RICHMOND SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTERrhs.sd38.bc.ca/sites/rhs.sd38.bc.ca/files/newsletters...connected to the school, follow us on Twitter and check (or subscribe to) our website regularly

VOLUME 88, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2015

RICHMOND SECONDARY SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER HOME OF THE COLTS -‐ ESTABLISHED IN 1927

Principal: Mr. Jim Allison Address: 7171 Minoru Blvd, Richmond, BC, Canada V6Y 1Z8 Vice Principals: Mr. G. Fitt & Ms. S. Hui Phone: 604-‐668-‐6400 Fax: 604-‐278-‐4734 PAC: Ms. L. Braun & Ms. O. Fedorenko Early Warning: 604-‐247-‐2658 Trustee Liaison: Ms. S. Nixon Twitter: @richmondcolts

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

Principal’s Message: Welcome students and parents to Richmond Secondary School - Home of the Colts! I am honoured and excited to join such a proud and accomplished school community with a deep legacy of excellence established almost 90 years ago. Our student population is currently 1,180 students and it was great to see so many happy and enthusiastic faces brighten up our hallways the first few days of school. As always, 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 also reiterated our themes of kindness, care and respect – for yourself and for all others, for the school, for our neighbourhood and community. Please encourage your teen to set realistic goals this year and support them in becoming actively engaged and involved in their own learning and to participate in all aspects of the Richmond High community. I encourage parents and guardians to stay connected to the school, follow us on Twitter and check (or subscribe to) our website regularly for the latest news, updates and upcoming RHS events. I look forward to meeting many parents on our Meet the Teacher evening on September 17 at 6:30pm. Thank you, Mr. Jim Allison

“Home of the Colts”

Welcome to Richmond High! A school organization is only as good as the people who work and learn in it. We are happy to welcome our new principal Mr. J. Allison who was most recently the principal at Steveston-London. We are also very excited to welcome the following staff members to the RSS family:

Mr. J. Chow Science Mr. S. Cook Learning Resource Mr. B. Hockley Math & French Ms. R. Kandola English Mr. G. Lin English Ms. L. Mei ELL/EN/SS/SC Ms. U. Pedersen Counselling Ms. R. Sidhu-Grewal EN & SS Ms. K. Singh Math & Science Mr. T. Ubial Business & IT Mr. L. Vidas Cafeteria Ms. A. Wormald Educational Assistant Ms. M. Yam Math & Science Mr. M. Winograd Learning Resource, SS, Athletic Director

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RSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 88, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2015 Academic Excellence at Richmond Secondary: The Ministry of Education reported that 215 of 265 (81%) of our 2015 graduating students achieved "Honours" status for maintaining "better than a B average for the 80-‐credits required for graduation." Congratulations also to the hundreds of RSS Grades 10, 11 and 12 students who wrote Provincial Exams in June. Our students achieved significantly higher than the district and provincial averages in Science 10, Math 10, English 10 and English 12. A special congratulations goes to the following eight students who achieved a remarkable score of 100% on a Provincial Exam: Midori Armstrong English 12 -‐ 100% Erin Long English 12 -‐ 100% David Duan Math 10 -‐ 100% Eva Feng Math 10 -‐ 100% Katherine Ho Math 10 -‐ 100% Devin Lam Math 10 -‐ 100% Jacinta Li Math 10 -‐ 100% Dennis Mo Math 10 -‐ 100% These RSS students achieved excellent or an "A" result on their 2015 Provincial Exams -‐ congratulations to: English 10 Umar Ahmed Andrew Balce Grace Bian Nikki Braun Raphael Cardenas Jun Wen Chen Claudia De Borja Mirabel De Guzman Hannah Durland Owen Fan Hellen Huang Katie Hung Louise Lau Lily Li Maggy Li Shawn Lin Elena Madorsky Constance Muradyan Ben Nicolas Bessie Pannu Julia Pascual Tatiana Povoroznyuk Marta Ramirez Winnie Ren Tamara Solnyshkina Tegan Syho Wennie Tang Sam Wu Marcus Xu Stella Zhang Flora Zhang Chen Zhou Jason Zhou Chloe Zhu Social Studies 11 Ariette Choi Kareem El Menyawi Mark Mo Anushka Nair May Qin Zaid Rauf Darren Sheh Sherouk Shehata Sarah Wang Ashley Wong Katherine Zhang Christopher Zhu


RSS Provincial Exam "A" Results: English 12 Annika Ang Midori Armstrong Maida Atif Hannah Balba Katrina Cabrera Grace Chang Isaac Chen Jennifer Chen Vincent Chiu Janelle Choi Christine Chong Francis Chui Erin Cooke Peijia Ding Eden Ding Alan Fan Mark Gan Alexis Gervacio Karina Gonchar Angela Guo Leo Hong Adriana Htoo Antonella Ibarguen Mejia Nikolai Jensen Theodore Lam Eric Leung Christy Li Yujie Li Eva Liang Carol Lo Erin Long Eddie Ni Joey Nip Mark Qiu Wendy Qiu Kristin Riveral Judy Sin Emily Sun Jerry Tao Wee Nie Tham Reena Thomas Andrew Tsai Hannah Viana Dylan Wang Diana Wang Eric Wang Jamie Wong Joyce Wu Alice Wu Matthew Wu Zi Ling Wu Edward Xing Cheryl Yao Susan Yao Jemima Ycasas Emilie Yu Jessica Yu Ivan Yu Kiana Yu Morten Yu Usman Zahoor Derek Zeng Frank Zhang Christine Zhou Steven Zhou Alice Zong Science 10 Umar Ahmed Muhammad Aljafar Grace Bian Raphael Cardenas Gavin Cua Owen Fan Eva Feng Leon Feng Rick Feng Kyle Go Stephen Gonzales Katherine Ho David Hu Andy Hung Olivia Jiang Haley Jiang Devin Lam Louise Lau Valencia Lau Kevin Lee

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RSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 88, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2015

World Teachers' Day -‐ October 5 The United Nations celebrates World Teachers’ Day on October 5 each year. At Richmond Secondary, we recognize that our staff members are all dedicated and highly capable people and our teachers are especially thoughtful and skilled professionals. Through their daily work of teaching, leading, mentoring, supporting, encouraging and inspiring, our staff make a tremendous contribution to the growth and development of all RSS students. We encourage students and parents to take a moment to say thank you to teachers and educators who have made and are making a positive difference in your life.


RSS Provincial Exam "A" Results: Science 10 (Continued): Helena Lee Maggy Li Sidney Lin Luke Lin Sherry Liu Bryan Mann Ian Moon Yuri Oda Sherry Pan Julia Pascual Tatiana Povoroznyuk Winnie Ren Chelsea Shen Laurence Sun Tegan Syho Andrew Teves Godfrey Tong Misha Vinarski Nicole Wong Michael Xian Dorothy Yang Danlin Zeng Linda Zeng Zoe Zhang Stella Zhang Flora Zhang Marcus Zheng Anthony Zhou Chen Zhou Jason Zhou Chloe Zhu Sharon Zhu Peter Zhuang Math 10 Umar Ahmed Muhammad Aljafar Zyad Ben-‐Suleiman Nikki Braun Angela Chan Angela Chen Jen Chen Natalie Cooke Gavin Cua David Duan Eva Feng Rick Feng Marian Gauzshtein Kyle Go Stephen Gonzales Jasmine Han Ralph Hao Tim He Alexandra Hernandez Katherine Ho David Hu Hellen Huang Andy Hung Truman Hung Wendy Jiang Cindy Jiang Kevin Kung Herman Kwok Adrian Lam Devin Lam Sean Lan Valencia Lau Helena Lee Halliwell Li Maggy Li Jacinta Li Sidney Lin Andy Lin Luke Lin Eric Liu Ryan Liu Adele Luo Bryan Mann Dennis Mo Livingston Pan Sherry Pan Lily Ping Tatiana Povoroznyuk Emily Ruan Jena Shao Amy Shao Chelsea Shen

RSS Exam "A" Results: Math 10 (Continued): Amy Shen Ziming Shen Jenny Situ Laurence Sun Kristie Tai Andrew Teves Lily Wang Jessie Wang Charles Wu Woody Wu Michael Xian Bernice Xiao Daisy Xie Guoxian Xu Mandy Xu Justin Yang Linda Zeng Zoe Zhang Stella Zhang Vivian Zhang Claudia Zhou Chloe Zhu Peter Zhuang

International Baccalaureate Results: Richmond Secondary School is an I.B. World School and has offered the I.B. Diploma program for students in Grades 11 and 12 since 1984. In 2015, 100 RHS Grade 12 students achieved an I.B. Diploma. I.B. Diploma students complete challenging courses, but are also required to write a 4,000-‐word research essay, meet Community, Action and Service requirements and write several challenging international exams. I.B. exams are marked on a 7-‐point scale and our 2015 RHS Diploma students achieved an impressive average grade of 5.24. Universities in Canada and around the world recognize I.B. diploma students by accepting students in very high numbers as they acknowledge the breadth and depth of academic and well-‐rounded experiences these students have accomplished in high school. Learn more by contacting our I.B. Coordinator Mr. Dave Miller at the school or check out: http://www.ibo.org

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Parents Welcome! It was great to see almost 50 parents attend our PAC New Parent Orientation session on the morning of September 10! All parents and legal guardians of RSS students are members of the Parent Advisory Council and are welcome to attend PAC meetings. Our PAC will meet next on October 14 and November 18 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, contact co-‐chairs Lynn Braun at [email protected] or Olga Fedorenko at [email protected] 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 2016, 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.

September is Literacy Month! Every year since 1966, the UN's International Literacy Day is a global observance on September 8. According to UNESCO, one-‐in-‐five adults are still not literate and two-‐thirds of them are women. About 75 million children are out-‐of-‐school and many more

attend irregularly or drop out. The City of Richmond is also celebrating Literacy Month in September. Reading and literacy (in all forms) are central to success in school and in life. Through reading, people access the ideas, information

and experiences that help them to understand themselves and their world. Literacy includes listening, speaking, reading, writing, thinking and digital skills and all are inherently connected in the development and assessment of literacy. Literate students who are engaged in, and able to think about and monitor their reading are more successful in all areas of school. All Richmond Secondary students are encouraged to check out the wide range of options available at our school library and read for pleasure regularly. Parents can help by having reading materials in your home, organizing visits to the local library and by modeling good reading habits. Explore the Richmond Public Library at: http://rpl.yourlibrary.ca

District to Host Open Houses on the Future of Schools The Richmond School District is currently engaging the community of Richmond, seeking input on the future of schools and buildings across our district. Enrollment is changing and this includes several areas that are declining in student-age population and other areas where continued population growth is expected. Similarly, while several buildings are new and modern, others are older and in need of significant seismic and building upgrades. The District is now looking at long-range plans that will include closing some schools and this is both a complex and emotionally charged topic. No decisions have been made yet and wide and meaningful input is sought from parents, students, community members and staff. There will be five public 'open house' meetings in October (including October 15 at 7pm at RSS) and Richmond residents are also invited to provide feedback or complete an online survey. Find out more at: http://letstalksd38.ca/our-schools-our-students-our-future schools-our-students-our-future

Follow Richmond Secondary School on Twitter Please stay connected to our school and join the over 390 students, parents, alumni and community members who are already following RHS on Twitter! This is a great way to get short reminders and updates of all that is happening at Richmond Secondary School. Twitter is easy to use from your smart phone or computer and is a very popular social medial platform used by millions of businesses, universities, news agencies and community organizations in Richmond, Canada and throughout the world. Follow us: @richmondcolts

Changing Curriculum in B.C.? The Ministry of Education is changing all K-‐9 curriculum, beginning in September 2016 and is in the process of changing Grade 10-‐12 curriculum as well. Learn more at: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/home

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RSS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 88, Issue 2 SEPTEMBER 2015 Back to School Driving Reminders: If you are driving to Richmond Secondary, we urge you to use common sense, avoid peak times, follow all posted road signs and laws and always be aware of students walking to school. Do not stop on Minoru Blvd. during busy periods to drop off or pick up students. Upon entering the school roadway, be

aware of pedestrians and do not speed in the parking lots or the turn-‐around areas. Parents should make arrangements to pick up your student near the school -‐ students can walk part way and even a little

rain is okay, they will not melt! Student drivers must follow all N requirements, including legal limits on passengers. Thank you for your cooperation in driving with care and ensuring that our students and staff are safe when travelling to and from school each day.

Grade 12 Info -‐ Colts Grad 2016 Update 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 assembly on Friday, September 11 and included a free hot dog lunch for our 2016 grads. Each student was given a simple two-‐page handout outlining the key RHS grad 2016 events and dates as well as other important information. Our dedicated school counsellors (Mr. Almas/Ms. Richard, Ms. Pedersen, Ms. Arvanitis) and our Career Advisor (Ms. Jones) work very hard to keep up-‐to-‐date and share information on post-‐secondary applications, deadlines and scholarships with students. All Grades 12s are encouraged to attend the university and college visits to RHS, do some research, write down their questions and make an appointment to see their counsellor or Ms. Jones. Grade 12s should also begin exploring post-‐secondary/university websites for information but also checking these sites every week: Richmond Secondary Counselling website: http://www2.sd38.bc.ca/[email protected]/ Career Advisor Ms. J. Jones Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Ms-‐Jones-‐Career-‐Centre-‐News-‐118346451579144/timeline/ District Career Centre News: http://www2.sd38.bc.ca/[email protected]/FOV4-‐0007DFD4/ At Richmond Secondary, we are committed to helping our students prepare for a successful transition to post-‐secondary life, but Grade 12 students must stay actively engaged and informed and, when in doubt, ask questions!

Student Safety Reminders: The City of Richmond is a safe community and our school has a well established ethos of kindness, care and respect; however, the safety of all who work and learn at Richmond Secondary School is very important to us and we ask parents to spend some time discussing the following reminders with their teens. Do not give out personal information over the Internet and be cautious online -‐ many people are not who they claim to be. Be thoughtful about your digital footprint and never text, post, “like” or comment on any message or photo that is offensive, hurtful or harmful – once on social media, it can never be retrieved. Teens should always communicate with their parents about where they are going, whom they will be with and what time they are expected. Whenever possible, teens should walk or travel with friends or in a group. Be cautious around strange vehicles, groups or adults you do not know. Always phone for a ride if you will be studying or working later than expected. If you have concerns or spot suspicious people or vehicles, especially when travelling to and from school, talk to your parents and report it to the school. Be wise and be safe.

Richmond Garden News: Each year Richmond High students plant and maintain a vibrant and healthy garden at the school. This summer, our Garden Club participated in the Steveston Community Market in late August. Fresh from our garden, we sold beautiful Russian garlic, fresh and dried herbs, flowers, cherry tomatoes and handmade garden note cards. Thank you to students Allen, Valerie, Lucy and Lily who tended to the garden four times a week this summer. Students interested in learning more about organic gardening and healthy eating are encouraged to contact Ms. Forrest or Ms. Gramm at the school.


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Upcoming Richmond Secondary School Dates: (Please check the calendar on the school website regularly)

September 16 Welcome Pancake Breakfast & Clubs Day September 16 Photo Day September 17 Meet the Teacher at 6:30 pm Sept. 17 & 18 Collaboration Days September 25 Pro-‐D Day (students not in session) September 29 UBC Advisor Visit 3pm September 30 Terry Fox Run (please bring a Loonie -‐ $1.) October 7 Canadian Universities 6:30pm at McMath October 12 Thanksgiving (school closed) October 14 Photo Retake Day October 14 PAC at 6:30 pm in the library October 22 Interim Reports Home October 23 Pro-‐D Day October 28/29 Parent-‐Teacher Conferences by appt.

Colts Fall Athletics: The Richmond Colts have been a respected name in high school sports for decades. In all Richmond schools there are three seasons of play -‐ fall, winter and spring and different sports are offered in different seasons. All RHS students are encouraged to try out for a team, volunteer as a manager or scorekeeper or come out to a few games and cheer on the Colts! Thank you to all of our student-‐athletes, volunteer staff and outside coaches and team sponsors for representing our school with skill, sportsmanship and class always. Students are encouraged to read the Athletic bulletin board near the gym, listen to announcements for try-‐out and game times. For more information or to find out how you can support Richmond athletics, please contact our Athletic Directors Mr. Harmeson or Mr. Winograd. The following RHS teams are offered in the RSSAA fall leagues -‐ Go Colts! Senior Boys' Soccer Senior Boys' Volleyball Senior Girls' Volleyball Grade 8 Girls' Volleyball Grade 9/10 Girls' Volleyball Cross-‐country Swimming

Subscribe to the Richmond Secondary School Website: The school website has been completely updated this year and contains a wealth of information about Richmond Secondary School, including our school calendar. All RSS families are encouraged to bookmark http://rhs.sd38.bc.ca and add it to their Favourites folder and check the website at least weekly. We have also added a new feature this year and you have the option of subscribing to our website. If you subscribe, you will receive an email when anything new is added to the main page or when a monthly school newsletter is

published. Check it out today!


Welcome Back Pancake Breakfast and Clubs Day! Our school was full of happy students enjoying hot pancakes & sausages on the morning of Wednesday September 16 at our annual "Welcome Back Breakfast" event. After breakfast, hundreds of students checked out the displays, tables and sign-‐up sheets of many clubs and activities offered at "Clubs Day". Our hope is that all of our students feel welcomed and connected at Richmond Secondary and that they belong to and engage with at least one club, team, activity or event this year. A huge thank you to the many RHS staff members who volunteered to prepare, flip and serve pancakes! Great school spirit comes from students and staff who care! #GoColts

Documents

RICHMOND SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTERrhs.sd38.bc.ca/sites/rhs.sd38.bc.ca/files/newsletters...connected to the school, follow us on Twitter and check (or subscribe to) our website regularly