) by the end of semester 1 on January 23, students should be about 85% complete. And for students working in a linear fashion to complete by the June 15 deadline, they should be about 45%+ complete at this time.
ACADEMIC ADVISING DROP-IN
For any full-time EBUS students, feel free to drop in with questions on Wednesday, January 14 at 2PM Pacific time HERE Possible questions may be about grad assessments, grad requirements, course selection, adding and dropping courses, etc.
At any time, feel free to book a phone appt with your academic advisor as well.
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, wishing you all a restful Winter Break! The next newsletter will be Monday, January 5, 2026.