SMDCVI Course Calendar 2018

The Avon Maitland District School Board is committed to ensuring students have the opportunity to graduate secondary school in four years and to ensuring a variety of course offerings for our students. In order to achieve both goals efficiently, students need to be registered full time in each semester. Effective September, 2014, students at Avon Maitland District School Board secondary schools will be required to register with a sufficient number of courses to be considered full time for each semester in which they attend our schools.

Once again it is time for students to select their courses for the next school year. You are required to make decisions about courses you would like to take and these decisions should be based on your own strengths and your plans for the future. In order to earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, each student must earn thirty credits. Eighteen of these credits are mandatory, but the other twelve are at your discretion. Your eighteen mandatory credits should be based on your goals for your future destination after you leave DCVI. Will you want to go to the workplace, complete an apprenticeship, attend college or enroll in a university program? Each of these pathways requires different courses. Statistics tell us that about one-quarter of our graduates will go on to the world of work from high school, another one-quarter will go to college, another one-quarter will choose university and the final twenty-five per cent will choose apprenticeship training. Ideally, you’ll choose your courses in grade 9 that lead to the outcome you will want to have when you graduate from grade 12. For example, students will choose from Open, Locally Developed, Academic and Applied courses. There is some room for change, but the traditional outcomes for each of these levels is as follows: Applied courses lead to college and apprenticeships, Locally developed courses lead to the world of work and some apprenticeships, and Academic courses lead to university and/or colleges for applied degrees.

Course selection is also the opportunity for students to explore optional subjects. We encourage you to try new courses that you may not have had the chance to experience yet. Students in grades 11 and 12 also have the opportunity for some real experiential learning through Cooperative education classes that allow students to experience a field of work that currently interests them.

Most importantly, as you choose your courses, think about your past achievement in school and your own interests and skills. Explore a variety of choices that are interesting, enjoyable and challenging. Talk to your parents and your teachers because they know you best as a student and will be able to give you invaluable guidance.

Parents/Guardians

How can parents and guardians help their students in secondary school? Often the courses are unfamiliar to parents/guardians and helping with homework is much more difficult than when students were in elementary school. The following suggestions will assist students and build the essential partnership between home and school. Insist that the student attend school regularly and punctually. Valid absences include illness; medical, dental and legal appointments; or family emergencies. Avoid family trips during school time, including exams. Encourage good study habits. Insist that homework be done regularly. Monitor employment hours as well as evening out-of-school activities. Keep in touch. If you have concerns about your son or daughter’s progress, do not hesitate to call the school at 519-284-1731. We will gladly arrange interviews with Administration, Student Services or individual teachers. Stay informed by visiting the St. Marys DCVI Website at www.stmarysdcvi.ca

Course Selection

All students have the opportunity to study courses with different purposes and destinations. Courses can not be offered if only a small number of students are interested in them. The responsibility for choosing the most suitable program rests on the student and his or her parents/ guardians after thorough investigation and advice from teachers and guidance counselors. Please choose wisely!

To produce the best timetable possible for students, we must know their choices at an early date. This helps us to determine the number of classes necessary for all subjects, and the actual arrangement of subject classes during the day and the year. Such planning gives maximum choice and flexibility for students. Therefore, it is necessary that students make choices which are quite firm. It is essential that all deadlines for the submission of course selection forms be met as students may be penalized for late submissions; students will be enrolled in courses on a first come, first served basis. Parent/guardian signatures are required on the course selection form. As much as possible, we will attempt to timetable the courses offered; however, low enrolment may result in the cancellation of some courses. In other instances, timetabling conflicts may result in students having to select alternate courses or take courses through our school board’s online school, AMDEC.

Course Changes: Policies and Procedures

We endeavour to have each student placed in the correct courses and we do our best to empower our students to make these important decisions. Students are an important part of the course selection process. After the timetable is created, students wishing to change a course should consult with their Student Services Counselor. Course transfers or changes must occur within the first 10 classes of the academic semester. Students in difficulty should change classes as soon as possible. Students are expected to catch up on the work and all previous assignments to ensure an accurate evaluation. Parental approval is required when students change courses. Because many classes may be full, timetable changes can only be made for the following reasons:

• If the student has already earned the credit in summer school/online
• If the student does not have the prerequisite for the course in grades 9, 10, 11
• if a student does not have a full timetable (4 courses in each semester) and they are in grades 9, 10 or 11 and in grade 12, 3 courses per semester

During course selection, students are asked to include alternate choices in case not all requested courses are able to be offered. No timetable changes will be made for first semester courses after mid-September.

Learning Services Available in the School

St. Marys District Collegiate and Vocational Institute provides a variety of program options for students with special needs. The majority of students meet success in regular classroom placements; some need extra support, while others need special class placement. School Resource Teachers are available to:

• Assist teachers in delivering individualized supports in the regular classroom
• Provide one-to-one instruction or small group assistance to students when appropriate
• Help assess special learning needs.

Educational assistants are available to support students with specific needs.

Student Success

The Ministry of Education has insured that every school in Ontario has been allocated teacher resources to increase student success. The program is focused in four major areas at this time:

• Increasing credit accumulation in all grades, through credit rescue or recovery
• Improving transition from grade 8 to grade 9
• Creating an exit/transition program from grade 12 to the world of work
• Helping senior students achieve their graduation plans

Guidance and Career Education Program

As students progress through high school, they will have opportunities to meet regularly with guidance counselors who are available to assist with academic, vocational and personal concerns. Guidance department members make every effort to support students as they make personal, educational and career choices. Students who wish to see a guidance counselor are encouraged to make an appointment by seeing the guidance secretary.

Students’ personal needs, abilities and how they see themselves and the world will determine their performance and willingness to perform in their academic pursuits. These personal factors have a great bearing on the career directions chosen by the students. Thus, personal, academic, and career-oriented counseling are interconnected. Students may visit the following websites to assist in their planning:

• Success for Life – www.successforlife.ca
• Ontario School Counsellors’ Association - www.osca.ca
• Ontario Universities’ Application Centre/ Research - www.ouac.on.ca / www.electronicinfo.ca
• Ontario College Application Services/Research - www.ontariocolleges.ca
• Apprenticeship Opportunities -www.edu.gov.on.ca and www.youthjobs.gov.on.ca
• My Blueprint – a planning tool also used for course selection, www.myBlueprint.ca - password smdcvi.

(All students have an account with myBlueprint as course selection occurs through this process. Parents are also invited to create an account that assists in course selection, planning and career research.)

Student Responsibilities:

Achievement and Attendance

Students who fail courses or choose to withdraw from a course may jeopardize their attainment of an OSSD. Regular, punctual attendance at school is critical for the student’s learning and achievement of course expectations. Parents can help by ensuring that any absences are necessary and valid. If the learning process is disrupted by irregular attendance, learning experiences are lost and cannot be made up completely.

Student Conduct

Students, staff, parent/guardians and community members have developed the St. Marys District Collegiate and Vocational Institute Code of Behaviour. It is based on expectations, rights, and responsibilities. The four key points in DCVI’s Code of Behaviour include: be here, be on time, be prepared to work, be the best you can be. The following behaviours are unacceptable: physical, verbal, sexual or psychological abuse; bullying or discrimination on the basis of race, culture, religion, gender, language, disability, sexual orientation, or any other attribute. Attending school is a privilege that imposes responsibility on students. Students at St. Marys District Collegiate and Vocational Institute are expected to achieve to the best of their ability.

Student Fees

There will be no fees or cost charged to students to participate in the regular day school program. Fees may be charged where the student chooses to upgrade the material or where purchase of material is optional. Students enrolled in secondary schools in Avon Maitland District School Board can expect to be provided with the basic classroom learning resources that are required in order to complete the course expectations. It is recognized there may be optional resources that students may purchase to enhance their program: e.g. field trips, upgrading materials in courses such as construction technology and visual arts. Students are expected to come to school ready and willing to participate actively in their own learning. To that end, students are expected to bring materials with them for their own personal note-taking (e.g. pencils, pens, paper, and binders). Students are encouraged to purchase their school’s student card by paying the student activity fee. The student card includes but is not limited to the benefit of participating in the co-instructional program and in the Student Council dances and activities. Students involved in co-instructional teams, groups and clubs will be made aware of any additional fund-raising obligations or participation fees prior to making a commitment to participate.