What You Need to Know About: Grade 7 End of the Year & Finals

Timeline

Wednesday June 7- Frank Slide Field Trip
Friday, June 16 - LA Final - 9:00 am start time
Monday, June 19 - Math Final - 12:45pm start time 
Tuesday, June 20 - Science Final - 12:45pm start time 
Wednesday, June 21 - National Indigenous Peoples Day - No Exam
Thursday, June 22 - Social Final - 12:45pm start time 
Friday, June 23 - Classes/Summer Splash
Monday, June 26 - Raymond Pool Day
Tuesday, June 27 - Grade 7 Assembly & End of Year Celebration

Importance

Experiencing finals is an important milestone for students as they head into the final years of their K-12 education. This group of students has not experienced finals due to Covid and other interruptions. Next year, they will be tasked with taking the Grade 8 Final Exams. Our goal with this year’s finals is to ensure that students have an accurate experience that will prepare them for the next step in their education journey, while still giving them as much support and opportunity to display their skills as possible.

Final exams are weighted at 10% of their Math/Science/LA overall grade and 20% of their Social overall grade. For their Math/Science/LA final exams, they will be on material that was learned after the last midterm. For Social, the final exam is cumulative of the whole year. As a reminder, here is the Honours breakdown for R.I. Baker Middle School:

• Honours 79.5% - 84.4%
• Honours with Distinction 84.5% - 89.9%
• Honours with Great Distinction 90% and above

Finals Week (June 19 - 22)

For the week of the exams, regular class scheduling will stop in order to ensure Grade 7 students have as much opportunity to review and prepare as possible.  If you feel your child will be more productive with independent study time at home, the mornings of the week of June 19, 20, and 22 will not require mandatory attendance. Students are expected to still be engaging in review activities even if they are absent from school during these mornings. Students absent during these mornings must be excused on Edsby by their parents. We also ask that students only come at either 8:20am (normal morning time) or 12:21pm (normal afternoon time) to avoid students trickling in throughout the morning while PAT exams are happening. They should come in through the Grade 7 entry door at either 8:20 am or 12:21 pm. 

Students will have options for study rooms, whether they be in a more quiet, individual focused room or more active and louder group study room. Teachers will be available for questions and will provide a space to study all morning; no additional structured review will be given during that week. Students are not required to be present in the morning if they feel that being at home will better prepare them for the afternoon’s exam. 

The students who attend in the mornings of June 19, 20 and 22 will begin in their homeroom where attendance will be taken. They will then move to their chosen study room, which will rotate between the four core teachers from period to period so they see all of us and can ask questions. Teachers will have a copy of the list of which students have chosen to be a part of that group, and if there’s any need to change rooms they must sign out with their current teacher and sign in with the teacher of their new study group. Changing groups is not encouraged, unless it’s deemed necessary at teacher discretion. 

Day Of

Some things to know about the day of:

• Bring:

• 2 sharpened pencils and an eraser
• Waterbottle to store on the floor
• Non-sticky snack
• A calculator for Math
• A book or blank paper to entertain you after you finish
• Headphones for students who require a reader
  
  
• Friday, June 16: 
• There will be normal Friday attendance first thing in the morning, as students are in their homeroom classes first period on Friday anyway. 
• Students will go to the bathroom, and do any preparations needed before their LA final. 
• The exam will start at 9 am in their homeroom classroom. They will remain in their homeroom classroom until the exam is finished.
  
  

• Monday, June 19; Tuesday, June 20; Thursday, June 22:

• Students need to arrive by 12:21 pm, and will begin in their homeroom class to take attendance.
• Students will go to the bathroom, and do any preparations needed before their finals on these days. 
• The exams start at 12:45 pm on these days in their homeroom classroom. They will remain in their homeroom classroom until the exam is finished. 

• In General: 

• Students will be directed to find the desk with their name on it. 
• Cell phone rules for our school will still apply; cell phones/smart watches will NOT be allowed in the classroom. 
• Students with accommodations will go to their designated space in the school.
• Students will be given 1.5 hours to write their exam, and they will remain in the room until everyone has completed it. 
• All finals will be on Chromebooks. Paper copies of all exams will be available.
• The subject teacher will be visiting all rooms. Students are allowed to ask questions of any adult in the room, though they may choose to ask the subject-specific teacher as they come around.
• Students are expected to stay until the typical end-of-school day - 3:30 pm. They are not to sign out early following their exam. 

Expectations Beforehand

An important expectation held about all of the finals is that students are studying at home as we lead up to the end of June. There is a lot of content to review in each of the core classes.

Students that know in advance they will not be present for exam week will need to communicate with the subject teacher and will be given a make-up day the week before. If a student misses their exam day, they will be expected to make it up the next available morning. All finals need to be written by Friday, June 23 at 12:26 pm. 

Please direct any further questions to the Grade 7 teaching team, or Administration.