General School Policies

Foundation Skills Assessment (F.S.A.)
The B.C. Ministry of Education expects all BC DL students in grades 4 and 7 to write the F.S.A. Each year, students will be notified of test dates and participation procedures.

DL Communications Policy
Students on the DL program are required to have an email address for correspondence with both their teachers and CHeS. The Ministry of Education requires weekly contact.

Safety on the Internet
Parents need to: (1) supervise while their children are surfing, ensuring they are visiting appropriate sites and using chat rooms safely; (2) install appropriate computer system defenses; (3) discuss immediately any messages or bulletin board items which are suggestive, obscene, belligerent or threatening.

DL Semester System
Please discuss this with your designated teacher(s).

BC Provincial Examinations
Distributed Learning (DL) high school students are required to write five exams in order to graduate:

  • Language Arts 10 (one of: English 10 or Francais langue premiere 10)
  • Science 10
  • Mathematics 10 (one of: Principles/Applications/ Essentials of Mathematics 10)
  • Social Studies (one of: Social Studies 11/Civics 11/BC First Nations Studies 12)
  • Language Arts 12 (one of: English/Communications/Technical Professional Communication/Francais langue premiere)
Grade 10 and 11 Exams
The Grade 10 and 11 exams are not “pass/fail” exams. Exam results will be blended with the school/classroom mark to generate final course marks. Grade 10 and 11 exams count for 20 percent of the final course mark. Students must pass the course in order to earn required credit towards graduation.
Grade 12 Exams
All Grade 12 exams, other than Language Arts 12, will be optional. Grade 12 exams count for 40 percent of the final course mark (except for the BC First Nations Studies 12 exam which counts for 20 percent). Optional exams will be offered in sixteen Grade 12 courses. A student will be able to choose whether or not to write an exam; if a student opts to write the exam, the exam result counts for 40 percent of the final mark (except for the BC First Nations Studies 12 exam which counts for 20 percent). Students may elect to write optional grade 12 provincial exams to improve scholarship applications and/or because they plan to continue studies in a specialized field at a Post-Secondary Institution.

Reporting Child Abuse
Under section 13(1)(a) to (d) of the Child, Family and Community Service Act, everyone who has reason to believe a child has been or is likely to be physically harmed, sexually abused, or sexually exploited by any person(s) is legally bound to promptly report their concerns to a child protection social worker. Confidentiality of information - Information regarding an allegation of child abuse and/or neglect will be first disclosed to the principal, then promptly to a child protection social worker. For further information, please refer to “A Guide for Independent School Personnel Responding to Child Abuse”.

Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA)
PIPA is legislation that controls the way personal information of an individual is collected, used, disclosed, and stored. This Act impacts independent school authorities throughout BC.

Bullying
Christian Home e-School will not tolerate any form of bullying: physical, electronic, or otherwise.

Standardized Performance Assessment for DL Students
It is a policy of Christian Homelearners e-Streams to have a standardized level of acceptable student performance for each course offered at each grade level. These standards are listed on the B.C. Government website under the IRP's Appendix D. (An IRP is an integrated resource package.)

Provincial DL Standards
The DL program at Christian Homelearners eStreams operates within the Standards for Delivery of K-12 Independent School Distributed Learning in British Columbia.

DL Marking Policy
Designated assignments handed in late will be marked 10% off per day late up to the 5th day.

DL Parent Appeals Procedure
All parents are requested to first bring issues concerning their child's education to their designated teacher. If at any time they feel this is inadequate they may call the principal.

Course Material Restrictions
Students may not reproduce electronically-delivered course material except as required for personal use.

CHeS Special Needs Support Policy
Staff seeking special needs support for an individual student, or students requiring special needs support must have either an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Adapted Plan (AP) documented and recorded in their student planner.

Definitions:

Special Needs – Any child who has more difficulties than most children their age with schoolwork, communication, or behavior. The child with special needs usually has learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education. They usually require adaptations or modifications to help them experience success in the learning environment. Gifted children may at times fall into this category if they have special needs that require adaptations.

Adaptations - Instructional/assessment adjustments that assist learning without requiring change to the learning outcomes. An adaptation is a change that helps a student overcome or work around a disability or learning difficulty. Allowing a student who has trouble writing to give his answers orally is an example of an adaptation. Adaptations sometimes involved allowing a student to address outcomes below or above grade level.

Modifications - Instructional/assessment changes that assist learning and involve modification of actual learning outcomes in order to effectively address the student's learning needs. Modifications are considered for students whose special needs are such that they cannot access the curriculum (ie. students with limited awareness of their surroundings, students with fragile mental/physical health, and/or students who are medically and cognitively/multiply challenged).

Note: An adaptation might state that Johnny, a 10 yr old, would be working on the grade 3 outcomes for English. A modification might state that Johnny, a 10 year old, was going to learn to say the names of his family members. If the student is being adapted lower than 2 full grade levels, the student is considered needing modifications to his/her programming and an IEP. The MOE prefers students stay adapted as long as possible and modifications are only considered for severe cases or when adaptations cannot do enough to effectively meet the needs of the student.

Who must have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)?
An IEP must be established for all students with substantial special needs. This IEP must be approved by the principal. Students with "substantial special needs" are those:

  • that require extensive adaptations to educational materials, instructional methods, and/or assessment methods and the student is more than 2 full grade levels below what is typical for their age.
  • whose expected learning outcomes need to be modified in order for the student to experience "success".
  • who usually require more than 25 hours of remedial instruction by a person other than their learning mentor.

Who must have an Adapted Plan (AP)?
An Adapted Plan* should be established and approved by the principal when :

  • the learning outcomes established for the student’s educational program have not been modified.
  • when remedial instruction or assistance by a person other than the mentoring teacher is required.
  • when the student with special needs requires adaptations to educational materials, instructional methods, and/or assessment methods and the student stays within 2 full grade levels of what is typical.

*Note: Estreams is a unique program allowing all students the freedom to adapt learning to the needs of the individual; therefore most Estreams students use adaptations all the time. When however more adaptations than normal arise and the need for remedial help is evident, the process for validating that assistance must be documented and then approved by the Principal.

Who develops the IEP or AP?
IEP - The principal of the school is responsible for the implementation of educational programs (School Act Regulation 5(7)(a). Though planning occurs collaboratively, the principal of the school should ensure that for each such student a case manager is appointed to co-ordinate development, documentation and implementation of the student's IEP.As necessary, other school personnel or staff from regional or community agencies may be involved in the development and have a role to play in its implementation. An IEP tab must be inserted into the student planner for documentation purposes.

AP - Most adapted plans can be co-ordinated, documented, and implemented by the mentoring teacher but must be approved by the principal if other school personnel or staff from regional or community agencies is involved. AP documentation can take place directly within the plan tab for each student needing this service or if preferred an adaptation tab can be inserted into the student planner.

Note: Parents must be given the opportunity to be consulted in the planning process, and should have access to the IEP or AP. To the extent possible, the student should also participate in the process. The IEP or AP should document instances where services are offered but the parent or the student refuses them.

CHe-S Protocol:

  1. Assess needs:
    • Interview with parent, student
    • Collect past history (documentation)
    • Set up testing if necessary, etc. Alert the principal or AC of this need if finances are involved
    • Determine if extra support staff may need to be involved – may need to involve this person or agency, etc. in the documentation of the plan. Alert the principal or AC of this need.
  2. Determine AP or IEP format. IEP requires case worker involvement.
  3. Document plan:
    • AP can be documented in the existing plan tab (see the course links column for a list of adaptations, plus a chart for documenting who and what is involved.
    • IEP requires adding in the appropriate IEP tab(s).
    • Use charts to document who, when, where, how, what, etc.
    • When documenting private information use the admin column.
    • Be sure to involve the parent and student as much as possible. See course links column for documenting their involvement.
  4. Seek principal/AC approval.
  5. Work the plan modifying/adjusting as necessary and documenting progress. For major adjustments seek principal/AC approval.