Choosing a Program

Students, together with their parents, are encouraged to carefully consider program options at the beginning of their high school career.  You need to consider:
  • personal interests
  • aptitudes and abilities
  • past achievements
  • goals for post-graduation study and employment
Grade 9 is a foundation year and offers limited course choices.  The work habits and skills developed at this level will determine success for the students’ entire high school career.  Students and their families should take this time to become familiar with all GVC course offerings and should decide on a program of studies they wish to pursue in the next three years.  While Grade 10 - 12 students have the option of adding spare periods to their timetable, they are encouraged to enrich their experience and transcript with additional course selections.

Guide to Course Codes

Course codes consist of three letters, two numbers and a final letter. Below is a guide to what these characters mean. Course codes are used for registering for specific courses.
Examples:         Biology 30S (BIO30S)
                           Essential Math 30S (ESM30S)
                           English Language Arts 10F (ELA10F)
 3-letter code:
The three-letter code usually represents three significant letters from the name of the course. For example, “BIO” is taken from “Biology” and “ESM” is taken from “Essential Math.”
​​First number after 3-letter code:
1 – Grade 9
2 – Grade 10
3 – Grade 11
4 – Grade 12

Final Character:
F - Foundation
G - General
S - Specialized
A - Advance
E - EAL
M​ - Modified
Second Number:
0 - developed or approved by Manitoba Education for 1 credit
5 - developed or approved by Manitoba Education for .5 credit
1 – School Initiated Course (SIC) or Student-Initiated Project (SIP)



- foundation (groundwork) course experience for all students
- general education experience for all students
- learning experiences leading to further studies at post-secondary
- academically challenging (going beyond general and specialized courses)
- assist students for whom English is not a first language transition into the English Program
- according to Manitoba Education, modification refers to altering the number, essence, and content of the curricular outcomes that the student is expected to meet (must meet Provincial Education Guidelines)