BASUS Survey

Some of you may remember the BASUS survey from last year. For those who do not remember, it is the BC Adolescent substance use survey, which pays you $25 in gift card every quarter for a survey that you fill out.

The BASUS survey is back, and you can go to BASUS' website (click here) to do the survey.

Gift cards can come in the form of Tim Hortons, Walmart, Amazon, or VISA. You would also have a chance to win an HD video camera.

Please note: the survey is sponsored by BASUS, and is completely voluntary.

Halloween Safety

Just a gentle reminder that fireworks, firecrackers, etc. are NOT allowed to be brought to the school for any reasons. Any violations of this will result in serious consequences.

Every year, many students are injured (sometimes seriously) from using firecrackers. No matter what activities you will be engaging tonight, please practise common sense and have safety in mind first.

Have a safe evening!

November's Bus Pass

The November bus passes have arrived! Please come by to my office before or after school, or during the break to pick it up.

I have noticed an increased number of you not coming to pick up your bus passes, and would wait until I deliver them to your class. Please note that it is extremely time-consuming for me to deliver the bus passes to you. If you do not come to pick them up, I would no longer be able to deliver them. And, if you do not need the bus pass to come to the school, the school may decide to NOT issue you the bus pass anymore.

Thanks!

Homework Club

For those of you in need of some support with your homework, or for those of you who just wish to have a designated time where you can get your homework done right after school (so you can have the evening to study, to exercise, to work, or to spend time with your family and friends), you can come to Templeton's all-new homework club.

The homework club will start 3:15 on Monday, October 24 in the library. You can get help with any work you have in any classes. Peer tutors will be available to provide 1-on-1 support. The club will run every Monday and Wednesday.

What is more? Drinks and cookies will be provided as well! Come check it out!

New Information on Government's Scholarships on the Provincial Exams

New information has just been released regarding the provincial scholarships for the mandatory provincial exams (English 10, Math 10, Science 10, Social Studies 11, and Language Arts 12).

• Students must achieve at least a "B" (73% or above) FINAL MARK (a blended mark based on your school mark and provincial exam mark, weighed 60% and 40% respectively) in one of the Language Arts 12 course (English 12 or Communications 12)

• Students must achieve at least one "A" (86% or higher) AND three "B"s (73% or higher) on four of their best provincial exams (you can use the Language Arts 12's provincial exam score as one of the four provincial exams used in the calculation)

• The examination re-write rule will be relaxed for one year (now until August 31, 2012) to allow students to re-write a required exam to improve their scores. That is, if you have taken a provincial-examinable course already and did not do as well as you would have liked on the provincial exam, you may register to re-write that exam for a better score.

• AP and most IB scores will no longer count towards the provincial scholarship.

For more information on the provincial exams and the provincial exam scholarships, please come to speak to me, or speak to one of the administrators.

Last day for course changes

We have just been informed that the last day for course changes is Thursday, September 29. Counsellors can still change a student's course schedule in extraordinary circumstances, but for general student course request changes, tomorrow is the last day.

We apologize for the short notice to this and for any inconvenience this may cause.

Information about Language Challenge Exams

We have just received information about the language challenge exams. For detailed information, please come by to see me. Here are the highlights of some key information:

• Courses available for challenge: French 11/12, German 11/12, Korean 11/12, Punjabi 11/12, Mandarin 11/12 (traditional or simplified characters), Japanese 11/12, Spanish 11/12
• Exam schedule: January 21, 2012 (Korean, Mandarin 11, Spanish, German), January 22, 2012 (French, Japanese, Punjabi), January 28 (Mandarin 12), January 29 (Mandarin 12)
• Students need to be available between 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. that day for the exam
  
• Fees: a refundable deposit of $50 that will be refunded on the day of the exam
• Application due date: October 26, 2011 - completed application forms and application fees must be submitted to your counsellor on or before this date

Please note: the mark you receive from the challenge exam can be used as a course credit towards graduation and would fulfill the entrance requirement for post-secondary schools that require a language credit for a particular faculty or program. The exam's results CANNOT be used, however, towards calculation of post-secondary admission.

Detailed information of the challenge exams can be found on Delta School District's challenge exams website (click here). For the application package, please come to see me.