VOLUME 92, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2018

RICHMOND SECONDARY SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER HOME OF THE COLTS - ESTABLISHED IN 1927

Principal: Mr. Jim Allison Address: 7171 Minoru Blvd, Richmond, BC, Canada V6Y 1Z3 Vice Principals: Mr. John Blair & Ms. Anita Kwon Phone: 604-668-6400 Fax: 604-278-4734 PAC: TBD Early Warning: 604-247-2658 Trustee Liaison: Ms. D. Sargent Twitter & Instagram: @richmondcolts

Website: http://rhs.sd38.bc.ca

Principal’s Message: Welcome students and parents to the 2018-2019 year at Richmond Secondary School! Our enrollment is currently just over 1200 students and it was great to see so many happy and enthusiastic faces brighten up our hallways during the first two weeks. Our primary purpose is to meet the learning needs of each of our students and provide them with a safe and supportive environment in which they can thrive and grow. At our opening grade assemblies, we welcomed everyone to Richmond, clarified expectations and encouraged students to get involved in life outside the classroom in a positive way. We reinforced our themes of kindness, care and respect – for yourself and for all others, for the school, for our neighbourhood and community. We spoke about the importance of having a growth mindset and believing in yourself and being resilient, but also asking for help when you need it – we care about students and we want everyone to be successful. Please encourage your teen to set realistic goals and support them in becoming actively engaged in their learning and to participate in other aspects of the RHS community. I encourage parents and guardians to stay connected, follow us on social media and subscribe to our website for the latest news and upcoming events. We look forward to meeting many parents on our Meet the Teacher evening on September 20 at 6:30pm. Thank you, Mr. A

“Home of the Colts” GO SHARKS

Welcome to Richmond Secondary School Our school organization is only as good as the people who attend, work and learn here. We are excited to welcome the following new and returning staff members to our school for the 2018-2019 school year. We wish them well and look forward to their contributions to the RHS Colts community! Welcome to: Mr. Art Almas Counselling Mr. Alex Chen IT/ELL Mr. Henry Chuang Educational Assistant Ms. Stephanie Cox Business/ICT Mr. Brian Gresko Social Studies Mr. Chris Kalyvas Social Studies/ELL Mr. Adil Khan SS/ELL/Learning Resource Ms. Anita Kwon Vice Principal Mr. Chris Laxton ELL Mr. Darren Mann Day Custodian Ms. Ursula Pedersen Counselling Ms. Vanessa Tam Math/Science Mr. Harry Yuen Science/I.B. Chemistry

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Grade 8 Camp – A Great Start to High School! We will host our 3rd annual Grade 8 Mini-Camp & Sleep-Over on September 21/22. All of our Grade 8s will engage in a series of informative, active and fun events and team-building activities in the community and at the school, enjoy three meals together and sleep over at the school. Grade 8s will learn tips for success in high school, the importance of being organized and setting goals and they will write letters to their “future Grade 12 self.” Most importantly, our youngest Colts will get to know one another better, make some friends and interact with positive senior student leaders. Every aspect of the event will be facilitated and led by a tremendous group of 40 student leaders and supervised by many staff, including our principal and vice-principals. This experience is for all of our Grade 8s – parents are urged to contact the school asap if they have not yet registered. Welcome to Richmond High – Grads of 2023!

Getting Involved at Richmond Secondary School and Building a Strong Colts Community All RHS students are encouraged to get involved in at least one positive activity this school year. Try out for a team, volunteer as a manager or come out to games and cheer on the Colts. Join or lead a club, audition for a play, participate in Spirit Weeks or raise awareness or funds for local or global causes. Follow our Colts teams on Twitter @Colts_Athletics or check out the athletics website http://coltsathletics.weebly.com/ or contact our Athletic Director Mr. Winograd. These RHS teams are offered in the RSSAA fall season: boys' soccer, senior boys' volleyball, senior girls' volleyball, grade 8 girls' volleyball, grade 9 girls' volleyball, grade 10 girls’ volleyball, cross-country and swimming. Similarly, our first SPIRIT WEEK will be September 24-28 and students and staff are invited to participate in the fun dress-up days. We will host Clubs’ Day at lunch on Friday, September 28 and students can meet other students and find out about all the clubs that will be offered this year. Events like the Grade 8 Mini-Camp & Sleep-Over, the first Spirit Week, the annual RHS Terry Fox Run on September 27 and the Grad Boat Cruise on September 28 are all opportunities for students to be connected and involved in our school. Vibrant school spirit and a strong sense of belonging are important and we encourage all students to make the choice to get involved! Be sure to follow the school Instagram account to see photos of all that is happening at RHS! #GoColts

Grade 12 – Grad 2019 News: Grade 12 is a big year and there is a lot of information, deadlines and events for students and families to know. We kicked off the year with a Grade 12 team-building event on Friday, September 7 and included a free hot dog lunch for our 2019 grads. Each student was given a detailed, two-page handout outlining the key RHS grad 2019 events and dates as well as other important information. Our dedicated school counsellors and our Career Advisor work hard to keep up-to-date and share information on post-secondary applications, deadlines and scholarships. Grades 12s are encouraged to attend the university and college visits to RHS, do some research and make an appointment to see their counsellor or Ms. Jones. The Canadian Universities Event (CUE) is on Wednesday, October 3 at 6:30pm at McMath. This is an opportunity to meet reps from universities and colleges all over Canada. The Grad Boat Cruise is on Friday, September 28 and we will host a Grade 12 Parent Info Night on Wednesday, October 10 at 6:30pm. Grads should bookmark this website & Facebook page and check them every week: https://msjonescareercentre.wordpress.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/Ms-Jones-Career-Centre-News-118346451579144/

RSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 90, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2018

RHS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 92, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2018

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Parents Welcome at RHS! Our first PAC and DAG meetings were on the evening of September 12 and it was great to meet many new parents! All parents and legal guardians of RHS students are welcome to attend Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meetings and are also welcome to attend Dry After Grad (DAG) meetings. Our PAC meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month and will meet next on October 10 and November 14 at 6:30 pm in the school library. PAC is a great way to meet the principal and other parents and find out more about the school, education policies and hot teen topics. Similarly, all parents are invited to join Dry After Grad (DAG) to be involved in a very satisfying project and meet and work with other keen RSS parents. We need parents of the grads of 2019, but also parents of current Grades 11, 10 and younger students to be sure the Colts DAG experience remains vibrant and successful for all students when they get to Grade 12. For more information about DAG, contact parent Rhonda at: rgab_smi@telus.net Please note that our Meet the Teacher evening will be at 6:30pm on September 20 and we will host a Grade 12 Parent Info Night at 6:30pm on Wednesday, October 10 and parents are welcome!!

September is Literacy Month and the RHS Library is Open! Students who read regularly are typically curious learners who do well in school. Our Richmond Secondary School library is open every day from 8:00am to 3:30pm. Our school library is evolving and changing every month to be a welcoming place for all students to do research, to complete projects and assignments, to read to learn, or for pleasure or to just hang-out and relax. We are rearranging our student spaces to include comfortable seating and work areas. We are also shifting to a “learning commons” style space and will be adding a 3-D printer this year. We also buy hundreds of new titles every year. Our dedicated library staff includes Ms. Betty Chung and Mr. Travis Truong and they are interested in helping students do research or find something interesting to read. We encourage all students to bookmark the library website: https://rsslibrary.wordpress.com/ and follow the library on Twitter @rss_library and to read the monthly online newsletters.

Meet the Teachers Thursday, September 20 Parents are invited and encouraged to come to the school on Thursday, September 20 to meet their teen’s teachers. The evening will begin at 6:30pm in the gym where parents will meet and hear from the principal and vice principals and then tour the school, following an open house format, to meet teachers. Students will bring home a copy of their timetable, with teachers’ names and locations on September 19. Please note, the purpose of this event is to meet teachers, put a face to a name and find out more about what students will do and learn this year – it is not intended for conversations about student progress. Parents are able to email teachers at any time – look on the school website under Information – Our Staff for contact information. Please plan to attend on Thursday, September 20!

RHS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 92, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2018

Stay Connected to RHS: Every member of our community leads a very busy life, balancing school, work and family responsibilities. At RHS, we will do our best to communicate regularly with students, parents and members of our wider school community. We invite everyone to bookmark and subscribe to our school website – it is the best source of the most up-to-date school information. Similarly, we are active on social media, and on our website you will find links to our pages on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Please stay connected! http://rhs.sd38.bc.ca/

Student Insurance Coverage The Richmond School District offers families optional insurance coverage through Kids Plus™ Insurance Company. Parents can find out more by contacting the company at 1-800-556-7411 (toll free) or by exploring the Kids Plus™ website:

https://www.kidsplus.ca

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“Home of the Colts” GO SHARKS

RHS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 92, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2018 Academic Excellence at RHS:

The Ministry of Education reported that 85% of our 2018 graduating students achieved "Honours" status for maintaining "better than a B average for the 80-credits required for graduation." It is important to note that the province-wide average for students achieving Honours status in the 3-year graduation program is more than 20% lower. Congratulations also to the RSS students who wrote the English 12 Provincial Exam in June. Our students achieved higher than the district and provincial exam averages, for both public and independent schools, on this measure. Over 400 of our students wrote the new Graduation Numeracy Assessment (GNA) in June and the school results were again higher than the district average and the average of all schools in B.C., both public and independent schools. Students can access their GNA results by logging on to the Ministry of Education and creating a BCeID account (they need their PEN number) at: https://www.bceid.ca/register/basic/account_details.aspx?type=regular Richmond Secondary is the only school in the District certified to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. This is a challenging two-year program recognized by universities all over the world for producing thoughtful, competent, capable, resilient and well-rounded learners. I.B. students are externally evaluated using a 7-point scale in the required subject areas and 3 additional points for the ‘core areas’ for a maximum of 45 points. Students need a minimum of 24-points and meet additional core requirements to achieve an IB Diploma. An IB Diploma score of 40 or more points is outstanding and indicates that students have achieved exceptionally well on a world-wide scale. Congratulations to 66 RSS students who achieved an IB Diploma in 2018 and to the following students for achieving an outstanding score of 40 or more: Joshua Kraan 40 John Turkson 41 Kristin Huang 42 Jack Lu 42 Alex Hernandez 43 Sean Lan 43 Dennis Mo 44 (top 1% of the world)

Are You Registered to Vote? The local civic elections are happening across B.C. this fall and voting day is Saturday, October 20. The civic election includes the important positions of mayor, city councilors and the Board of Education. Local governments have tremendous influence in day to day life, including establishing local bylaws, zoning and housing regulations, parks and recreation while the Board of Education helps shape important educational decisions for all public schools in Richmond. A healthy democracy relies on citizens being informed, asking questions and, most importantly, voting. To be sure you are registered and the locations of polling stations, check out:

https://www.richmond.ca/electionservices/voters/votingday.htm?PageMode=HTML

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“Home of the Colts” GO SHARKS

Richmond Secondary School Upcoming Dates: September 19 Collaboration Day September 20 Collaboration Day September 20 Meet the Teachers at 6:30pm September 21 Pro-D Day September 21/22 Grade 8 Camp & Sleep-Over September 24-28 Colts Spirt Week! September 27 RHS Terry Fox Run September 28 Clubs’ Day at lunch September 28 Grad Boat Cruise October 3 Canadian Universities at McMath 6:30pm October 5 World Teachers’ Day October 8 Thanksgiving Holiday (school closed) October 9 Photo Retake Day October 10 Grade 12 Parent Info 6:30pm October 18 RHS Post-Secondary Fair 3pm October 19 Pro-D Day October 25 Interim Progress Reports Home

RHS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 92, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2018 RHS Terry Fox Run on September 27 Richmond Secondary School will once again honour a great Canadian hero by participating in the Terry Fox Run on Thursday, September 27. Terry Fox was an 18-year old student at SFU when he lost his leg to cancer. He decided to raise awareness and funds by running across Canada, the equivalent of a full marathon a day, on one leg. His Marathon of Hope covered over 3,000 miles when he had to stop as the cancer returned. He passed away at the age of 22. All students and staff will travel to Minoru Park and run or walk together. Students from our PE Leadership class have begun collecting donations and students are asked to bring a small donation, if they are able. All proceeds raised by the school will be sent to the Terry Fox Foundation to support ongoing cancer research. Learn more at: http://www.terryfox.org

Café 109 – Everyone Welcome! Back by popular demand, Café 109 is a place where students can come to start their day with calm. Hosted in room 109 at 7:50am to 8:25am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, all students are welcome to come, enjoy free hot chocolate or tea, play board games or just sit, unplug and relax. Students who are reflective and able to self-regulate and remain calm and focused are better prepared to learn. Everyone is welcome!

Need Some Help with Math? It is normal for all students to face challenges and to struggle at times. Indeed, learning can be defined by trying, making mistakes, reflecting, trying again, and again (and again) before succeeding. Students needing some help with their math learning are welcome to attend “math help” after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in room 213. Senior math students and math teacher Ms. Hom are available to help students in all grades with their learning. See Ms. Hom for more info.