Information for Parents of Grade Eight Students
Communication with home can be a struggle at secondary school. Mailing out information is too costly to do on
a regular basis and information sent home with students does not always get there on time, if at all.
Communication with home is critical to the success of many secondary school students.
At the same time, parents do not always know how involved to get at secondary schools. Where once parents
were regularly involved in their children’s elementary schools, at secondary school that level of involvement
often wanes. Children express embarrassment about their parents phoning the school or worse yet actually
showing up.
From my standpoint, that of the grade 8 counsellor, the more involved that you are here at Seycove, the better
that our school operates. To that end, please pick up the phone and phone Mark Fetterly at: 604-903-3643 or email me at: mfetterly@sd44.ca I will try to respond on the same day. Ask me anything about your child or about
the school. I can easily contact teachers and given a couple of days I can give you a detailed snapshot of
attendance, behaviour, participation and achievement. My message is to please stay as involved with your
children’s education as you have always been. Please make sure that we have your email address as we are
finding that to be a very effective means of communication.
What is going on to start the year?
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On the first day of school grade eight students are expected to be at school at 9:45 AM. They meet at the
main entrance on the west side of the school where they are ushered into the gym to meet the entire staff.
Our Grade Eight Parent Night occurs on September 5. Parents and grade eight students meet in the gym at
7:00 PM for a welcome by the principal. Then, students lead parents to meet each of their grade eight
teachers. Teachers will discuss the secrets for successful grade students. The evening will end by 9:00 PM.
Please plan to attend this evening with your child.
On September 12, all grade eight students will spend the afternoon working with the staff at our annual
CLASS Afternoon. All grade eight students must attend this informative afternoon. The CLASS Afternoon
helps to set the stage for student behaviour for the next five years.
Immediately following the CLASS afternoon on the 12th, all grade eight students are invited to the Grade
Eight/Grade Twelve Student Barbecue. This barbecue is sponsored by the Seycove grad council and is
the culminating event of the Seven/Eleven Program. The barbecue starts at 3:00 PM and the cost is $3.00
The first official report is mailed home on October 24 in the form of our Grade Eight Interim Report. All
teachers will send out a report for grade eight first term classes. This is a student self-evaluation combined
with the teacher’s evaluation of student progress for each class.
Our first Parent/Teacher Interviews take place on November 7. You must request an interview with
teachers. Request forms are mailed home on October 24 with the grade eight interim reports. The interview
times are scheduled on a first-come-first-served basis.
However, you are not limited to meeting with teachers on one of the two official interview nights. Given
some notice, I can arrange a meeting between you and teachers.
The first comprehensive report cards come home on December 13.
Finally, please stay informed as to how your children are doing at Seycove. One way to do that is to expect your
children to keep you informed. Another is to stay in touch with school through phone calls, emails and on the
website – www.seycove.ca