News from Vanier - August 26, 2019

Dear Vanier families and friends,
Welcome back!  We have had a smooth start to the school year.  Throughout this year, we will try and email all our families weekly with events and relevant information at the start of each week.  Here is this week’s update.
Our website – www.vcss.ca – is a great source of information, too!

Sincerely,
Ryan Sikkes, principal

Dates to Note

• Wednesday, August 28th  BBQ and Honour Roll - Vanier Catholic Secondary School at 6pm.​​​  All students and family members are welcome to attend!
• Monday, September 2nd  Labour Day – NO SCHOOL, have a great long weekend!

Student Tutoring Program
All Vanier students can receive tutoring from other students for assistance in course work, assignments or organizational skills.  The students requesting tutors are self-identified or identified by parents or teachers.
To receive tutoring the student simply needs to fill in an application in the Skills Room (Room 3).
Students in Grade 10, 11, or 12 can apply to be a tutor. Tutors can either earn service learning hours or an hourly wage.   Peer tutors are paid on a graduated scale, which increases with grade level and number of hours tutored. Potential tutors need to come in person to the Skills room and fill in an application. Students will be matched one on one by the Learning Assistance Teachers. 

​Attendance Procedures
Attendance in classes is the biggest contributor to student success and we take attendance tracking seriously.  It is the responsibility of all Parent/Guardians to inform the office of all excused absences from school. The office will call home for unexcused students missing 1st block.  Automated phone calls are generated to call home for any unexcused absences after the school day has finished.  We anticipate these automated calls beginning later this week.  
Please inform the office of any absences by calling 667-5901 and speaking with any office staff, if you call after school hours you can leave a voicemail.  Or, If it’s more convenient, please feel free to email us at [email protected].

Service Learning Hours
As members of a Christian community we are called to work together to build a world of peace, justice, and compassion.  To accomplish this, we must reach beyond ourselves.  Jesus tells us in Matthew’s Gospel: “I tell you as you, what you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me” (Matthew 25:40).  It is in this spirit that the religion program at VCSS includes a service learning component.
As part of religion courses, students are required to complete a number of volunteer/service hours as well as a small reflection assignment in order to receive their religion credits.  These hours must be completed outside of class time and during the current school year of each grade.  Extra hours over and above what is required will not count toward future years.  Students must not receive compensation in any form for their time and effort.  These hours are to be voluntary.
School staff will remind and encourage students to seek contacts and opportunities for service, but ultimately it is the responsibility of each student to find a way to meaningfully reach out to their community.

• For students in Grade 8 and 9, their hours are due at the beginning of January.  If a student does not complete their hours by then, they must meet with one of the Religious Education Coordinators to ensure a plan is in place to complete the hours before May 1st.
• For students in Grade 10, 11, and 12: Those taking their religion course in the first semester, logged hours and reflections are due at the end of the semester.  (For students taking their religion course in the second semester, this requirement is due two weeks prior to final exams.)

The requirements are as follows:
Grade 8:               5 hours
Grade 9:               10 hours
Grade 10:             15 hours
Grade 11:             15 hours
Grade 12:            Students need a total of 30 hours between grades 10, 11 and 12.  Therefore, if they have met the requirements in grade 10 and 11, they will not need to log hours in grade 12.