News from the Nest - April 4-8
Spotlight on Learning: English Language Learners
Room 315 is the hub for English Language Learners and their friends. It is a place where everyone is welcome and where diversity is celebrated. Inside this room, community is the number one priority. Over the last six years, many moments have been captured in pictures. Moments from field trips, learning moments, celebrations, and moments of friendship and connection. This past week, we printed some pictures and hung them in the room to remember the moments, faces, and stories. We hung them to proudly display our ELL family. 💛 What happened next created another moment - all the students who have come by over the week, gathering around the pictures laughing and remembering. We tried to make sure that every member of our community was included and were reminded, once again, about the importance of relationships and helping students build positive connections. We look forward to growing this wall of moments and memories!
Our Character Word of the Month is RESPONSIBILITY
Being responsible means that others can depend on you. You are willing to be accountable for your actions. When things go wrong, and you make a mistake, y u make amends instead of excused. When you are responsible, you keep your agreements. You give your best to any job. Responsibility is the ability to respond ably. It is a sign of growing up.
How Do You Practice RESPONSIBILITY?
When you agree to do something, like homework, watching your younger sibling, or a job around the house, you take it as your responsibility. You do not agree to do things which are too hard, or that you do not really have time for. When you make a mistake, you do not get defensive. You learn from it, and you fix it. You are ready and willing to clear up misunderstandings.
New Graduation Requirements for current Grade 9/10 students
The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), is implementing a new graduation requirement.
Expected to take effect in the 2023-24 school year, this requirement will ensure all secondary students complete Indigenous-focused coursework before they graduate from B.C.’s K-12 education system.
“We are deeply committed to lasting and meaningful reconciliation in B.C. – guided by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples while collaborating co-operatively with Indigenous Peoples across the province to address the knowledge gaps in our K-12 curriculum,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education.” This new requirement will deepen students’ understanding of the experiences, cultures, histories, and knowledges of Indigenous Peoples. This will help us to understand the truths of our shared history, while also building knowledge so all students feel a sense of responsibility for our collective future.”
Under the proposed model, students who are currently in Grade 10 would be the first group to complete this new requirement, starting in September 2023. The new requirement will apply to all students in B.C. public, independent and offshore schools. B.C. is the first Canadian province/authority to implement this type of requirement.
The new Indigenous-focused course requirement is one of the actions identified in B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Draft Action Plan, as part of a broader Indigenous-specific anti-racism and discrimination strategy for the K-12 system, on which First Nations were consulted in 2021.
The Ministry of Education is seeking public engagement for the new Indigenous-focused graduation requirements now until April 22. Visit the site and share your thoughts on the proposed approach for the new requirements.
https://engage.gov.bc.ca/Indigenousgradrequirement
To facilitate the implementation of the required new grad requirement, we are allowing Grade 9 and Grade 10 students to change their English course selection through completion of the form below. If you are a current Grade 9 student, you can change your English 10 credit from Literature & Composition 10 to First Peoples Literary Studies and New Media 10. If you are a current Grade 10 students can change your English 11 credit to First Peoples Literary Studies and Writing.
Grade 9 students if you would like to change your selection – complete this form by April 15 https://forms.gle/gFXE6PBwc1XDxfXR6
Grade 10 students if you would like to change your selection – complete this form by April 15 https://forms.gle/BzCg4rbd72CSssw4A
