VOLUME90,Issue2SEPTEMBER2017

RICHMOND SECONDARY SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER HOMEOFTHECOLTS-ESTABLISHEDIN1927

Principal:Mr.JimAllisonAddress: 7171MinoruBlvd,Richmond,BC,CanadaV6Y1Z3VicePrincipals:Mr.JohnBlair&GordonFitt Phone: 604-668-6400Fax:604-278-4734PAC:Ms.O.Fedorenko EarlyWarning: 604-247-2658TrusteeLiaison:Ms.D.SargentTwitter:@richmondcolts

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

Principal’s Message:Welcome students and parents to the 90th 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 on the first two weeks. Our primary purpose remains the same - to meet the learning needs of each of our students and provide them with a safe, supportive learning 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. I look forward to meeting many parents on our Meet the Teacher evening on September 28 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 2017-2018 school year. We wish them well and look forward to their contributions to the RHS Colts community! Welcome to: Edgar Anco-Ascarza Spanish Brian Barenscott Tech Ed Mr. John Blair Vice Principal Nathalie Borrut Science/Math Mike Eastwood Science/IB Extended Essay James Ferguson Educational Assistant Mike Fretz PE/Planning Kate Goodwin Counselling Michele Gramm Science Eugene Harrison Resource Linda Hom (Hayashi) Math Rakshin Kandola Socials Adil Khan Socials/English Linsie Kolshuk ELL Kaitlin Minato ELL/Resource Ellen Ramsden Resource Vincent Tam Mandarin/French Rhiannon Vining Textiles/Drama Harry Yuen Science

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RSSNEWSLETTERVOLUME90,Issue2SEPTEMBER2017

Grade 8 Camp & Sleep-Over An Outstanding Start for the Grads of 2022! We hosted our 2nd annual Grade 8 Mini-Camp & Sleep-Over on September 15/16. Grade 8s engaged in a series of informative, active and fun events and team-building activities, enjoyed three meals together and slept over at the school. Grade 8s learned tips for success in high school, the importance of being organized and setting goals and they wrote letters to their “Grade 12 self.” Most importantly, they got to know one another and interacted with positive older student role models. Every aspect of the event was facilitated and led by a tremendous group of 40 student-leaders and supervised by many staff. A huge thank you to teachers Mr. Winograd, Ms. Chan and Ms. Yasui for their leadership and to all the other staff who helped make this event a success. Grade 8 Camp is an important community-building event that benefits our whole school and these student-leaders did a fabulous job welcoming and including our youngest Colts: Axel Alitagtag, Sandra Balitan, Samantha Chan, Lily Chen, Minaho Chiew, Emerson Cooke, Rick Dossantos, David Duan, Ryan Feng, Jayric Foong, Alex Hernandez, Alice Hao, William Hou, Hazeem Kairo, Parker Laing, Allyson Lara, Halliwell Li, Jessica Liu, Ryan Liu, Adele Luo, Andre Martin, Murad Mohammed, Ashton Pawlik, Tanner Pereschitz, Chelsea Ramos, Vince Ramos, Rowell Sabahat, Ysabelle Santa Ana, Anton Santos, Ethan Syho, Sameeha Wadhwania, Lily Wang, Wendy Wang, Anna Wei, Angie Wong, Kenji Wong, Mandy Xu, Angel Yang and Yvonne Zhao.

Academic Excellence a Strength at RHS: The Ministry of Education reported that 82% of our 2017 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 about 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. 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 to meet other requirements to achieve an IB Diploma. Note that a score of 40 or more points indicates that students have achieved exceptionally well – on a world-wide scale. Congratulations to 69 RSS students who achieved an IB Diploma in 2017 and to Vicki Fu, Rebecca Lin and Peggy Wang for achieving a final grade of 42 – a very impressive accomplishment and typically in the top 5% of the world!

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Getting Involved at Richmond Secondary School and Building a Strong Colts Spirit 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: senior boys' soccer, senior boys' volleyball, senior girls' volleyball, grade 8 girls' volleyball, grade 9 girls' volleyball, cross-country and swimming. Similarly, cheerleading tryouts are now underway and a wide variety of clubs are forming and we will host a Clubs’ Day at lunch on Friday, September 29. Events like the Grade 8 Mini-Camp & Sleep-Over, the first Spirit Week with different fun, dress-up themed days going from September 25 to 29, the annual RHS Terry Fox Run on September 28 and the Grad Boat Cruise on September 29 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! #GoColts

Parents Welcome at RHS! Our first PAC meeting was on the evening of September 13 and it was great to see some new faces, but all parents and legal guardians of RSS students are members of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) and are welcome to attend PAC meetings. Our PAC meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month and will meet next on October 11 and November 8 at 6:30 pm in the school library and the meetings are informal. 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. For more information or to be included on the PAC email list, please contact chairperson Olga Fedorenko at olgfedrn@gmail.com Similarly, all RSS parents are invited to join Dry After Grad (DAG) to be involved in a satisfying project and meet and work with other keen RSS parents. We need parents of the grads of 2018, 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 in their Grade 12 year. Please note that our Meet the Teacher evening will be at 6:30pm on September 28 and we will host a Grade 12 Parent Info Night at 6:30pm on October 11.

Grade 12 – Grad 2018 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 8 and included a free hot dog lunch for our 2018 grads. Each student was given a detailed, two-page handout outlining the key RHS grad 2018 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 Tuesday, September 26 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 29 and we will host a Grade 12 Parent Info Night on Wednesday, October 11 at 6:30pm. Grads should bookmark this website & FB page and check them every week: https://msjonescareercentre.wordpress.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/Ms-Jones-Career-Centre-News-118346451579144/

RSSNEWSLETTERVOLUME90,Issue2SEPTEMBER2018 RSSNEWSLETTERVOLUME90,Issue2SEPTEMBER2017

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RSSNEWSLETTERVOLUME90,Issue2SEPTEMBER2017

Richmond Secondary School Upcoming Dates: September 20 Collaboration Day September 21 Collaboration Day (Early dismissal day) September 22 Pro-D Day September 25-29 Colts Spirt Week! September 26 Canadian Universities 6:30pm at McMath September 28 RHS Terry Fox Run September 28 Meet the Teachers at 6:30pm September 29 Clubs’ Day at lunch September 29 Grad Boat Cruise October 6 Photo Retake Day October 9 Thanksgiving Holiday (school closed) October 11 Grade 12 Parent Info 6:30pm October 18 Collaboration Day October 20 Pro-D Day October 26 Interim Progress Reports Home

RHS Library Welcomes All Students! Students who read regularly are typically curious learners who do well in school. The 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 some research, to complete projects and assignments, to read to learn, or for pleasure or to just relax. We are rearranging our student spaces and including comfortable seating and work areas. We are also adding 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. Read the September newsletter here: https://rsslibrary.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/library-newsletter-2-1-sep-20172.pdf

Meet the Teachers Thursday, September 28 All parents are invited and encouraged to come to the school on Thursday, September 28 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 26. 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 individual 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 28!

Stay Connected to RHS: We know that 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/