At Rockridge, we have high standards for personal conduct. The pursuit of appropriate conduct is a shared responsibility among students, parents and staff members. The purpose of the Rockridge code of conduct is to establish and maintain a safe, caring and orderly environment for purposeful learning and to establish and maintain appropriate balances among individual and collective rights, freedoms and responsibilities. The code of conduct also outlines expectations for student behaviour. Please note that special considerations may apply to specific students if they are unable to comply with a Code of Conduct expectation due to having an identified disability of an intellectual, physical, sensory, emotional, or behavioural nature.  

Rockridge school promotes the values expressed in the BC Human Rights Code respecting the rights of all individuals in accordance with the law, prohibiting discrimination based on (but not limited to) appearance, indigenous identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, political belief, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and age––in respect of discriminatory publication and discrimination in accommodation, service and facility in the school environment.

Rockridge school promotes the values expressed in the BC Human Rights Code respecting the rights of all individuals in accordance with the law––prohibiting discrimination based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and age––in respect of discriminatory publication and discrimination in accommodation, service and facility in the school environment.

Our expectation is that everyone will adhere to Rockridge’s core Code of Conduct.

• Be on time
• Attend Regularly
• Be Prepared
• Show Respect
• Do your best at all times.

Acceptable Behaviour – At Rockridge we endeavor to:

1. Be considerate, caring, friendly and helpful.
2. Respect self, others, and the school regardless of differences.
3. Respect public and personal property.
4. Help make the school a safe, caring, and orderly place.
5. Be positive, honest, and straightforward with others. Be truthful.
6. Report immediately all incidents of violence, bullying, or harassment to school employees.
7. Use technology to enhance student learning, as an integral tool in our learning environment.
8. Refrain from violence or threats of violence.
9. Engage in purposeful learning activities in a timely manner.
10. Be dependable and accountable and attend all classes on time.
11. Respect authority and adhere to classroom, school, and district rules.
12. Act in a manner that brings credit to the school.
13. Maintain appropriate standards of hygiene, dress, and language.
14. Understand it is the responsibility of the bystander to report and prevent activities that contravene school and district Codes of Conduct.

The Principal shall, in accordance with School Board policy, exercise paramount authority within the school in matters concerning the discipline of students. The board authorizes the Principal in School District #45 (West Vancouver) to suspend a student in violation of school rules for up to five school days, to adjust or terminate that suspension, and to delegate this authority to other administrative officers.

As we realize that sometimes students may have difficulty understanding how the Code of Conduct should be applied in everyday school life, we have provided a list of examples of unacceptable behaviours that would involve a breaking of the Code of Conduct by students and which could result in disciplinary actions.

1. Skipping classes or excessive tardiness.
2. Vandalism or other incidents of defacing or damaging personal, school or private property.
3. Abuse of others physically, verbally, or psychologically. This includes fighting, bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, intimidation, threatening or violent behaviours, extorting, or showing intolerance towards others because of their race, culture, dress, or other perceived differences while at school, at a school-related activity or in other circumstances where engaging in the activity will have an impact on the school environment.
4. Retribution against a person who has reported incidents
5. Being a bystander or non-active participant in incidents of violence, bullying, or harassment.
6. Disrupting classroom learning, official school functions or the privacy of our school’s neighbors.
7. Possession or use of prohibited drugs, including alcohol and tobacco products. No smoking is allowed on school property at any time. Students who are present during the use of tobacco or other substances may also face disciplinary action.
8. Possession or use of firecrackers, fireworks or weapons, including any object meant to simulate the appearance of a weapon.
9. Plagiarizing or cheating on tests, assignments or projects, or assisting someone else to cheat.
10. Defiance of the authority of teachers and other employees; using profanity or confrontational behaviour in dealing with these adults.
11. Theft.
12. Using inappropriate language
13. Going to other schools during the school day, without permission from an administrator.
14. Operation of a vehicle or other means of transport in a dangerous manner on school property (including cars, bicycles, rollerblades and skateboards).

No student shall possess, use, sell, distribute, supply or be under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or an illegal or restricted drug while on school premises, while at any school-organized event or during the regular school day. Where a Principal concludes that a student has violated this rule, the Principal will immediately suspend the student from school for up to five days and inform the Superintendent’s office of the suspension. Further disciplinary action may be forthcoming including a suspension to the Superintendent’s office.

The District recognizes tobacco use/vaping presents a danger to the health of students and adults and that there is a province-wide tobacco ban on all public school property. There will be no use of tobacco on any West Vancouver School District property or within any West Vancouver School District building. All school grounds, buildings and vehicles are designated as non-smoking/non-vaping areas at all times including evenings and weekends. All procedures applying to tobacco use are also extended to cover e–cigarettes and vapes.  

Personal Digital Devices 

This policy applies during instructional time.  Personal digital devices are not to be used without the direct permission of the teacher and/or administrator. If a personal digital device is required for instructional purposes, or to support a student’s medical and health or accessibility and accommodation needs, teachers/staff will provide clear guidelines and expectations around their use for these purposes and ensure that use is adequately supervised.  Considerations for personal digital device use will also be made to ensure equity to support learning outcomes for any student who may be disproportionately impacted by the lack of access. 

Additional guidelines and expectations include but are not limited to: 

1. Students who bring personal digital devices to the school are expected to comply with all parts of their school’s code of conduct. 
2. The use of personal digital devices should not interfere with others.  This includes sound, light, and other distractions.
3. Personal digital devices are not to be used in private settings such as change rooms, washrooms, or counselling rooms that have the potential to violate a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. 
4. In an emergency such as a lockdown or evacuation, personal digital devices should not be used until instructed otherwise. 

School and district policy requires that students take responsibility for the care and safety of students at Rockridge Secondary School. Students are required to report all incident of harassment, bullying, and/or violence to school officials. Inaction is not an option and passive bystander behaviour will not be tolerated. 

Rockridge is committed to providing students with learning environments that are safe, responsive, and inclusive. Our dress code recognizes that decisions about dress reflect individual expressions of identity and socio-cultural
norms, and that such decisions are personal. Students may attend school and school-related functions in dress of their choice provided that their choices:

1. Do not represent or promote alcohol or drugs
2. Use respectful language
3. Do not depict or promote violence, racism, sexism, or discrimination, and
4. Conform with established health and safety requirement for the intended activity
5. Are not intimidating to others

Students have the right to dress in a manner consistent with their gender identity or gender expression. This includes students who may dress in a manner that is not consistent with the societal expectations of masculinity/femininity.

The school Code of Conduct applies to behaviour at school, during school-organized or sponsored activities, and behaviour beyond these times (including on-line behaviour) that negatively impacts the safe, caring, or orderly environment of the school, and/or student learning. When students do not adhere to the Code of Conduct staff will follow a pattern of progressive discipline. Consequences could include, but are not limited to, warnings, phone calls and/or letters to parents, detentions, and suspensions. In cases of serious breaches of the Code of Conduct, the student may be referred to school district officials, police, and/or other agencies. Schools will take all reasonable steps to prevent retaliation against a student who has made a complaint of a breach of a code of conduct.

Progressive discipline establishes a process of clear, timely, consistent, and documented communications with a student and their parent or guardian to reinforce an understanding of expectations, to provide an opportunity to correct unacceptable behaviour, and to assure due process. The goal of progressive discipline is to modify specific behaviour and to encourage acceptable behaviour. Certain behaviours will result in immediate suspension; substance issues will also result in a referral to substance and addiction counseling. Whenever possible and appropriate, consequences will be restorative in nature rather than punitive.

When dealing with students, the administrator will consider the student’s age, maturity and special needs and will adjust the consequence or disciplinary action accordingly. Special considerations and advocacy will apply to students with special needs and/or learning differences if these students are unable to comply with a code of conduct due to having a disability of an intellectual, physical, sensory, emotional, or behavioural nature. Also, special consideration and advocacy will apply for students and families of indigenous ancestry, with an approach that is mindful of historical context and indigenous ways of knowing and perspectives.

Rockridge will take all reasonable steps to prevent retaliation by a person against a student who has made a complaint of a breach of code of conduct.

In the interest of ensuring safety and security in the school community, there may be times when school administration may conduct a Threat-Risk Assessment. These assessments are in direct response to expressions of violence intended to harm or injure. Threats may be expressed in many ways, including verbal or written form (e.g. on the internet, social media, in person, etc.) and will be taken seriously and responded to accordingly. To keep our school communities safe, staff, students and community members are expected to report all threat-related behaviours.

Each school in our district has a multi-disciplinary Threat-Risk Assessment Team which may include the principal/vice-principal, counsellor, district-level staff, and police. In certain situations, the school district may involve other agencies including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The purpose of the Threat-Risk Assessment Team is to promote the emotional and physical safety of all persons in the school. The team will respond according to specific protocols so that an intervention plan can be developed and implemented.

In the interest of a safe and secure learning environment, threat-risk assessments will be conducted whenever required and will engage all necessary parties, with or without the consent of the threat-maker and/or their parent/guardian.

A threat-making behaviour is defined for these purposes as any action that makes the recipient of such behaviour feel threatened.

For purposes of the District Risk Assessment Protocol these behaviours could include, but will not be limited to:

• Immediate Risk Student Behaviours, which is a student in possession of a gun, or any other weapon while displaying threatening behaviour.
• High Risk Student Behaviours which include possession of a weapon, threats to destroy a school or school building, threats to kill or injure others (regardless of the method of delivery of such threats).
• Worrisome Student Behaviours including but not limited to drawing disturbing pictures, writing disturbing stories, etc. or internet harassment.

The protocol states that any West Vancouver School District 45 employee having knowledge of student threat making behaviour shall promptly report the information to the principal or designate who will respond accordingly.

All reported threats will be assessed by the school principal or designate and if deemed necessary the principal will contact the school team, the district team or both