Expectant Waiting at our Christian School

Waiting isn’t popular. I remember working in fast food at age 16 and being constantly pushed to reduce wait times, with a large ominous red timer staring down on us urging us to think and work faster to keep things moving. It didn’t really work.

 “Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.”              Psalm 27:14

During this season of Lent (Feb 14 – March 19) we find ourselves waiting in a time of sober reflection as we anticipate the joy of the resurrection of Easter Sunday. We know it’s coming, and yet we believe the waiting has value. Waiting forces us to watch, listen, and meditate on God’s word. It creates anticipation. It challenges us to look forward and backward in our lives to see patterns of disobedience or faithfulness. Waiting makes us realize the extent to which we need a Saviour.

I’ve found myself waiting on many things lately. Here’s my short list

• for answers to prayers for healing for many in our community whose health is poor and future uncertain
• for growth in the life of faith for our students and staff
• for progress in the ongoing discussion between Christian school organizations in Ontario creating a new center for Christian Education supported jointly (schools, teachers, admin) for a firm foundation
• for a financial pathway for our school to follow that shows abiding trust and faith and wise stewardship
• for wisdom and guidance provided as school administration responds to the needs of the school

 What does it mean to “wait expectantly“ in an organizational setting like LCES? I believe that expectant waiting is the type of waiting infused with hope; we know that the end result that will come, is of God’s choosing, and is for our good.  Waiting with hope allows us to lift our heads and work in the assurance that everything is in His hands. God’s provision for us will be a reflection of his original plan for us as he “makes all things new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

SJ

Our Christian School Graduates: Citizens of Today and Tomorrow

It was picture day for our soon-to be-graduates last week. While I was not present for the pictures, in my mind’s eye I can see them posing for the camera. Bright, eager students who have travelled for almost 9 or 10 years down the pathway of learning and the road of faith. Looking like adults in some respects, and yet still not quite done with childhood in every way. This photo day is often one of the first prompts that makes us realize that there is a transition coming at the end of the school year.

We’ve been busy for that decade as parents and a school working toward a future that we don’t fully know. At birth, did the parents of our current graduates have any idea of the nature of the world their children would call home in 2018? Did they know the joys and challenges that awaited them, the unique nature of their children, or the ways in which they would need the Lord’s help along the journey to graduation? Likely not, but I trust that the gift or Christian education in their lives for part of that journey has been a strong voice of patterning God’s truth into their lives.  I trust the same will be true for those entering JK/SK this fall!

Whether you and your family are nearly ending or just beginning your time at LCES, I invite you spend just a few minutes with our graduate profile (linked here).  These are some of the larger objectives we value and work toward in a multi-year way, believing that that every day counts in the lives of our students.

Cardus, a Canadian “think tank dedicated to renewal of North American social architecture” follows the impact of Christian Education with great interest. They just published a document on the religious lives of Young Adults in North America. This is the landscape of our graduates and the world they will find themselves in increasingly each year.  I encourage you to take a look here.

SJ

Knowing Our Students Well: Technology and Testing

Students in our grade 4/5
class taking the very first MAP test. 

“What do you do with the computers?”

I’m often asked by new families about the role of technology in education at LCES. We are blessed with a compliment of computers, projectors, Chromebooks, a few tablets, and the stability of well-managed collective IT system that is reliable. What we do have, we aim use well, and with purpose. We want our students to be well prepared, both with technical know-how, but also with a mind prepared for the discernment that technology frontiers seem to present in a unique way. Technology isn’t the answer for everything (scissors and glue will always be a part of education here), but where technology can offer us something that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, we especially take hold of the God-created potential in it. 

A living example of this is taking place this week at LCES. The Measure of Academic Progress is a very unique tool that the educators at LCES are very excited about.  I watched with great interest as an entire class was taking a test on math knowledge and skill application. Each student was answering unique questions prepared for them, and based on their answers being correct/incorrect, received the next question uniquely matched for where their learning is at. This means every student gets a unique test, very accurately tailored to where the student is working at in terms of ability. The focus is on what they do know, rather than what they don’t. The outcome after tests on math, reading, and language is that school staff will have an understanding of student learning in a measurable, specific way at both the class-wide and student-specific level.

This is something we couldn’t in the same way without technology. The test results will not fully define a learner, since there are many aspects of their God-given identity it doesn’t measure. Inter-personal, athletic, leadership, or creative skills are not covered. Growth in the life of faith, graciousness, and are not gauged. It will be one of many tools we use to know our student well, and make excellent learning happen for our students. We see great potential in its addition to our school.

Technology, in its proper place, is a vital part of what we do each day as we look to know our students well. May God bless us with the wisdom and courage to see its potential and its limits.

SJ

Rejoicing Songs at Our Christian School

My hallway travels often take me past classrooms where students are busily working on a learning task. Hands busy with scissors or crayons are accompanied by voices singing out portions of a song they know, or a verse from a song learned in music class. JK/SK students right outside my office door, bundled up and waiting for the chance to go outside, softly (or loudly) sing some of their favorites. (See here for a 19 second video example) This kind of spontaneous musical moments make me smile. It is good for us to respond to God in song for the goodness and care he show us. 

I often thinking of the idea of God singing over us too.  “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”  Zephaniah 3:17

I heard an interview with a Christian song writer who had been working for thirty years to describe how great God’s love for his children is. He described his many years of getting words and music on paper as “just scratching the surface” of how incredibly immense God’s love for his people is. “It’s a concept just too big for a lifetime of singing” were his closing remarks.

God loves LCES immensely, that is for sure.  I see that when I observe the delight of parents describing how they and their children are blessed and encouraged in even the most seemingly trivial parts of their day. I marvel in it when in my travels as principal I hear stories of God’s provision of exactly what we need as a school at the time we need it most. I hear it in the happy sounds of children playing, learning and living together in community that know who it is that made them, and loves them. I know it in a new way when I hear the joy of enquiring families at discovering our school. I cherish it when I realize that God had plans to bless our organization in ways that were far outside what we ever could have expected or imagined.

When find ourselves wondering what we out to do, grow animated or flustered with the challenges that loom large, or worry ourselves into a position of feeling precarious,  a shoulder check to look for the big picture of God’s love is wise.  Our God, who own “the cattle on a thousand hills.” (Psalm 50:1) stands ready to “rejoice over us with singing.”

SJ

Canal Digging: Trusting & Planning at Our Christian School

I'll admit it. I have a weakness for TV building shows where projects of massive scale are completed as engineers, architects, and other specialists work with ingenuity to do something that many people say can't be done. The  Panama Canal was the most recent. Its creation is a story of determination, financial and political scandal, risk,  hardship of malaria and yellow fever, and geographic obstacles. Those who presently ride smoothly between the  Atlantic and Pacific on cargo or cruise ship would say the efforts were worth it.

LCES has done much of the same thing in its own history. We've overcome challenges, worked problems until they become solutions, and carried on for 55 years even though some said it couldn't be done. Plans are underway to bring the next school year into reality and that too takes a similar team of data collectors, strategists, planners, and visionaries to make it happen. Our current student's lives will tell you that it is worth it. There is a tremendous pattern of God’s obvious blessing and care for our school for which we are grateful. January starts a planning time of the year.

Here are five ways to help us:

•  Pray for the Lord's leading as school leadership seeks to simultaneously uphold educational excellence  and financial responsibility all while working to complete the mission and vision of our school. Pray that God will continue to bless us more than we can ask or imagine.

•  Commit to handing in your family's intention forms as requested. The information that is gleaned from those documents is incredibly important in planning for the next school year with the kind of accuracy that creates a good school experience for your children and provides stability in organizing staffing needs.

•  Give to the school. If you have been blessed with the ability to give more than your obligation, know there are families who are struggling greatly in our community and who would love to receive your anonymous help. Contact our bookkeeper or treasurer if you are able to do so.

•  Talk about our school. At least half of the families that I tour and eventually enroll mention that one of our existing families is the reason that they came. They have been intrigued by comments present parents make about our school, sometimes for a year or more before they made the decision to connect with us. You might be the one and only school spokesperson the school has for a potential family. What will you say?

•  Use our gift card program. It’s a win-win situation in which the financial health of the school and your family's situation both benefit without having to spend any more than you presently do.

SJ

Beholding New Things at Our Christian School

JK Practicing making "5"in various ways.

Who doesn’t love the allure of new things in their life?  Whether it’s a new book that you just can’t wait to read, a new Christmas present that hasn’t lost its luster yet, a new car, a new house, or a new opportunity that has just presented itself unexpectedly, there is certainly something very pleasurable about new beginnings.

It’s been an exciting morning of new things this week at LCES! Students have shared with me a new pencil, a new haircut, lunchbox, a new visitor at school (cousin from overseas), and yet another shared a new resolution with me about what they were going to make happen in 2018. We have had several gifts to the school that we are already enjoying or soon will be purchasing with funds given. 

We welcomed two new international families and one new local family. We were excited to see Ms. Gerber back as LST teacher this morning and have Ms. Masters at school today getting ready to take over teaching music on a regular basis next week. We have a new position supporting two of our growing classrooms. New families for September 2018 have been keeping us hopping as they anticipate staring school. The Lord is good and his blessings know no end!

What is that we like so much about new things? Perhaps in the pages of new book not yet enjoyed, or the yet-unspoiled crisp new sneakers, or the anticipated joy of a new beginning, we receive a foretaste of the coming kingdom. Our hearts are drawn toward the completeness, even the joy that is felt when we experience life as it really should, and will, be in the perfection of these new things before they get sullied by sin. We feel affirmed about the prospect of what is coming when we see the kingdom here.

Where will LCES see the kingdom coming this year? Look for signs and share the good news!

SJ

Singing, Skating, and Giving at our Christian School

A unique weeks starts this morning as we return for the final days of 2017 at LCES. Here are some highlights:

Wednesday “Worship Christ, the Newborn King.” All students from JK-8 will lead us in word and song to celebrate Jesus’s birth. Join us at Royalview and bring a friend, neighbor, or potential future family.

Friday “Christmas Carol Chapel” True North Records artist and LCES parent, Jeremy Zeyl, will start the day leading us in a joyous morning of words and song. You won’t want to miss this unique morning of a community singing together and hearing the Christmas story.

Friday afternoon Skating – To end the week and year on a community note, we will continue the tradition of skating at Argyle arena just around the corner from the school. Grades 4-8 will start skating at 1:30pm and JK-3 will begin at 1:50pm. Students to and from by bus.

A note regarding Wednesday evening:

At the LCES Board table this fall we have seen tremendous evidence that the Lord has richly provided for our school. It has come in the form of answers to difficult situations, people with passion and care for the mission of our school, and financial resources to keep our organization viable. God is very good! The gap of last year’s projected shortfall was answered by measures that had us end on the level. We have continued to joyful receive Bright Future’s gifts this fall and watch our debt shrink, our bursary capacity grow, and are excited about investing in our facility and learning tools. These are all gift from above for which we gave all praise and thanks to God.

At the Board table we have prayed for the Christian school our children are supporting with their student service project, a place I have written about twice this fall. LaGosette Christian School has nearly twice as many students as our school but operates with an annual budget that is around 10% of ours. Wonderful things are happening there as the school aims to be a faithful presence to children and families eager for hope and love. As chance to be a blessing as we have been richly blessed, there will be an opportunity for us as a community to join alongside our students to support LaGosette Christian School. At the Christmas concert there will be a free will offering received at the door on your way out. If you would like a tax receipt, you can give directly to the school through their website.

May the hope of Advent, the joy of Christ, and the promise of God’s love be with you and yours as you travel, worship, and celebrate during the break.

SJ