Hey everyone,

​This is a pretty crazy time to be alive, but I'm really happy to be getting to work with you all during it and want you to know that me and all of Van Tech are here for your families. Please don't be shy to reach out.

There's been a lot of information shared from our awesome school leadership team lately and I wanted to pass along some of the key things for Grade 8 students and families:

1. If you have any COVID symptoms, stay home and follow all public health orders & recommendations. This one should be a no brainer by this far into the pandemic :) I've attached the public health daily check at the bottom here.
2. Schools across the province will be open provided there are enough staff to run the school safely. There aren't set numbers or cutoffs that we are aware of that cause a "Functional Closure", but it's currently determined school by school and notice can be quite short, unfortunately. In such a case, the school would go to online/remote learning for the duration of days we can't be open in person.
3. Students and staff must wear three ply masks. Cloth masks will not suffice. See the office if you need one. The black ones with the little Canadian symbol given out in September do count.
3. There will not be any FIT for the next two weeks. We'll bring back Student Choice fit for the last week of the semester.
4. Students who are away because of COVID or isolating will be given opportunities to make up missed work. Ms Kauldher (our Grade 8 VP) and myself will work with teachers and students to make sure opportunities are available, even after Jan 31st (semester changeover day), if needed.
5. Athletics and clubs can continue but no spectators and clubs are encouraged to meet online (although not mandatory).

Have questions? Email or reach out.
Thinking of you all, Nick Van.

In the Know
Topic: Beyond Behaviours: When Is It More? What It Looks Like at Ages 9 to 12 years
Why can it feel so tricky to tell if our kids are on track,  going through a phase, as opposed to struggling with something more, or beyond behaviours? In this video conversation, a parent and counsellor talk about the developmental stages of 9 to 12 year old children. There will be a facilitated discussion after the video where families can ask questions, share experiences and connect with other families.
Date:  Thursday, October 28 @ 4:30-6:00 PM
Registration: Click here to Register

Hello!

Every year the Delta School District offers students from any district around Vancouver to challenge language courses for which they already have a pretty good degree of fluency. This is a great way to get some credits towards graduation for a skill you may already have! The list of courses they offer isn't exhaustive, but there are many. Keep in mind, this should be for a course you're not currently taking. You do get an assigned mark (based on oral and written fluency) and it will go on your transcript.

November 5th is the cutoff for getting packages in to me, but earlier is better.
The tests are in late January each year.

I've attached the booklet below for download and printing.

Any interested student should come see me :)
Mr Van.

Massive thanks to Ms Kauldher and the admin team for all their work on creating this new FIT.

Here's my overview video: https://youtu.be/stT315OuX30
​Here's where students can sign up for 'Student Choice' sessions: ​https://vantech.myweeklyplanner.net/

Looking forward to seeing people connect in cool new ways.

Remember, here's the order of how it roles out across the calendar...
Week 1 (first full week of school and every third week after): Block 1 and 3 extensions.
Week 2 (second full week of school and every third after): Block 2 and 4 extensions.
Week 3 (third full week of school and every third after): Student Choice (signed up through the website above).

Hey everyone,

Amazing turnout for yesterday's event. We figured about 260 students and between 150 and 200 caregivers. Was great to get to meet so many of you. Forgive me if I need a bit longer with names :) I know some people wanted to see the PPT again and some people who were out of town or unavailable wanted to see it too, so here it is.


Link to PowerPoint PDF is HERE.




Remember that first day of school will be Wednesday, September 8th for the students, as staff have a anti-racism in-service day on Tuesday. Grade 8s come in at 1 PM and it will last an hour. At the end, they'll be able to hang around school for a bit to pick out a locker (Grade 8s only this day).

Also, check out administration's video about first day HERE.
And a newsletter will be coming out tomorrow too.

​Cheers, Nick Van.

Hello everyone!

Grade 8 approaches, and I'm excited to more formally start working with all these great students. To address some questions I know parents, guardians, and students have already had and shared with me I've made a little video here (as you'll learn I do from time to time).

And if you didn't sign up for the event on September 1st, that's fine. Come anyways :) The RSVP is mostly to help us collect good information and get a sense of numbers for food. It will be 10-12 with separate events for students and parent/guardians. Food will be together at the end. I'll hang around for questions as well, likely in the auditorium.

Please consider doing the following if you haven't:
1. Check out the Mr Van YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/nickvaniersel/featured
2. Sign up for the Grad Remind by texting the message "@grad2026" to 604-670-2253. This will add you to the list on the Remind app I use. There's a great app for it too - particularly important if you're a Rogers customer, as they don't let the messages through.

Cheers! Nick Van.