I know some families have had questions. The district has shared a briefing that I wanted to pass along. It sounds like this will be shared more generally to families as well.

UPDATE: Vancouver Coastal Health has shared information as well, so I've updated that in as well.

There isn't much information out for summer school yet, but they do have this on http://summer.vsb.bc.ca and I thought it was worth sharing. The signup date is there and it likely opens at 6 AM, like it did last year. Some of the Math and Science courses sell out in an hour or two, so it's good to be on top of things!

How to use Summer School to help your University chances:
1. DON'T take a new tough class in summer school because even if you take it in grade 12, post-secondaries will see your final mark and use it.
2. DO take a course a second time as only your best mark will show up on your transcript. Because post-secondaries don't pull information until you apply the information as to how often you took something is hidden.
3. DO take a course that you feel confident you'll do well in to help boost your "Academic five" courses for applications.

Marks come out the Thursday before spring break, so it's a great time to start thinking about summer school decisions.

Capacity Cafe is an event put on by the School Aged Child & Youth (CYMH) wing of Vancouver Coastal Health. They do a fantastic event where students from other schools act like a panel giving perspectives on issues that relate to your children. All of the parents listen in silence while the facilitators ask the questions and the students respond.

This is a fantastic empathy building experience that I did myself a couple years ago. Space will definitely be limited so act fast!

One of Van Tech's former superstar grads (Aydin Quach) who now has a really great and active role in Frog Hollow is hosting an event on exploring post-secondary options (from the perspective of all sorts of different options - universities, colleges, trades, gap years, employment, etc.). Time is also spent on resume building, application process, and much more!

Here are the details and how you sign up! I definitely recommend Aydin and all the work he does with Frog Hollow. Please note that this is a Saturday, not a school day :)

Families are, of course, part of the front line of mental health support for our kids. There are two parent sessions coming up I wanted to share. One in January and one in April. Definitely worth considering the is signup when this group organizes it!

​Info on signing up is inside the poster!

Holiday Hampers are back for the 2019 year. This is the annual collection of items and money so that we can support our own Van Tech families that have it tougher. The last four years we've supported over 100 families and this year's target is 103, just the same as always.

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 student's 2-2 class. We have a yearly competition for this. If the student doesn't have a 2-2 class then they can bring items to the office. We're collecting from December 2nd until December 16th. We deliver the hampers from the 18th to the 20th.
2. We 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?
​1. Send your student with a cheque to drop off to their 2-2 class or Mr. Van. It needs to have your full address on it. A tax receipt for the 2019 tax year is then mailed out in January of 2020.

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".

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO CAN HELP :)

The jump from Science 10 to Chemistry & Physics 11 has been a BIG one. I've asked some of the teachers about what availability they have to help and I was really impressed with what Ms Mak, Ms Han, and Ms Yaghmour were offering. I've posted it here and also put it outside my office door. Encourage the kids to go! This is great practice for building relationships with teachers when they get to post-secondary too.

The time has come for the annual Parent-Teacher Interviews. I've just this afternoon got the memo about how to sign up and I've attached it here in both photo and downloadable form. Key info:
1. Sessions will happen like last year with one afternoon session and one evening session.
2. Families can sign up for a maximum of 4 teachers at first, and then more will become available as spots permit closer to the date.
3. The event date is Thursday, November 7th and will happen in the cafeteria and auditorium, as per usual.