School Announcements

*Important* Test and Exam Cancellations during COVID-19

 
Picture of Karol Kam
*Important* Test and Exam Cancellations during COVID-19
by Karol Kam - Monday, 6 April 2020, 12:40 PM
 
Dear SCcyber family,

I hope this finds you all well. 


As you are aware, when schools and learning centres were closed for COVID-19, many of our students lost access to their supervisors for exams and so exams were temporarily suspended for most students.  As the time has passed and we have realized that it is unlikely that schools or sites will reopen before September, we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel all tests and exams that haven't yet been completed for the remainder of the school year.  Previous test marks from before the closures will still be counted.  All final marks for this year will be based on assignment marks and any tests that had already been completed.  All other exams will be marked as excused.  This cancellation includes our independent students, as we recognize that meeting with their proctor will many times contravene that recommendations on self-isolation recommended by the Chief Medical Officer of Health for Alberta.

This is an unprecedented situation, but your teachers and school are here to support all our students in preparing them for their future courses by providing the learning resources needed, giving help in our online homework help, by email, and by phone or text. We will continue to do our very best to encourage students to consider the importance of learning the material to the best of their ability.  Please don't forget to watch all the lesson videos that accompany your courses.  Students must remember that they need the knowledge in the current courses to continue being successful in the next level of their schooling, so we encourage everyone to work very hard on their assignments and do corrections wherever possible to get lots of practice.

Our decision is in line with what most school authorities in Alberta are doing at this time to deal with students working unsupervised and to alleviate the stress that students are already experiencing.

While we had hoped that the social distancing restrictions wouldn't be too burdensome on our independent students that have proctors, as the situation has become more restrictive, they should no longer be asked to go out in their community to complete proctored exams.  In addition, most of these students are parents that are now forced to oversee their own children's schooling while they study- a very burdensome proposition that will not result in a fair assessment under such stress.  Owning to the mental stress of this situation on all students, we feel it would be better to make this policy the same for all students across our school rather than cancelling for some and not for others.

Your teachers will continue to provide our usual expected detailed feedback on all marked assignments so that students have the opportunity to learn and improve.  It may be that we have some students stuck at home that will make record progress if they now have extra time. If a student hands in many assignments in a single week earlier than mid-June, the teacher will mark a reasonable amount of 2 or 3 assignments that first week to the usual detail and then slowly work through the rest at a reasonable rate in the week or two following.  We encourage students to hand in work regularly and revise and do corrections on the work they hand in.  Practice is more important than ever this semester in order for students to be as prepared as possible in coming semesters.

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

May our creator bless you and your families with good health.

Mrs. Kam