Midterm season has passed and spring is in the air. Students can take a moment to catch their breath and enjoy the warmer weather. However, it is important that Grade 12 students applying to university keep in mind that while midterms may be over, final deadlines are just around the corner. In this newsletter, we’ll discuss important dates senior students should know
Upcoming Deadlines
As finals season approaches, please take careful note of the following deadlines which will be critical for those of you who need OVS credits forwarded externally for graduation & post-secondary admission. While we will still send your marks to your day school/OUAC past these deadlines, we cannot guarantee that they will be received on time, so adhering to the below deadlines is extremely important. You will fall into one of the below groups. These groups will determine your deadlines:
Group 1
Group 1 students must have all work handed in by no later than June 3rd. ** work will be accepted after this date however we will not be able to guarantee that the mark will be ready in time** This means that final exams MUST be written on or before this date to have a mark ready in time.
Group 2
Group 1 students must have all work handed in by no later than June 20th. ** work will be accepted after this date however we will not be able to guarantee that the mark will be ready in time** This means that final exams MUST be written on or before this date to have a mark ready in time.
OVS Visits China!
This April, OVS visited China to solidify our relationship with existing partner schools and take feedback for program improvements and share best practices. The second objective of the trip was to visit new interested schools to forge new partnerships and provide teacher training to those that will be launching the OSSD program in the near future.
First stop was the city of Guang Zhou, where we visited Jin Shi, a giant public school with over 6000 students from K-12. They will start offering an OSSD program for interested students in 2025.
Our second stop was WuHan, where we visited a new school called Wuhan Britain China School. They currently run an IB program as well as A level Cambridge system and even AP classes. Starting Sept 2024, they will have their first group of students pursuing the OSSD as they see the value the flexibility of the partnership with OVS provides for their students.
New OVS Courses
Grade 11 English Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Voices
Students in Ontario now have options when it comes to achieving their Grade 11 English credit. They can take the standard ENG3U or ENG3C courses or they can take the newer NBE3U Grade 11 English: Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Voices. This course explores the themes, forms, and stylistic elements of a variety of literary, informational, graphic, oral, cultural, and media text forms emerging from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures in Canada, and also examines the perspectives and influence of texts that relate to those cultures.
FRA6G: Grade 6 Core French
Grade 6 Core French provides students with the opportunity to use their previous knowledge and apply new vocabulary and writing conventions to explore topics related to the social studies curriculum by exploring topics in French Canadian history. As beginning language learners, they will learn new vocabulary that will help them describe physical appearances, personalities, describe sports and hobbies, use formal and informal writing conventions, explore various French-speaking cultural traditions, identify environmental issues, just to name a few.
FRA7G: Grade 7 Core French
Grade 7 Core French builds on the knowledge gained from Grade 6, continuing to develop their vocabulary and writing skills by exploring topics related to the global French speaking community. Students will learn new vocabulary that will help them to describe their daily life, express themselves using formal and informal conventions, describe their hobbies and interests, and discussed topics related to travel.
Upgrade/Repeat Courses
At OVS, we want to see students successfully complete courses and be able to pursue their post-secondary goals. Sometimes, you don’t always get the mark you were hoping for the first time you take a course, and if it’s a requirement you need for a post-secondary program, it can feel like your goals might be out of reach.
However, with OVS you can repeat a course and complete it in as little as 3 weeks, which means there is still time to improve your grade to receive or maintain offers for university applications.
With an Upgrade course, you are not required to watch all the lessons, only as many as you need to refresh the material. This allows you to focus on problem areas or subjects you might struggle with, while not having to repeat other lessons that you have a solid grasp on.
Depending on the course you’re upgrading, some assignments will become optional, which allows you to submit less work to earn your final grades. However, if students need the extra boost in their marks, you can complete some optional work to try and enhance your grade.
With our Upgrade courses, it’s absolutely still possible to get the course completed and submitted to OUAC or OCAS so your post-secondary program can see it.
OVS Podcast – Season 3
Ontario Virtual School is kicking off the rest of Season 3 this month on A Brighter Future, Powered by OVS, with a series of episodes about adapting to the changing public school system, the Ontario cellphone crackdown, and the new apprenticeship pathways for senior high school students. So far there are three published episodes, with three more to be released this spring and summer. Episode 1: Effective Communication Skills and Episode 2: Thinking Schools discuss how students should tackle different types of school questions based on the objective of the question. We also hear from the first two Student Spotlights, Paula and Nathan. In Episode 3: End of Semester Tips, Alicia discusses how to prepare for the end of the year. This podcast also includes an interview with OVS’s Vice Principal, Ms. Andrews.
Ontario Virtual School on TikTok
Ms. Cuzner is the TikTok creator for Ontario Virtual School and she has used her knowledge on digital learning to turn key lessons into short videos. Knowing that students on the app have a short attention span, her videos are no longer than 60 seconds!
Some of these key lesson topics include how to write a thesis, how to state an argument, different study methods, writing and reading strategies, and other quick tips that can help one’s learning process. For more information on TikTok and OVS, please check out our blog.
To watch more quick and handy school tip videos, follow @OntarioVirtualSchool on TikTok, and don’t forget to like, share!
