A Welcome Note from our Principal

Welcome to the website of Vancouver Learning Network. This site offers plenty of information about our school and the programs we offer. I hope you will take some time to browse through it.

GVDES, now renamed VLN, has offered print-based, correspondence programs since 1990. This provides K-12 coursework free of charge to students of any age who haven’t graduated. The correspondence program is self-paced and is ideal if your schedule cannot accommodate face-to-face classes. It is also ideal for students who want to work on one or two courses at a time.

We also offer our K-12 Vancouver Connect Program. This is a full-time, teacher-led program, primarily intended for school age students who are looking for a more interactive approach to learning. Students on this program take many, but not all, of their courses online. Connect students may also be taking a course or two face-to-face, in their local high school, or be logging into classes from other countries.

Finally, we are also the new home of the Vancouver Learning Network. This is a school district program that allows students registered in Vancouver high schools to take an online course as part of their day school timetable.

For a full list of our online course offering, please visit our Secondary Programs page.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you. We also appreciate hearing about your experiences with our school. If you have suggestions or feedback for us, please drop us a line!

Best wishes,

Principal Cindy Gauthier

A Short History of GVDES (now VLN)

Distance education evolved from the old Correspondence Branch dating back to 1917. For years, the Correspondence Branch in Victoria offered print-based courses by mail to students who were unable to attend school. Just over a decade ago, nine regional schools were established around the province, the School Act was changed and correspondence was transformed into what we now call distance education. Students from rural and urban areas, living locally or globally, could choose to enroll in distance education as an alternative to regular day school.

The GVDES office opened in 1990 and was originally known as the Greater Vancouver Regional Correspondence School. As of July 2007, the name has been changed to Vancouver Learning Network - VLN. The name change occurred to reflect the many different ways one could choose to learn at a distance using multimedia and technology.