Term 1, Week 2 8 February 2017

Copeland Road, Hastings Phone: (06) 878-6696 Fax (06) 878-9539 E-Mail: office@hcs.school.nz Website: www.hcs.school.nz

School Mission Statement Hastings Christian School aims to teach pupils the knowledge of God and the world, as revealed in the Scriptures

and to equip the pupils with the knowledge and skills needed to function effectively as Christians and citizens in today’s world.

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Hastings Christian School

NEWSLETTER

Page 2

Notices:

Welcome We warmly welcome a number of new students and fami-lies to our school. We hope you settle in well and we are glad to have you here with us.

Hadassah (B3) and her parents Thomas and Sithara

Nathaniel (E2) and his parents Wayne and Joanne

Aimee & William (E1) and their parents Gavin and Giselle

Tyson (B4) and his parents Alwin and Melissa

Ngahere (E1) and his parents Aaron and Amy

Noah (B4), Dylan (B2) and Summer (E2) and Rob-bie and Jessica

Max (Y9) and his parents Mikael and Stephanie

Stevie Jay (B4) and her parents Marouna & Tanika

Matthew (E1) and his parents Adriaan & Annelie

Tyson (B4), Charlie (B3), and Pearl (E2) and their parents Herb and Emma

Azriel-Zion (E2) and his parents Raj and Sandra

Maisie (B2) and Dylan (B3) and their parents Chris-topher and Deborah

Hana (Y10), Joseph (E1) and Faith (E2) and their parents Kent and Pania

We also warmly welcome Mrs Bianca Palmers who has taken up a teacher aide role in the primary school.

Welcome back to what I pray will be another exciting year of learning and growth for your children. It’s a real joy to be able to welcome over 20 new students from 13 families to our school. The opportunity to be able to partner with you in the education of your child is something that the teachers at our school greatly value.

I recently read an article in the Christian Education National magazine about the benefits of partnering with your child’s school in their education. The author acknowledged that while parent’s views and values trump almost any other out-side influence, the exclusivity of this impact changes as chil-dren age. The influence of peers can have as strong – if not stronger influence on our children as they enter the teen years. King Solomon understood this fact when he wrote: ‘He who walks with the wise grows wise but a com-panion of fools suffers harm.’ Proverbs 13:20 The same idea was written a few hundred years later when the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be de-ceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” One of the ways in which we partner together is simply through the sending of your child to a school with other like-minded families that are seeking to raise their children with a God-centered focus on life. I had the privilege of witnessing the value of this partnership at the Year 13 camp last week. There is nothing like getting out of the classroom and inter-acting with students in a variety of contexts to see the fruit of the investment that comes from working together in form-ing the character of the students God has given to us. The quality of the conversations and interactions between the students was summarized by one student who, when asked by his father what camp was like, said ‘It was like being with family!’ It’s such a blessing to see the impact of the support that we receive from you as parents, whether in the class, on trips or

with encouraging and helping your child with their home-work, as we faithfully partner together. Another evidence of this partnership was seen with the re-cent release of the NCEA results from the 2016 academic year. As you will see from the breakdown of these results in today’s newsletter, we have received our best marks to date! These results would be the envy of many schools and are a reflection of the quality of both the staff we have here at HCS and the support that you provide. For this partnership to be effective not only is time and effort critical, but so too is communication. To that end can I en-courage you to keep in touch with your child’s teacher(s)? Some of the ways that we seek to foster communication with you include:

Email’s to and from the class teacher Newsletters Meetings before and after school Diaries or homework books Parent / teacher meetings throughout the year

Another way to strengthen this relationship is to come this Friday to the Home and School committee picnic tea event here at school. I would encourage you all to support this opportunity to get to know other parents and the teachers that attend. My prayer is that as we work at these partnerships God will use our efforts to bring much good for your children and much glory for Himself. Gavin Clark Principal

Welcome Back BBQ!

The Home and School Committee would like to invite you to a Welcome Back BBQ

on Friday 10th February beginning at 5:30pm (near the E-block).

We will be providing sausages, salad and a drink

(or feel free to bring your own). Come along and enjoy a night of fellowship,

and a night off cooking !

Notices:

Founders Day Founders Day assembly will be held tomorrow 9th of February starting at 8.40am. This will be an assembly to welcome everyone back for another year and to pray for the students and teachers. Presentation of badges will be made to senior leaders and those who gained NCEA endorsements. All parents are welcome to attend this assembly.

Safety around School As the new year begins please be conscious of some of the school rules around car/bike safety at school

No parking on the yellow lines or on the neighboring grass verge next to B Block.

Staff cars only behind the admin block

Bike helmets should always be worn & bikes should be walked on the school property and footpath outside school

The pedestrian crossing is patrolled after school – please use it

Please use the marked pathways and footpaths around school. Children should be crossing the school grounds on the netball courts

Students (and learner drivers) should not be driving or parking on the school grounds – please park on the road

Please be careful backing out of the angle parks in the carpark and on the road

NCEA Results We are thrilled to share with you our overall NCEA external examination results. We are been consistently outperforming schools that have a similar roll intake to us for the past 5 years but this year has been outstanding. The results for 2016 have been our best ever with 34% of standards sat by our students getting merit grades and 18% getting excellence grades, meaning over half of all standards were at merit or excellence. The national average for excellence is just on 10% so this is a remarkable achievement. We would like to congratulate all of our students that achieved their NCEA level certificate. This year, we have the highest number of merit and excellence endorsements. Y11 Excellence Endorsement—Aileen, Alice Feyter, Eleanor Major, Anika Meinsma, Annah Oxley, Johanna Palmers, Anna Parsons, Alanah Pratt, Campbell Walker, Zachary Weir, Anton Wiehahn Y11 Merit Endorsement—Casey Butcher, Sarah Gedye, Esther Huston, Peter Neal, James Raikes, Sebastian Read, Emily Stanton, Rick van der Werff, Reuben Whyte, David Winters Y12 Excellence Endorsement—Jessica Henderson, Sienna Stuijt, Jerome Williams Y12 Merit Endorsement—Bethany Clark, Grace Doak, Miriam Lassing, Jank Sanko, Shiree Stonestreet, Lukas van der Werff, Erin Watson Congratulation also to the Y13’s who achieved level three and Zak Temperton who gained a Merit endorsement.

Scholastics Scholastic order forms are due back in on the 24th of February. You can drop these into the office. Uniform A reminder that all primary and intermediate students should be wearing hats at morning tea and lunchtime.

E3 Camp E3 will leave for camp next week Monday-Wednesday. Please pray for a good time and safety as the children and teachers enjoy the outdoors at Camp Guthrie-Smith. Updated Details Please make sure that the office has all your up to date contact details. Correct email and cell phone numbers are especially important. We sent out weekly email notices last week so if you did not receive this email please let the office know. We will produce a new HCS address directory at the end of the month so please let us know if you have moved or changed details over the holiday. Office Area A reminder that students should not be coming through the office when they arrive at school unless they need to drop something off or are with their parents. Please encourage them to walk across the netball courts. Absences Please phone through any absences to the school answer phone before 9.00am if your child is going to be away or is sick. Please do not rely on siblings to pass on messages. Office staff will need to call home otherwise if absences have not been reported. Itinerant Music lessons Lessons start next week! You will receive a separate notice with more information. Please remind your child to take their instrument to school on their lesson day. Permission slips must be returned to the office by the end of the week and all fees for the year need to be paid by the 31st March. Please note that that we have tried our best to place students into the lessons of their choice. If your child is of primary age and did not receive a place in our school programme, they can still opt to be part of the Heretaunga Performing Arts Programme (applications due 10 Feb). Please see the office staff for more information. Any queries, please see Nicola Feyter. Prayer Items

Please continue to keep the van der Werff family in your prayers. It was a blessing to see the support shown at Nelly’s funeral by so many HCS students and their families.

Pray for those who left school last year. Many are embarking on further study or taking up work. We pray for a blessing on them.

If you have any prayer requests, please let us know and we can include them.

Forms to return

Y9s received a letter for English which requires a parent's signature to charge the cost of a grammar book to their accounts. Please return the form to the office asap.

Secondary school sports notices are due back

Good Deeds It was great to receive an email last week from a staff member at Sport Hawkes Bay who had come into contact with some of our students over the holidays. She praised the efforts of two boys who helped her change her tyre at Stoney Creek and also some others who helped look after her children out at Clifton Beach campsite. Great to hear of the service of our HCS students, even out of school time!

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12.2

Further Notices:

Term Dates 2017

Term 1 31 January—13 April Term 2 1 May-7 July Term 3 24 July—29 September Term 4 16 October-13 December (approx.)

School Text Messages Occasionally the school sends out text messages with important notices/reminders. This is also a way we would contact parents during an emergen-cy. If you have not yet signed up, you can so by sending the following message follow hast_christian to 8987

What’s Happening This Term

February 9th Founders Day assembly (8.40am) 10th Welcome BBQ (5.30pm) 13th E3 leave for Camp 17th Beach Education (Year 5-8) Art Deco dress up day 20th Yr 11 Science Trip 20th Beach Education (Year 1-5) 27th Yr 12 Bio Trip March 2-3rd EPro8 6-8th Special Character Audit 9th School Athletics Day