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.

Adult Education Information Session (May 26)

A number of you will not have sufficient course credits to graduate this June. While summer school remains an option for those who will not have sufficient credits to graduate, you are only allowed to take a maximum of two courses in the summer. It also does not allow for students who will graduate, but wish to upgrade course marks or add courses.

If you fall into any of the above categories, you may be eligible to enroll into the school board's adult education program. Academic advisors will visit Templeton on May 26 (Wednesday) to speak to you about the adult education program. They can also meet with you individually after the general meeting to discuss YOUR SPECIFIC program.

There are a number of forms that you need to sign to attend this meeting. I also have an information sheet that would tell you the documents that you need to bring to this meeting. Please come to see me some time this week to pick up all the needed documents.

Graduation 2010 Valedictorian Nomination

The Graduation 2010 Valedictorian nomination form can be picked up from my office right now. To qualify as this year's valedictorian, you must meet the following qualifications:

• A "B" average on all your courses (73% or above)
• A good citizen inside and outside of the school
• An ability to speak well in front of a large audience

You need to find FIVE people (Templeton Staff and/or grade 12 students) who support your application. On the application form there are five lines where you can enter these people's information. Please have them sign and write their names. Your application can be voided if we cannot make out who those people are.

All the nomination forms will be collected. Templeton staff then will select a number of finalists, and then, students will be allowed to vote. The student who receives the most votes will be Templeton's Valedictorian at the graduation ceremony on June 8.

The application deadline is Tuesday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m. Completed forms can be submitted to me, or Mr. Mustapich. If you have any questions, please come and see either one of us.

Term 3's Grad Transitions Forms

For those of you who have missed the instructional planning period (IPP) this morning, the term 3's graduation transitions assignment is now available to be picked up from me.

Term 3's assignment focuses on the topics of making a transition plan, financial planning, and creating the necessary document to make your transition plan a reality. The assignment itself is fairly self-explanatory, but should you need assistance, you can come in to see me, or visit Ms. Ward for more details.

For students who are not taking PE 11/12, of course you would have to continue filling in your physical activity log for this term.

Both assignments are due June 18, 2010. That said, since provincial exams are happening the weekend after this due date, we are recommending that you finish those assignments a lot sooner than that.

During IPP, Ms. Ward also mentioned that the final component of graduation transitions is an interview you would have to do with one of the three administrators. Sign-up sheets would be posted outside Mrs. Roberts', Mr. Mustapich's, and Ms. Ward's door some time in May. I will let you know about this when it happens.

Finally, for those who still have not completed your term 1 and/or term 2's graduation transition assignments, you may still submit them to Ms. Ward. If you are not sure whether or not you have successfully completed your GT assignments, refer to your term 2's report card. Search for the course "graduation transitions," and read the comments attached. See the screen shot below (click the image for an enlarged view):
Bottom line, have your GT assignments done ASAP - it is a 4-credit requirement that no grads should be missing.

Important Notice to all VLN students

I have just received, from the VLN, students' second term report card. There are several pieces of important information that I need to point out to you. To illustrate the problem, I have taken the liberty of capturing a "typical" report card that shows my concern. To protect the privacy of the student, no student information nor instructor information is displayed below:
The VLN report card contains a term mark, followed by one or two comments from the instructor. Because VLN courses are self-paced, your term mark is determined ONLY from the work you have completed up until the time the report card is prepared; that is, there is no fixed deadline as to how much course work you have to complete by the term's end (though your instructor has probably given you a timeline as a reference).

As you can see from the above screen shot, this student has a percentage mark of 80% in Planning 10 (in the green rectangle). Had this been a regular report card issued at the school, this mark would indicate that the student has received a mark of 80% based on all the course materials from term 2. However, if you look at the teacher's comment on the right (circled in red), you can see that this student has only completed 5% of the course by finishing the orientation assignment. What this means is, this particular student, in reality, has gotten 80% on one assignment that is worth 5% of the course. It is similar to a student in my old science class receiving an 8/10 on the title page - it does NOT mean the student will be receiving 80% for a term, much less the course! Mathematically-speaking, it means the student actually has only gotten a mark of 4/100 in a course, with about 2 months of school remaining! Bottom line: you must look at both your term mark and your teacher's comments on a VLN report card to see where you are really at.

Many of you are taking a VLN course to upgrade a course you have previously taken. Some of you are taking a course online to fulfill graduation/post-secondary requirement. Not completing the course, particularly not completing a course that is required for graduation, bears some serious consequences. It may mean that you would not have a pre-requisite to register for the program of your choice at a post-secondary institution, or it may mean you would not have sufficient course credits to graduate! I am urging you to contact your VLN teacher immediately to see what you can do to rectify the situation. If you require any assistance, please see me immediately.

Grad Intro Forms

I have been going to your English/Communication classes distributing an orange/green form. This form would contain the information you want me to read, on your behalf, as you walk across the stage during the graduation ceremony in June.

You are limited to an introduction of two sentences (no 75-word run-on sentences, please). During the brief introduction, you may want to thank those who have made a difference in your high school life, and/or you may want to talk about your plans following graduation.

Please note: Mrs. Roberts and I reserve the right to change any content that we deem to be unsuitable/inappropriate for the graduation ceremony. If you are not sure what would be accepted or not, please come in to see either one of us.

Completed forms must be submitted to me by March 31, 2010.

Friendship Pages

If you want to have a friendship page (or friendship pages) in this year's yearbook, this is the opportunity to purchase one.

You can design your own, or you can have students from Ms. Kim's yearbook class design it for you. You can use your own pictures, combine them with group pictures taken from your Artona session, or create your own artistic version that would represent you and your friends. For technical specifications, please see Ms. Kim, Jessica H., or one of the yearbook staff.

Each full-colour friendship page will cost $250 (if you have a group of 10 friends, that works out to $25/person for a page that would be read by all, cherished by you). A $50 deposit must be paid by January 29, 2010.

There is a limited number of friendship pages available, so please act quickly and purchase one, two, or three pages before they are bought by other groups.

For a sample of past friendship pages (to see what a friendship page is all about, or to get some ideas to start your design), check out the last 8 or 16 pages from our previous yearbooks. If you do not have a copy of an old yearbook handy, you can come see me, or drop by Ms. Kim's class.

Instruction Planning Period: January 21

This is to remind you that we will be having an instructional planning period this Thursday, January 21, between 10:05 and 11:05 a.m. (instead of the usual afternoon time slot).

Your attendance for this I.P.P. is crucial, as we will be going through a few very important topics pertaining to graduation. Among the topics are: 2nd term grad transitions documents, a student profile that must be filled out for in-school scholarship considerations, grad fees, and several other topics. If you are going to be absent on Thursday, you must come in to see me ASAP afterwards to obtain the required documents and instructions.

See you all on Thursday!

January Provincial Exams

For students who are going to be writing one/more provincial exams in January, please read this post VERY CAREFULLY:

January provincial exams will take place from Monday, January 25 to Friday, January 29. The morning exams will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., while the afternoon exams will take place from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. All exams are two hours long, and you may stay up to an extra hour to finish the exam.

(For a complete schedule of the January provincial exams, click here)

Exams administered at Templeton will take place in the computer lab in the library. All exams will be done electronically. If you have not registered to write an exam, but needs to write one, please see Mr. Mark in Room 203 directly to ensure that there are enough computers for you to do the exam.

Sample and practice exams can be found online. Download them, and use them to prepare yourself. Exams can be found here.

Several of you have not written a required provincial exam needed for graduation. Please note: even if you have successfully passed the school portion of the course, you must have written the exam to earn the credit. This is true for English 10, Mathematics 10, Science 10, and social studies 11. If you are not sure if you have written the required provincial exam(s), please come in and see me immediately.

Grad Write-up's

Grad write-ups are due Friday, January 15. If you want to have your grad write-up appear in this year's yearbook, you must submit your write-up, either in a hard copy to Ms. Kim, or through e-mail to Emily Wong at ewong19@hotmail.com.

As for the instructions for the grad write-up, you must limit it to 400 characters or less (spaces count towards the 400-count). Obviously, you must not use any language that is deemed inappropriate. The yearbook editors, the teachers, and the administrators reserve the right to edit/delete any language or reference that they feel to be inappropriate.

If you have any questions about the grad write-up, please go see Ms. Kim, or ask Emily Wong.

Grad Photos at Artona

Just a reminder that grad photo sessions will take place at Artona on January 10 and 11. If you have not reserved for a session yet, you must do so by signing up online, or by calling the Artona Group at 604-872-7272.

Artona Group's Website: Click here

Graduation Portraits are OPTIONAL, meaning that you do NOT have to take a grad photo to graduate. However, if you do not take a grad portrait, your grad picture will not appear in the grad composite that would appear in this year's yearbook nor the grand display composite that would be displayed in the school for years to come.

You must bring $60 deposit to your grad portrait session. When the samples (called proofs) are given to you, you can choose to purchase one or many of your poses. The $60 would be used towards the purchase of any grad photos. If you choose NOT to order any pictures, the $60 will be fully refunded to you, providing that you return your proofs back to Artona.

For more information on what to wear, and what to bring to the photo session, visit Artona's website.

Happy New Year!

I just want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy new year. I hope you have had a very restful Christmas and winter. It's 2010, and you have fewer than six months to go before the BIG DAY - GRAD! Let's work hard, play hard, and spend time with your loved ones.

Ms. Mogyorosi and I will be meeting with some of you the next couple weeks discussing your educational plans for the next few months. This is especially true for those of you who did not have the finest first term. If you have any concerns over your courses, or about post-secondary information, please do not hesitate to talk to Ms. Mogyorosi, Mr. Hayes, or myself. We'd love to hear from you.

Yes, it's just six months away...

Term 1 Grad Transitions Assignments

Remember: Your GT (Grad Transitions) assignments for Term 1 are due December 2 (Wednesday). For term 1, you need to submit the following:

• Healthy Living Plan (blue sheet)
• Physical Activity Log (green sheet)

There has been some confusion about the physical activity log. So, here are some points for clarification:

• Activities should be recorded by the week, and not by the day. (e.g. instead of recording your physical activities for Nov 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 individually, just record all the physical activities for the period of Nov 23 - 29 - see below, click the image to see an enlarged version of it)
• If you have started on an old form from last year, you do NOT have to copy everything onto the new form. Just continue from the old form for your term 1's physical activities; or, staple a new form onto the old form, and continue with your term 1's activities.
• Term 2 and 3's physical activities should be recorded onto the new forms
• If you are taking PE 11/12, a signature from your PE teacher to verify that you are taking the course fulfills the physical activity requirement.

If you have any further questions regarding your GT forms, please come in to see me, Ms. Mogyorosi, or Ms. Ward.

Update on Grad Transition's Documents

Several of you have asked me after instructional planning today regarding grad transition papers you have started to fill last year with Mr. Atkinson.

I have spoken to Ms. Mogyorosi, and she said that you can choose either to 1) continue and complete your existing forms, or 2) transfer all info onto the new sheets that were given out today.

Regardless of the format to which you wish to complete these forms, here are the basic requirements:

1. Complete the physical health log, and submit to one of the administrators.
2. Complete three term-specific documents and submit them before the end of each term (the term 1's document is due November 30, 2009)
3. Present your graduation transitions documents through an exit interview with an administrator (sign-up in May of 2010; interviews will take place in June of 2010

Again, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to come in and see me, or any one of your administrators (Ms. Mogyorosi, Mr. Mustapich, or Ms. Ward).

If you want to read the actual document from the Ministry of Education outlining the requirements for graduation transitions, you can click on the link below:
Click Here