I don't actively publish/share too many resources, instead normally sharing them to students and families as they come up but these collections are incredibly good and updated, so I wanted to share them now :)

I'm going to also house them in the Youth Corner of the page for later use by anyone.

Much love and I hope a good start to 2021 for you all,
​Nick Van.
​

The Fifth Annual Van Tech Holiday Hamper Drive is on! Running the two weeks from November 30th until December 11th. As always, we are continuing to support about 100 families, all from our school. What makes this year a bit different, however, is that we know from talking with families that the need and anxiety are greater than ever. I don't think there has ever been a better or more important time to show some love and care to each other. 

So you're asking yourself, how can I help!? Two great ways!
1. We're collecting both food and non-food items (see attached list) in both Rotation 2 (first week) and Rotation 1 (second week) classes. As we always have, there will be prizes for lucky students in classes with a high number of items in.

2. We also collect money that we use to make gift cards and buy additional items we need for the hampers. And what's awesome for parents and families is that we can give a tax receipt for any donation $20 or over!

I'd love to help and get a tax receipt, how do I do it?
​Option 1: Send your student with a cheque of $20 or more to their class. The money gets collected in the classes and then totaled at the end of the two week hamper drive.

2. Go to the VSB Donation page and make your donation online.
Link: https://vsb.schoolcashonline.com/Fee/Details/1869/196/false/true
Important! You need to choose a "Fund Destination" of "S-Vancouver Technical".
And in the "Message: (optional):" you should type "Holiday Hampers".

Thank you, as always, for your incredible support.
Nick Van, Murray Anderson of LRP, and the Van Tech staff!''

As mentioned at the parent night, here's the big online fair for students and parents that can be attended next week. Definitely worth checking it out! The email I got reminding me was so good, I basically copy pasted it here :)

This is an incredible place to go beyond just looking over information and ask recruiters and university and post-secondary staff questions. Pretty much every BC post-secondary is represented and ready for you there! It's a huge opportunity.
​

"Just a reminder about the PSBC Virtual Fairs next week [Monday & Tuesday - Nov 30-Dec 1] for students in your schools. I have attached the Information Handout for students and parents, and this is also available on our PSBC website under EVENTS.
 
- Our Fairs are for Grade 11 & 12 students, their parents and Counsellors.
 
- Visitors can login in at any time during the 3-hour fairs; institutions doing live presentations will start them at 15-minutes after the hour; some institutions might do three presentations, while others may only do one or two, so students should plan to use all the time available to them to explore all the members booths in the fair and see who are doing presentations. Some institutions will also have pre-recorded presentations that can be viewed at any time.
 
- Students can return at almost any time after their assigned days to visit the booths, view pre-recorded video presentations and download documents. In between our live fair events the platform will be open most of the time so students, parents and you can access this information. If you and/or teachers want to use pre-recorded videos on the platform in a class, please feel free to do so.
 
I have also attached a ‘Student Assignment Sheet’ for your use, if you wish to use it. It’s just a tool we have created for you – it’s not something we would want back from you!!
 
I encourage you to also regularly go to our PSBC Website [www.postsecondarybc.ca] where you will see under EVENTS that many of our member institutions are starting to schedule many different kinds of virtual presentations and information sessions that both students and parents would be interested in. Please continue to share our website with your students and parents as a primary resource for post-secondary information.
 
Best regard
Josh Keller
Administrative Co-ordinator
Post-Secondary BC
www.postsecondarybc.ca"

Hopefully all of you who were able to come and join in our Post-Secondary night last month enjoyed it. I was so pleased by the reception, interest, questions, and comments. I'm happy to present another opportunity, this one run by the pros at EducationPlannerBC, with an emphasis on how parents can be a help in the process.

EducationPlannerBC (check out all their website HERE) is the main application point for students applying to BC Post-Secondaries. They cover everywhere our kids would be applying with the exception of BCIT and UBC, both of which will probably use it the year after this one.

When is Parent Night for Van Tech? I've booked (with Churchill Secondary) for: Tuesday, Dec 1st 6:30-8:00.
Register here to get a spot: https://sfu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcsdOmtqj4jHNxs8HdSuDgUoF3M8cBZLbNb

What they say about what you can expect:
- An overview of all the resources that are available on EducationPlannerBC.ca
- Supports available from post-secondary institution
- Tips on scholarships and financial aid
- Time for questions! Your questions will be answered in real-time during this virtual session.

Let me know if you have questions. Cheers, Van.

I know a few people couldn't make it tonight and were hoping for the information, so here it is. Thanks to the 176 families and 5 staff who were a part of this!

PowerPoint: See attached document. It's also hosted on Office 365 HERE.
Video Stream: Click HERE and log in.

Please note that we share this through the VSB login system to protect the privacy of students. If you are a parent, you will need your youth to log in for you to see the video.

This is a post that not everyone will need to know about, but I also don't want anyone to miss the opportunity of school-level endorsement on a Provincial or National level recognition. I'm sharing a brief video I just made as well as the documents that go along with this one week process.

Five recognitions are included in this:

• The Loran Scholarship
• Schulich Leadership for STEM
• TD Book Award
• TD Community Leadership
• Beedie Luminaries

As always, email me if you have questions, Mr Van.

Hey everyone,

Thanks to everyone who completed the survey and gave feedback about what they want to ensure is included in a Grade 12 student and parent evening. I've taken the 70 responses and written down all the questions peculating. I can promise that we'll answer all of these and more in our parent night. Here's the information for the night:

When: Thursday, October 15th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM
Where: Digitally on Microsoft Teams - Hosted on the Student Hub (students have access to this). Click HERE to join where the meeting will happen.
Who: Mr Moro (Principal), Ms Bighorn (Grad Committee), Ms Beetlestone (CLC Teacher), myself, and you! :)

Topics: Graduation, Post-Secondary, COVID, Scholarships/Bursaries/Student Aid, Grad Photos, resources/key links, and a heck of a lot more!

​Please let me know if you have questions. I hope we can get 200-300 families represented.
​Nick Van.

ello Grade 12 Students and Families!

I hope this finds you doing as well as you can. We've been working really hard in the background for the last week and a half to set up timetables, spaces, and helpful information to make this challenging transformation as easy as possible. I hope you find this helpful.

We went all out on Video Content!
Welcome back video from School Staff
Orientation Days Overview (Thursday & Friday)
Video explaining how to read your Sshedule
Video on How to make an appointment for changing your timetable (first 2 weeks)

​The PDF below is the key document from admin of everything families need to know to start the year.

I know everyone is thinking about the return to school and what that looks like. Here is the offial word from the district passed onto our school admin. I'll be in Wednesday-Friday next week, but do not show up without an appointment. I'm checking emails regularly at this point. Cheers. Nick Van.
Key Take Aways:
1. Schedules are being worked on. Grade 12s are about as ready as we can be now.
2. Quarterly has arrived. 2 courses at a time for four parts of the year.
3. Students will have one face to face class each day and one online class they will be responsible for.
​4. District video about what this will look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW9GAj3n3ss

In working with administration and staff, we have created a video for all students and families to help understand what June will look like, what to prepare for, and to answer what we assume is a lot of questions. While the video is 12 minutes long, there is a ton of information.

Thanks for taking the time to watch it. We miss you, and look forward to seeing many of you soon.
- Van.