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. Hope you are keeping well and making good progress in your learning and finding a rhythm to your school year with us.
I 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. I am starting with grade 12s, then 11s and 10s, to ensure our students planning to graduate this year are all set with required courses. Currently I have completed approximately 40% of the grade 12s.
PHONE APPOINTMENTS
For students and families looking to connect with me by phone we are using a new system this year that is well received by our families. Please visit https://tinyurl.com/yyrbnz7p to book that, and select the appropriate amount of time you need when you are available for my call. As I am working from home, my call will show up as “no caller ID.”
COURSE REMINDERS
This year it is essential students get started in all the 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 Note that students who have not submitted any work within 4 weeks of having the course on your dashboard risk being withdrawn and not getting that course for an extended period of time.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 me 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 25 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 me your new request. Be sure to put the 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.
REQUIRED GRAD 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 in person under the supervision of a teacher and are written in high schools across BC.
Students need to complete these only one time.
EBUS will help our fulltime students find a seat a local high school for the January and June sessions. You can get all the details at https://ebus.ca/welcome-package/grade-10-12-homeroomnews/graduation-assessments-provincial-exams/
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 at www.ebusgradassessment.weebly.com between October 4 and December 15.
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 Nikki at nvandolah@sd91.bc.ca well in advance of your assessment date.
OCTOBER WELLNESS PROJECT – GRATITUDE
EBUS shared a student planner for the school year in the homeroom on student dashboards.
For the month of OCTOBER the focus is on gratitude. I encourage everyone to look at the ideas in the planner, and make an effort to let those around you that have had a positive impact on your life. Practicing gratitude daily can change your brain, really! Give it a try for this month and see how it benefits you.
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?
These funds are 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 help 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-Special 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.
UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Each year EBUS awards one eligible grade 12 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 me by December 1. More scholarship announcements will be found later in the school year in the homeroom.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
- Oct 21 Professional Development Day – EBUS staff unavailable, courses open
- Nov 10 Remembrance Day assembly 10:30M (link to come)
- Nov 10 end of Term 1 all work handed in on or before will be marked for report cards
- Nov 11 Remembrance Day – EBUS closed, courses open to students
- Nov 25 Report cards available
- Nov 25 Pro D – teachers unavailable, courses open to students
- Dec 1 UNBC scholar deadline
- Dec 8 Grades 10-12 assembly 11AM
- Dec 15 deadline to apply for January grad assessments at www.ebusgradassessment.weebly.com
- Dec 19-January 2 Winter Break, teachers unavailable, courses open to students
- Tuesday January 3 2023 EBUS reopens
- Jan 23-27 required grad assessments register HERE before Dec 15
- Jan 27 end of Term 2 – all work handed in on or before will be marked for report cards
- 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 5 times a year; November, January, March, June and for summer session courses only, September.
And as I get asked this frequently, students who started courses in early Sept and plan to finish by the end of Semester one in January should be approximately 40% complete. Students planning to finish by the June 15th deadline should be 20% complete.
Keep well, the next newsletter will be November 4th.