Halfway through October already?! For those who don’t know Vanderhoof well, we are a major stopover for geese flying south, and certainly our skies, fields and waterways have been active of late with these boisterous visitors. We hope you are keeping well and making good progress in your learning and finding a rhythm to your school year with us.
Your academic advisor 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 currently and what remains to be complete to meet graduation requirements. We are starting with grade 12s, then 11s and 10s, to ensure our students planning to graduate this year are all set with required courses.
COURSE REMINDERS
This year it is essential students get started in all the courses on their 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 Note that students who have not submitted any work within 4 weeks of having the course on their dashboard risk being withdrawn and not getting that course for an extended period of time. If you need help with something, reach out to the teacher right away, or if you need to make a course change, let your academic 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. At the same time, we want to provide learning opportunities for as many learners as we can this year, so please make sure we know what we can do for you. As a guideline, students working in 4 or more courses should plan for a minimum of 30 hours each week for learning time, scheduled flexibly when it works for you. Your teachers are available during the traditional school day by email or phone, and we work hard to respond to student questions within 1-2 school days, but note if your teacher works part time, it may take longer to respond.
For full time students wanting to change courses, please use the “drop course” button on your dashboard and email your advisor the new request. Be sure to include your full student name and the specific course you are requesting, like English New Media 10. Courses will only be added if the student is dropping one or is substantially complete in a current course and we recommend all first semester courses be completed by Jan 22-29 and all second semester courses are requested by February 5.
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 at 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. Registration will be announced in the Nov 2 and 16 newsletters and in the homeroom.
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 issued 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.
NEW STUDENT PRESENTATION RECORDING
On Sept 29 we held a Teams meeting for brand new students joining EBUS, or students who completed grade 9 at EBUS and are now in the high school program. The jump from grade 9 into 10 is a very significant one for students, and we want to make sure students are successful in their high school education. If you have questions, please contact your academic advisor
New students and grade 10 students presentation-20260929_103132-Meeting Recording.mp4
POST-SECONDARY PLANNING PRESENTATION
Considering post-secondary school after you graduate from high school? On Wednesday, October 28th at 1:30 PM Pacific we will be hosting a presentation on preparing for and applying to post-secondary school.
We will also include some information on scholarships and will try our best to answer frequently asked questions. Feel free to send us questions and we will try to incorporate those questions in the presentation.
While the presentation will be geared towards grade 12 students, there may be information grade 11s will find valuable as well.
Access the presentation on Wednesday, October 28th at 1:30 PM here: Join the Post-Secondary Planning Presentation
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.
So….what about the Learning Support Funds?
For full time EBUS students, the ministry provides learning support funds for new courses you are currently active in. The process of accessing these funds has changed so please be sure to read all the info on our website. Detailed information on the funds, how many courses you need to be active in, what you can use the funds for and more, is available at http://ebus.ca/welcome-package/learning-support-funds/ We encourage you to read all the information on this. Students who are actively working in 2 or more new courses (more than 10% complete in the curriculum) and have 4 courses on their dashboard, will be eligible for the funding for 3rd party vendor invoices. 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.
UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Each year EBUS awards one eligible grade 12 full time student the prestigious UNBC scholar award. This $20,000 scholarship is based on the academic results from the student’s grade 11 year. If you are interested in knowing more about this scholarship, or would like to be considered for it, please email your academic advisor by Nov 30. More scholarship announcements will be found later in the school year in the homeroom.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
- Oct 23 Professional Development Day – EBUS staff unavailable, courses open
- Nov 2 newsletter sent with grad assessment instructions
- Nov 11 Remembrance Day – EBUS closed, courses open to students
- Nov 20 Pro D Day – EBUS staff unavailable, courses open
- Nov 30 UNBC scholar expression of interest deadline
- Dec 10 school wide assembly
- Nov 27 guarantee date for Dec 15 report cards – everything handed in on or before this date will be marked and reported on the Dec 15 report cards
- Dec 11 report cards available on student dashboards
- Dec 19 – Jan 3 EBUS closed for winter break
- Jan 4 2027 EBUS open
- Jan 14 school wide assembly
- Jan 22-29 semester turn around – students finishing courses in a semester fashion should aim to complete courses this week and contact your advisor to request new ones
You can find the full year school calendar at
- 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 from their academic advisor 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, March, and June. For summer session courses only, we have a report card in September.
And as we get asked this frequently, students who started courses in early Sept and plan to finish by the end of Semester one in January should now be approximately 40% complete. Students planning to finish by the June 12th deadline should be 20% complete.
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 November 2nd.