Semester 1 Midterm Report Cards
Semester 1 midterm report cards were sent out the week of November 11th. Please ensure that you save a copy or print it for your records.
Jersey Day
We’re getting excited for the Jersey Day Fundraiser, which is taking place on Friday, November 29.
Students and staff are encouraged to wear a sport, club, or league jersey or t-shirt and donate a toonie, or more, if they can. Don’t have a jersey? That is ok, wear a favourite shirt instead.
Jersey Day is a fundraiser that takes place across all schools in Trillium Lakelands District School Board on the same day to raise funds for the Feed All Four Fund. 100 percent of the funds raised go right back into supporting TLDSB students and their families in need through the fund.
There are two ways to donate starting today:
- E-transfer to [email protected]. These are anonymous and can be any amount.
- Donate online through the Board’s Canada Helps page. Donations of $4 and above will receive a charitable donation tax receipt.
- Important note – in the private message field, enter “Jersey Day + school name”.
Thank you for supporting TLDSB students and their families who are in need.
Withdrawals
If you would like to withdraw from a course, and you are under 18, a parent/guardian must email the registrar ([email protected]) with the request from their personal email account.
If you are over 18, you need to notify our office using your student Gmail account that you wish to withdraw from one or more of your courses. You can also log in to your application and update your Student Notes.
If you are attending another publicly funded or private school, your guidance counsellor must email the registrar ([email protected]) with the request.
If a student elects to withdraw, course deposits will be forfeited (if applicable).
How to make a Guidance Appointment
Please check out our guidance course page in Canvas to find the online booking link if you would like to schedule a 1 on 1 appointment with Mrs. Marshall. Our guidance page contains a wealth of information on pathway planning and is the hub for our exciting College and University information sessions from Ontario institutions. Post secondary information fair dates and application key dates are also in the guidance page. Head over to the zoom section to see the schedule of events.
Taking Courses Elsewhere
If a homeschooled student is taking courses with the Virtual Learning Centre and would like to enrol in courses from other programs that are privately or publicly funded, including the Independent Learning Centre (ILC), our office needs to be notified ahead of time. Failure to do so may result in withdrawal from our program.
When a student completes any external credits, they must upload the final report card to their Student Profile, so the office can help them keep track of their OSSD requirements and ensure they have prerequisites for future courses. Given that many of our students are homeschooled, it is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to keep track of their OSSD requirements but our office can provide support along the way. Our guidance counsellor will share resources with students that will help them keep track of these requirements and they can provide assistance with course selection, and pathway planning and eventually support them in the graduation and post-secondary application process.
Any external credits completed (outside of the VLC) will not be added to the student’s status/credit counselling sheet or the Completion of Requirements for Graduation page of our VLC final report cards until a student’s graduating semester with the VLC.
Graduation and Post-Secondary Applications
Graduating students and students going on to post secondary programs were requested to complete the Graduation and Post-Secondary form in September so they could be added to our VLC Grad and Post-Secondary Club. Students in this club will have access to important information and resources for graduation and for post-secondary programs and applications. All students who have completed the form, and declared their intent to graduate, have been added to the course. Mrs. Marshall has made several email requests to a few students who have yet to declare that this is their final year. Please ask your potential grad if they are part of the VLC Grad Club. If they are not, they need to complete the form in the September 9th Student Guide announcement (Graduation and Post-Secondary Information Request 2024/2025 – IMPORTANT) immediately.
Applications for Ontario College and Universities are now open and all instructions and important dates for OCAS and OUAC can be found in the VLC Grad Club.
Important Dates
December 20 – January 5 Winter break
January 6 – Classes resume
January 10 – Last date to hand in overdue work
January 23 – Last live class for semester 1
January 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 – Exams
January 31 – Semester 2 Schedules will be sent
February 3 – First day of Semester 2
Technical Support
If students are having technical difficulties they can open a support ticket in Canvas by using the Help menu on the left-hand side and choosing “Report a Problem”. This will go to our support team and a solution will be emailed to the student’s VLC Gmail address.
Inclement Weather
At the VLC we do not have inclement weather days, as our courses are offered virtually and there is no travel required. If your local school board announces an inclement weather day, please note this does not apply to VLC and you will be expected to follow your timetable as scheduled.
Honorlock
We have a few tips for students using Honorlock to ensure that it runs smoothly for your tests and exams. Before a test or an exam make sure that your Chrome is up to date. Please ensure that the proctorio chrome extension has been removed. Make sure that you are logged into chrome with your VLC email address.
It is imperative that students use Google Chrome and no other Chromium browsers when taking an Honorlock assessment. Students who choose to use other browsers may receive a mark of zero as these other browsers have known technical issues.
Final Exams (January 24, 27, 28, 29, 30)
Final exams are scheduled on January 24, 27, 28, 29, 30. Specific dates and times for exams are posted on student’s course homepages and have been emailed to families. Please note that all exams will be proctored by Honorlock. For more information visit our website (https://virtuallearning.ca/faqs/what-is-honorlock/).
Failure to write or missing an exam or culminating task deadline without a medical note defending your absence forfeits the credit for the course. Other plans or travel are not conflicts and students are expected to write their exams and hand in their culminating tasks at the scheduled time without exception.
Exams have scheduled start times and students must be ready to start writing at the scheduled time. Students who arrive late may be locked out of their exams and no additional time will be provided.
During all exams, we will have a technical support room available to support students with any technical issues during their exams. The link will be on the first page of all exams, in the student guide and we will also email it out closer to the exam date.
Address Updates
If you have moved you need to update your Student Notes immediately with your new address, complete with street number, street name, city, postal code, and any unit or apartment number. If your phone number has changed please include that as well.
To review the information you have on file go to our website and choose “Student Profile” login with your VLC credentials. Then click on “Student Information” to review what is on file.
Schedule information
For each of the courses you take, you will be expected to participate in five 75 minute periods (6 and 1/4 hours) per week plus the potential of homework. This participation will be outlined below.
Students will have two 75 minute live classes per week where they will join a Zoom meeting and have direct interaction with their teacher. These times are indicated on the timetable as “Live Class”. These sessions are recorded if a student is unable to attend. If students are unable to attend their live class, watching the required recordings is imperative to be successful.
Students will also have two 75 minute periods per course of “Asynchronous Learning”. This time is for students to work independently on their course. We have put this on the timetable to encourage students to keep that routine. If students need to change these times we encourage them to plan when they will complete the two 75 minutes periods that week.
Students will also have one 75 minute period per course of “Open Office.” This is the time when teachers are available to meet with students to answer questions about the course material/assignments. This is an optional session. Students can also use this time for asynchronous learning or to complete their coursework. If students do not feel like they need to meet with their teacher they should be treating this period as an asynchronous learning period and continue to work on their courses. Teachers may request that students attend this session for direct or small group instruction.
Semester 2
Classes for semester 2 will begin on February 3rd. Timetables will be sent to students on or before January 31st. 2025.
Registration
It is that time of year again when we start thinking about next year’s courses! Dates and times for registration will be announced shortly, however, we do want to share that registration will be taking place earlier this year and will be a two part process. First, students will confirm registration information and upload all required documents. Documents will then be reviewed in the order they are received. Once all required documents have been approved students will be notified and will be able to select courses at that point. Detailed registration instructions and dates will be shared before registration opens.
We recommend that students review our website’s FAQ, Students Services and Registration Information sections as there is a wealth of information there including how to apply and the support documentation that will be required. We also encourage families to start to discuss course selections so students know what courses they want to take.
Important: a full timetable consists of 8 credits in the school year. Please note, that grade 12 students may not require this many credits to meet their OSSD requirements (30 credits).
What documents do I need to register?
Please click here to find a list of documents that are required as part of your registration. Please have this documentation available in digital format before registering.
