2020-2021 

Ms. Angheloni is currently teaching in the Virtual School.  A Guidance Counsellor is not assigned to Bessborough this year.

Any information about the transition from Grade 8 to Secondary School will be shared with families as it becomes available. 

If your child would like to come and speak with me, they can arrange a time with me personally through the guidance office or through his/her home room teacher.

If you have a concern that you would like to discuss regarding your child, please call me at the school or send me an e-mail. Please include the full name of your child, your name and the school name that your child attends. I will get back to you as soon as possible and will set up whatever appointments or referrals are needed.

I look forward to working with you and your child to help make their school year successful.

The content of the guidance and career education program is represented by three areas of learning:

1. Student development: Students will learn to set and achieve learning goals both inside and outside school, manage their own learning, and acquire the habits and skills necessary for success both inside and outside school.
2. Interpersonal development: Students will learn to demonstrate self-discipline, take responsibility for their own behaviour, acquire the knowledge and skills required for getting along with others both within and beyond the school, and choose ways of interacting positively with others in a variety of situations
3. Career development: Students will reflect critically on their strengths, needs and interests; set goals and identify learning opportunities and strategies to achieve their goals.
   The career development competencies are “knowing self”, “exploring opportunities”, “making decisions”, and “preparing for change and making transitions”.

Learning is structured around the four questions of the education and career/life planning inquiry process (Who am I? What are my opportunities? Who do I want to become? What is my plan for achieving my goals?) Student learning in the education and career/life planning program takes place through:

• a variety of developmentally appropriate learning activities and programs related to the curriculum
• school-wide activities and processes
• activities in the community

Students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 are encouraged to “document” what they are discovering about themselves and their opportunities – in pictures, comments, letters to parents or peers, or in any other way they might choose – in a portfolio called “All About Me” In Grades 7 to 12, students build on the learning reflected in their portfolio as they develop their Individual Pathways Plan, which has a particular focus on making successful transitions to secondary school and their initial postsecondary destination.

From: Creating Pathways to Success: An Education and Career/Life Planning Program for Ontario Schools

The Individual Pathways Plan supports students in Grade 8 in the planning they need to do in order to make a successful transition from elementary to secondary school.

This support includes opportunities to explore and learn about:

• specialized programs and board-wide programs, extracurricular activities, and additional support programs
• types of courses offered, and how best to design their personal secondary school program based on their interests, strength, needs, and aspirations
• strategies for completing the community involvement requirement
• the full range of postsecondary opportunities (apprenticeship training, college, community living, university, and the workplace)