Attention Claremont Students, Parent/Guardians
Thank you for your continued patience as the Saanich District and CUPE Local 441 attempt to come to a negotiated contract settlement that will result in the strike coming to an end. I completely understand how frustrating this is for all involved. In addition to the message posted on the District website by the Superintendent on Tuesday, regarding Job Action--Educational Impact (see message here),
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some key information that I hope will alleviate some of the angst many of you are feeling.
Information For Secondary Students And Their Families During Job Action
Specifically for Grade 12 students:
Provincial Assessments:
The only provincial graduation assessment required for grade 12’s this year is the Graduation Numeracy Assessment, which most have already written in grade 11.
This is the first year that Grade 12 students are NOT required to write the English 12 Provincial Exam. For students who have NOT written the Numeracy Assessment yet, or for those who wish to re-write, there will be two more opportunities this year (in January and April). Please contact Vice-principal Kelly de Klerk if you have questions about the Numeracy Assessment.
Post Secondary Institutions British Columbia (PSBC) Information Night:
We will be organizing an evening event for our School District, and information on a date and location will be released soon. We will also be posting on our school websites information about upcoming events in the area that you are welcome to attend, as well as specific recruitment contact information for a number of post-secondary institutions. Look for that information sometime next week (November 18 - 22). Finally, the University of Victoria will be hosting a parent evening on November 28th. Link for this event:
AP Courses and Exams:
For any students registered in AP courses and wanting to take the AP Exams, the registration deadline for these exams has been extended until early March of 2020. If you know your course access code you can go online to register into your class at any time by going to the AP College Board website for students. The Claremont school identification number is 821642.
Scholarships:
Many students are aware of the scholarship Google Classroom, please contact Mr. Westhaver (pwesthaver@saanichschools.ca) and ask to be invited to the Google classroom - posts on the Google Classroom will be updated as new information regarding scholarships has been released. Deadlines for scholarships vary, so please monitor the Google classroom on a regular basis. Upon returning to school, meeting will resume.
Grad activities
Information regarding Grad activities will continue to be provided by Ms. Turnbull and Mr. Westhaver through the following; Grad Exec Google Classroom, Grad FaceBook Page and Remind. At the moment, the Winter Gala Scheduled for Wednesday Dec. 4 may shift to a later date, possibly as late as February 2020.
Primarily Grade 11 and 12s:
This is an excellent time to begin your exploration and application process for post secondary and scholarships. Time allowing, this is a really good time to do some educational and financial planning in preparation for graduation. Below are some excellent resources you may find helpful.
Graduation Planning Information
Universities/Colleges Application Dates: You are responsible for checking on the application dates for each of the post-secondary institutions you are interested in attending. Dates can vary quite significantly between institutions, so please check each one separately.
If job action is still in effect at the time of your application, we suggest you note this on the application and contact the post-secondary admissions department directly. Self-reporting of marks generally occurs in February/March, so there is time to attend to this in the months ahead.
Below, you will find links to two excellent sites to get information about post-secondary institutions. You will also find out how to apply for transcripts and have them forwarded to the institutions of your choice.
If you have difficulty following the transcript process outlined below, feel free to contact Mr. Westhaver for assistance.
Post Secondary BC - Excellent source of information on 30 BC post secondary information for parents and students
Education Planner BC - An education planning tool that provides students with clear and reliable and detailed information on BC post secondary education.
In preparation for entering a post secondary program or accessing a school transcript, students need to:
Step 1: Create a BCeID Account:
Students need to create a BCeID account in order to gain access to the Student Transcript Service and their academic history, both while they are in secondary school and after they have graduated.
In September during grade wide assemblies, grade 12 students were encouraged to create their BCeID accounts. Below is a link. All Grade 12 students must have an account.
Step 2: Student Transcript Service: is an online Ministry of Education application for students who attend K-12 in BC/Yukon that helps: order transcripts and graduation certificates, send transcripts to post-secondary institutions, order GED® certificates/transcripts, view scholarships, and check marks.
Student Transcript Service site
Recommendations For ALL Students:
We recommend that students do ongoing review of previously learned content, read ahead in novels and/or course booklets and where possible do assignments contained for practice. For those struggling with math, we encourage you to access online math tutorials as there are some excellent resources available online.
For students who have not yet completed the 30 hours of volunteer work experience required for their Grad TransitionPlan/Capstone projects, take this time to fulfill this requirement.
Finally, for students registered in Work Experience 12a or 12b,we encourage you to use this time to complete as many of the required 120 hours as possible, to ensure that your hour logs are up to date and to request employer evaluations once your hours are completed.
When classes resume, there will be homework and academic support available every Monday and Wednesday after school in room 235.
Athletics
Athletic activities are continuing. Teachers who coach and community coaches will continue volunteering their time to keep sports available for our students. The commissioner for the Lower Island Athletic Association is creating schedules that see Saanich Teams playing games at schools in neighbouring districts during the strike. With the conclusion of fall sports, winter sport tryouts have begun and some basketball teams have been selected. If you are interested in participating in basketball this winter please contact Mr. Westhaver or the Athletic Director Darren Reisig (dreisig@saanichschools.ca)
Secondary administrators are meeting regularly to discuss options to ensure that there is balance between Semesters 1 and 2. We want to assure students and families that everyone will have the opportunity to cover the necessary Learning Outcomes for each of their courses.
The source for up-to-date information regarding job action remains the district website. We hope to see everyone back in the building soon.
Sincerely,
Peter Westhaver, Kelly de Klerk, Aaron Buckham