Our first newsletter of the new year! I hope you had a safe and restful holiday and are energized for learning into 2024.
Often after a 2 week break 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 we are at the halfway point in the school year, I will be updating student credit checks 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.
REQUESTING NEW COURSES
As you finish a current course or are 80+% complete, full time students can email me with new course requests. Be sure to put the full 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 Term 3. 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 me know first so I can check the implications of that on your graduation status. The latest courses should be added this school year is March 1 2024 but recommend students have all courses added by mid-February. GRADE 12 STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE ALL REQUIRED COURSES FOR GRADUATION STARTED BY FEBURARY 1 TO ENSURE ENOUGH TIME TO COMPLETE BY JUNE 14 2024.
The middle of the school year is January 19, a good date to aim for to complete first semester courses. 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 by March 1 to finish by June 14.
IMPORTANT – REQUIRED GRADUATION ASSESSMENTS
Students graduating under the 2018 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 under the supervision of a certified teacher and are written in high schools across BC. EBUS will help our fulltime students find a seat a local high school for the January and June sessions. EBUS will help our fulltime students find a seat a local high school for the January and June sessions.
Students need to complete these one time only.
For students looking to write in the January session, EBUS can help you find a school close by for you to write in. The deadline to register was December 18 HERE . Registrations received after the 18th will be accepted but we cannot guarantee to find a seat.
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 must 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, but 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 drivers license, 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.
2023-24 WELLNESS PROJECT JANUARY GROWTH MINDSET
What better way to start a new year than with an improved mindset, one that focuses on growth? One way to do this is to examine your thoughts. Not every thought is your friend, and we can cultivate our minds like a garden by pulling the weeds of unhelpful thoughts, and cultivating, focusing on and even planting helpful thoughts. Give it a try to start off the new year!
WHAT ABOUT?
Lots of new things to being a full time 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 scholarships and a grad ceremony at EBUS?
This year EBUS has scholarships and bursaries available for our full-time students who meet graduation requirements by June and the requirements listed in our EBUS Academy scholarship booklet. The booklet is released in the homeroom and our website by early February, and the deadline to apply is April 15. Scholarship winners are announced at our grad ceremonies. We strongly recommend all students who will graduate by June apply for any scholarships they are interested in as we often have scholarships not applied for each year.
EBUS is planning to host grad ceremony Saturday June 1 and have booked Van Deusen Gardens near Vancouver at this time, June 22 in Kamloops, and if there is enough interest, a ceremony Saturday May 25 in Vanderhoof, our hometown as well. To participate students need to be approximately 75% complete all grad required courses by the end of April. Notices to all grade 12 students will go out in February, so watch for a future email. If you have questions contact your academic advisor.
MENTAL HEALTH MINUTE
Over the years we have collected a number of free online resources to help with mental health. I encourage you to email me if you have a great free resource not listed here!
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
- January 11 school assembly link on dashboard
- January 15-26 grad assessment session
- January 19 date for students to aim to finish semester 1 courses and email cmushumanski@sd91.bc.ca to request semester two courses
- February 9 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- February 19 Family Day – EBUS closed, courses open
- March 1 deadline to request new courses – sooner is better
- March 1 work submission deadline
- March 15 report cards published
- March 23 – April 7 Spring Break EBUS closed, teachers not available but courses open
- April 26 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- May 10 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- May 20 Victoria Day – EBUS closed, courses open
- June 14 year end work submission deadline
- June 28 EBUS closed for the school year
- 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, continue with your studies without penalty and finish the course(s) as soon as possible. New courses are not automatically added at the Term change, students must request them as they finish current courses.
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 15, March 15, June 28, and for summer session courses only, September.
As I get asked this often, if your student plans to finish their course(s) in a quarterly fashion, meaning by the end of term 2 or by the end of semester 1 on January 19, students should be nearly complete. And for students working in a linear fashion to complete by the June 14 deadline, they should be about 50% complete at this time.
PHONE APPOINTMENTS
Currently I am working from home. To book a phone appt with me, use https://tinyurl.com/yyrbnz7p and select the appropriate amount of time you need when you are available for my call. My calls will show up as SD91 for School District 91. EBUS Academy as also set up Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone calls so I now have a phone number you can reach me at! I am available at 1-250-567-4413 ext 7409. Booking a phone appt is the easiest was to ensure you will reach me, but I will answer calls during the workday when available.
Keep well, the next newsletter will be Friday January 19.