Signing Off

This will be, officially, the last entry of the Grads of 2010 blog - I believe it has fulfilled its historic task in informing you of events happening at the school. I hope, in any way, shape, or form, that this blog has helped answered some of your questions, and has helped your grad year in some ways.
For the grads of 2010 who are reading this, please keep in touch! If you haven't already, you can add me as your friend on Facebook (click here), or follow me on Twitter (click here). If you have any questions throughout the summer, you can always e-mail me at eleung@vsb.bc.ca. Please do not attempt to come to the school during the summer to find me, or call the school number looking for me. You most likely won't be able to - as much as I can, I will try to enjoy my summer vacation away from school, though I know I will be there from time to time.

If you have a younger sibling or neighbour who will be in grade 9 or grade 8 next year, I will continue to maintain a blog, this one with a new address. Come check it out (click here). I don't know about you, but I think this new design looks really, really good.
Other than that, this is the official sign-off from me. For the grads of 2010 - it has been a privilege working with all of you. I wish each and every one of you success in all your future endeavours! Good-bye! Au revoir! Ciao! 再見! さよなら! Paalam!

Several Final Reminders

As the 2009 - 2010 school year draws to a close, here are a few final reminders to you:

1. Report cards were given out this morning. If you did not pick up your report card from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., it can still be picked up at the office (I know they eventually would be mailed out if they are not picked up; I'll update you as to when is the latest you can pick up the report card from school).


2. All yearbooks are sold out. Unfortunately, we cannot order any extra copies. So if you did not purchase a yearbook earlier, you would not be able to obtain one... sorry.


3. As I've mentioned late last week: if you need to re-write your English 12 provincial exam (or several other graduation-requirement exams) but you are not taking summer school classes, you MUST register for the exam at the school board office. This information has been published in this blog, and can also be found in June's newsletter.


4. For students who have completed all graduation requirements and want to take summer courses for upgrading purposes, you can only do that through VLN or adult education free-of-charge. Face-to-face summer school courses for students who have graduated in June will cost you money.


5. Teachers will be on duty at the school Wednesday. After our staff meeting at 11:00 a.m., teachers may be packing materials, moving supplies, or, in some cases, taking materials to their new schools. If you need to find a teacher for any reason, you must do so before 11:00 a.m.

Report Card Pick-up Reminder

Just a friendly reminder to all of you that your final report card from high school will be issued tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. in your homeroom.

Teachers would remain in their classes until 10:00 a.m.. If you show up after 10:00 a.m., you would have to go to the office to pick up your report card.

If you notice an error on your report card, you need to see your subject teacher immediately. Because teachers would be supervising exams/cleaning up their rooms/moving teaching materials to another part of the school/etc., it will be a good idea for you to pick up your report card at 9:00, just in case you need to see a teacher for any reason on a mark.

On a personal note: if you have not signed my yearbook, or if I have not signed your yearbook, please come by to see me (or I will be scrolling down the grad hallway). It's your last day of high school, and I hope to say a formal good-bye to all of you. :)

August 2010 Summer Provincial Exams for Non-Summer School Students

This post pertains information that is applicable for students who will NOT be taking summer school classes with VSB, but still wish to take or re-take a provincial exam. (Mr. L's note: this would apply, in particular, to those of you who may need to re-write the English 12 provincial exam to pass English 12 to fulfill your graduation requirement)

Any Temp students who are not registered in summer school, but wish to write one of the following provincial exams in August (between Aug 9 to Aug 13), are required to complete an application form at the Vancouver School Board Education Centre, Summer School Office (Ground Floor, 1580 West Broadway, Vancouver):

• English 10
• BC First Nations Studies 12
• Communications 12
• English 12
• Social Studies 11
• Applications of Math 10
• Essentials of Math 10
• Principles of Math 10
• Science 10

Applications will be accepted from June 11 to July 15, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Students must present in person TWO DOCUMENTS to the Summer School staff to have their applications accepted: i) A student report card for the 2009/2010 year issued by one of VSB's secondary schools with your ministry PEN; ii) a student picture ID (i.e. Go-Card) from the school that issued the report card in i).

You must be present to fill out the application form yourself; telephone or faxed applications would not be accepted.

Please note: students who do not register as detailed above will not be permitted to write the exam. That is, the examination centre will NOT accept walk-in students for the exams.

June 2010 Provincial Exam Schedule

The following is the provincial exam schedule for Templeton's June session. All students writing the provincial exams should arrive 15 minutes prior to the exam to ensure that all registration process and paper work are done prior to the actual start time of an exam. You will NOT be allowed to write an exam should you arrive more than half an hour late. You must also start for at least an hour for each exam session before you are allowed to leave. For the full details of exam regulations and expectations, you can go to the Ministry of Education's website (click here).

June 21, 2010 (Monday)
Physics 12: 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Principles of Math 12: 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

June 22, 2010 (Tuesday)
English 12 (Mandatory exam): 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Social studies 11 (Mandatory exam): 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

June 23, 2010 (Wednesday)
Communications 12 (Mandatory exam): 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Chemistry 12: 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
History 12: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

June 24 (Thursday)
French 12: 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Biology 12: 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

June 28, 2010 (Monday)
Geography 12: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

June 29, 2010 (Tuesday)
Mandarin 12, Spanish 12: 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

I have only listed the exams that our current grade 12s may be writing. You may have a sibling/friend who needs to write a grade 10 exam, for the full exam schedule, you can check the Ministry's website (click here).

All exams are two hours in length. You may stay up to 1 additional hour to finish the exam.

Please mark down especially the dates and times for the English 12 and Communications 12 exam - they are mandatory, and are needed for your graduation, regardless of what school mark you currently have.

If you want practice exams, the Ministry has posted at least three exams per subject online. Click here to choose a subject, and a sample exam, to download for your own reference. Answer key and, where applicable, resource packages, can also be downloaded.

Yearbook Signing Times

In case you haven't read the dozens of Facebook updates on the signing times for this year's yearbook, I'm posting it here for you, just in case:

Grade 8s: 10:00 a.m.

Grade 9s: 11:00 a.m.

Grade 12s: 12:00 p.m.

Grade 11s: 12:30 p.m.

Grade 10s: 1:00 p.m.

Yearbooks can be picked up and signed at the small gym and cafeteria. Please bring your student ID with you. If you have not paid for a lost school item and/or if you have not returned a library or textbook, you will NOT be allowed to pick up your yearbook even if you have paid for it already. To avoid delays, please make sure all outstanding fees have been paid.

To the best of my knowledge, all yearbooks are sold out now. The office is keeping a waiting list for students who still wish to purchase a yearbook. If you want to buy a yearbook but didn't pay for it, please visit the office early to see if you can get on the wait-list.

Lastly, bring your sharpies, bring your cameras, and bring a big smile with you - this is arguably the last time we will be gathering together. Let's sign away, and take lots of pictures with each other to mark the end of a wonderful five years for you, the grads of 2010!

FYI: Official Information on Provincial Exam Scholarships

I have received several e-mails asking for clarification regarding the requirements for the provincial examination scholarships since the last post. The following is taken straight out from the Handbook of Procedures for the Graduation Program from B.C.'s Ministry of Education. You can also read P.97 of the handbook yourself by clicking here:

Qualifying for a Grade 12 Graduation Program Examinations Scholarship

A student will receive a $1000 Examinations Scholarship if he or she:
• meets the basic eligibility requirements
• achieves at least a “B” final mark (provincial exam and school mark combined) in English 12, Français langue premiere 12, or English 12 First Peoples
• achieves 86% or higher on each of his or her three best Grade 12 provincial exams (can include the English 12 provincial exam) (Mr. L's note: this means, if you use English 12 as one of the subjects, then you'd need two more exams; if you don't use English 12 as one of the subjects, you'd need three optional grade 12 exams)
• fulfills the graduation requirements of either the 1995 Graduation Program, the 2004 Graduation Program or the Adult Graduation Program.

A student will receive a $2500 Examinations Scholarship Award if he or she:
• qualifies to receive an award (above)
• ranks among the top twenty scholarship students (based on his or her percentage score).

Any student who achieves a perfect score (100%) in each of three Grade 12 provincial exams will also be awarded an Academic Medal of Excellence.

When a student has two different percent scores for the same Grade 12 provincial exam, the higher percent score will be used. Scholarship scores do not have to be earned in one school year.

I hope this information is crystal clear to all of you now. If you are still unsure, please come in to see me.

Urgent Info on Provincial Exams

I hope this information will be able to reach you BEFORE the first provincial exam begins next Monday. Please help pass this information along to all of your grade 12 friends.

If you choose to write any of the optional provincial exams for your grade 12 courses, a blended mark that includes your provincial exam results WILL APPEAR on your official transcript, whether the exam’s results would help your school mark or not.

To the best of my knowledge, this does NOT affect your application and/or your registration chances for UBC and SFU; both have told secondary counsellors very specifically that they will look at your BEST mark (school % or blended %). However, the blended mark, whether it is higher or lower than your school percentage, will appear on your official transcript that is a part of our permanent student record.

The following diagram would illustrate my point (click on image to see an enlarged version):

In this scanned image of an actual transcript from 2009, this student had chosen to write two optional provincial exams, biology 12 and Principles of Math 12. He had also chosen to NOT write his optional exam for Mandarin Chinese 12. In Biology 12 (circled in red), his school percentage was 76%, and his exam mark was 49%. As you can see, his final percentage, a blended mark, appeared as 65%, which was substantially lower than his school percentage. Had this student applied to UBC, UBC would have looked at and used his school percentage of 76% for all application and registration purposes. However, the 65% would remain on his permanent transcript. Had this student chosen to apply for a post-secondary institution outside B.C. and/or a school advised him that his final mark would be used to determine whether he would have been admitted into a program, his decision to write the provincial exam can have a significant consequence.

In the case of Mandarin 12 (circled in green), this student had chosen to not write his optional exam. Therefore, his 93% mark from school would be the only mark that is available for anyone to see.

In light of this, I would urge you to consider very carefully whether to write an optional provincial exam or not. Here are some points worthy for consideration:

• You need to write English 12 and AT LEAST TWO other provincial exams to qualify for provincial scholarships (two if you use your English 12 mark too; three if you don't use English 12). If you want a provincial scholarship, then you must write two (or more) of these optional exams in addition to English 12.
• If you have been advised by a post-secondary school that your admission would be based on your final mark, and you fear that your current school mark is not high enough, writing a provincial exam can potentially help you achieve that mark.
• If you have already been accepted, unconditionally or conditionally, into a post-secondary program, and you want to write one or two provincial exams “just to see how well you can do,” you will take the risk of having a lower final percentage appear on your permanent student record, but this will not affect your admission into UBC and SFU.

Please come in to speak to me, or e-mail me, if you have any questions on this. I hope I have explained things clearly to all of you here. Please also urge others in your grade to take a look at this post.