Welcome to November! As the early days of winter descend across BC with the first snowflakes, we wanted to connect with you about some important information.
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. Grade 12s are complete as are many grades 11s and 10s. Watch for this important email in the coming weeks if you have not already received one.
We have been adding online virtual class opportunities and local field trips in the homeroom on all student dashboards as they come up. There are also links to the various clubs EBUS is sponsoring this year. Students are encouraged to check the homeroom page on their dashboard 1-2 times a week to keep up to date with all the different opportunities.
WELLNESS PROJECT – RESILIENCE
Resilience has become a very prominent characteristic highlighted in recent years. What is it? It’s adaptability, the ability to bounce back, able to deal effectively with challenges, to see positives during tough times, and just like a muscle, it can be strengthened and grown.
We all have built in resilience, but we can continue to diversify, grow and strengthen this vital characteristic. There are many ways to go about this, and we recommend you explore these:
Story telling – tell yourself about a time where you faced a difficult task or situation, like a big a test, and how you successfully managed it. Talk about the different things you did to be successful. Your inner voice should be your best ally telling how you can manage difficult circumstances!
Laughter – finding humour in your day, a social media account that has positive funny posts, or a joke page is another way to build your resilience. There are 10s if not 100s of millions of possible things on line to make you laugh. Some of my favourites are dad jokes and funny dog videos.
Reframe challenges into growth opportunities – struggles, challenges and difficult times are part of life. Take these moments and rather than focus on the challenge or the negative, look for the growth opportunities and ways you can learn. Try it!
Each month we have a new focus as found in the student day planner, if you would like a student day planner contact us at EBUSresources@sd91.bc.ca
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, they cannot be failed.
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 1 and December 16. Registrations received after the 16th 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, 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.
REQUESTING COURSE CHANGES/NEW COURSES
For full time students wanting to change courses, please use the “drop course” button on your dashboard and email me your new request. Be sure to put the full student name and the specific course you are requesting, like English New Media 10. If you have courses on your dashboard, you should be handing in work in all of those courses regularly, or drop the course and we can add that later in the school year. We strongly recommend students request all new courses by February 10.
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 the ends of school terms?
Ministry of Education policy requires high schools to formally report out to parents. At the end of each term, a report card is produced showing the progress in the high school course as a percentage complete, a grade shown as a percentage, and any comments regarding student learning. The term deadline of December 1 is set as a guarantee date – any work submitted before that date will be marked and included in the term 1 report card. Work can be submitted December 2 and beyond, and we strongly encourage students to keep working, but that work may not be on your term 1 report card, a snapshot of learning accomplished and assessed by December 1.
If a student has a self-determined deadline of December 1 to finish a course and does not finish by that date, they just continue on until finished, no penalties or late marks taken off, no need to ask for an extension before the year end June deadlines. The final course completion will show up on the next report card. So in the end, take Dory’s advice from Finding Nemo and just keep working…just keep working 😊
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
- Nov 1 details about the January 2025 grad assessments available
- Nov 8 Remembrance Day assembly link on dashboard
- Nov 11 Remembrance Day – EBUS closed, courses open to students
- Nov 22 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- Dec 1 work submission deadline – all work submitted on or before this date will be assessed for this report card
- Dec 12 school assembly
- Dec 15 report cards available on student dashboards and parent portal
- Dec 16 deadline to register for the January assessment session HERE
- Dec 21-Jan 5 EBUS closed for Winter Break – teachers unavailable but courses open
- January 6 2025 EBUS opens
- January 9 school assembly
- January 13-24 grad assessment session
- January 15 date for students to aim to finish semester 1 courses and email request semester two courses
- February 7 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- February 10 – deadline to request semester two courses
- February 17 Family day – EBUS closed, courses open
- March 1 work submission deadline
- March 15 report cards published
- March 22 to April 6 Spring Break – EBUS closed, courses open
- April 18-21 Easter EBUS closed, courses open
- April 25 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- May 9 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open
- May 19 Victoria Day – EBUS closed, courses open
- May 24 Kamloops in person grad
- June 2-13 grad assessment session
- June 7 Vancouver in person grad
- June 13 work submission deadline
- June 27 report cards published
- June 27 EBUS closed for the school year, reopening September 2
- Note that Term end dates are guidelines for students to finish courses, if you do not finish by the December 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, meaning Nov 10, they should be about 90%+ complete today. For a planned finish by the middle of the school year or January 19, students should be about 50%+ complete. And for students working in a linear fashion to complete by the June 13th deadlines, they should be about 25%+ 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-L) can be reached at lbaumann@sd91.bc.ca or book a phone appointment HERE
Chris (for students with last names M-Z) can be reached at cmushumanski@sd91.bc.ca or book a phone appointment HERE
Keep well, the next newsletter will be Friday November 15.