Dear Parents The year has certainly started well and all classes are now working hard. Junior Swimming Junior swimming has started well, thank you parents for your support. Mums in Touch Prayer Group Meet in the Tech Room on Wednesday from 9am. This is a vital group so if you have 30 minutes to spare to sup-port this group and pray about the needs of our school you are most welcome. Roll Sizes We have reached our roll optimum sizes from Years 3—8. Our roll is at 265 pupils and we have a group of 35 students waiting to come in as 5 year-olds which we have room for. Although our roll is tight, please don’t panic if you have a 5-year-old coming in. We will be opening up Room 8 with a new teacher in May. The ministry gave us permission to go over 300 pupils so our Proprietors are busily working with architects to do a 5-10 year plan for our school. Please pray for them as it is an exciting time for our school. God is continually blessing our school and we are all excited and humbled by this. BOT Meeting Our first Board of Trustees meeting for the year was last Tuesday, February 21st. They are looking at an exciting year for our school as it continues to grow. You can approach our Board Mem-bers with any concerns at any time. Our Board Members are: Jamie Hunt (Board Chair) Michelle Tsang Joseph Tan Moneesha Mascarenhas Mandy Flooks Our next BOT Meeting is March 21st at 7.30pm in the Staffroom PAT Testing Progressive Achievement Testing started yesterday for Years 3—8. This year they are doing Comprehension, STAR Reading, Listening and Grammar. Years 5 and up are now being done online. Please ensure your children are bringing their own devices, and that they are fully charged and setup with the English keyboard.

Grammar and Maths will be done through EASttle. PAT tests are standardised throughout NZ so our chil-dren for example in Year 6 can be rated against Year 6 children of the same age across NZ. These are very handy tests to see how children have re-tained knowledge taught in 2016. You can ask your teacher later in the term for the results if you wish. Please ensure your child is at school on time these next two weeks to start their tests promptly at 9am. Managing Behaviour on School Site after 3pm Staff are still on site after the 3pm bell and situations do arise. We ask that you leave situations that need atten-tion to a staff member or your child’s class teacher and do not take it upon yourself to reprimand a child which is not your own. If you cannot find a class teacher please come to the office and I can help you. I will also answer emails within a very short time. Please email me at admin@westminster.school.nz Each time parents have intervened not knowing what has gone on, this only causes unnecessary tension and stress to children and their parents. We ask that you support us in this matter. Second Hand Uniform Sales We have a limited stock of second hand uniforms. Please contact the office if you wish to have a look. Harcourts Browns Bay If you are buying a house in this area, please tell Har-courts as they are willing to donate $1000 to our school, how cool is that?! Car Park A few weeks ago our community constable, Louise Nich-olas visited our school car park between 2.45 and 3.15pm. It was a friendly visit but she noted the follow-ing: -Some children did not have their seatbelts on -Parents were on cell phones while driving She said that on exiting the school, these are offences. Please remember that safety is paramount. She will be back at a later date to visit again. Also, we received a complaint from a neighbour in West-minster Gardens that the speed of our cars is far too fast. Speed on Westminster Gardens should be 50km/hr please.

Your School News — 28th February 2017

Mission Statement Westminster Christian School, through the Spirit of God, educates the children of Christian parents for time and eternity by providing a Christ-centred

academic curriculum founded on a Biblical World View. Our Vision

To be a leading primary/intermediate school in New Zealand Christian Education, built to full capacity and reaching out to those in need.

Newsletter—Term One Week Five 2017

Friends of Westminster We had our first meeting for fundraising this term. We are doing three cake stalls. We feel this is enough for our community if we do it well. Last year they were brilliant. March 3rd—Junior (Rms 1, 4, 6, 7, 15) March 31st—Middle (Rms 14, 9, 10) May 12th—Senior (Rms 16, 17, 11, 12) A Great Resource for Families Good Pictures Bad Pictures is an illustrated book that parents read with their children. It is designed for 5 to 10 year olds, and it explains the workings of the brain, how addictions can develop, and most importantly of all, it gives children a strategy that includes practical steps to take if they are confronted with pornography. http://www.family.org.nz/CatalogueRetrieve.aspx?ProductID=10331429&A=SearchResult&SearchID=1884579&ObjectID=10331429&ObjectType=27 Have a great week everyone! Regards, Kent Wilson Principal

Week 3 - Patience Week 4 - Goodness Room 1—Faith Constantino Room 1—Joon Kim Room 4—Isabella Poole Room 4—Andrew Currie Room 6—Sophia Moulton Room 6—Noah Gunawan Room 7—Zander Sheldon Room 7—Isabella Hunt Room 9—Aidan George Room 9—Michael Alexander

Room 10—Christine Park Room 10—Mya Anderson Room 11—Mackenzie Craig Room 11—Callum Gailer Room 12—Allison Wong Room 12—Nicholas Chaves

Room 14—Hannah Ludemann Room 14—Faith Jose Room 15—Aiden Lau Room 15—Ria Ahn Room 16—Elijah Bycroft Room 16—Stefan Kumerich

Room 17—Nahum Beukes Room 17—Miso Ryu

HOUSE WINNERS Week 3 - Ruru Week 4 - Tui

WORD FOR TODAY—HAVE YOU PRAYED ABOUT IT? ‘Pray and ask God for everything you need.’ Philippians 4:6 NCV Can you imagine walking into a restaurant and asking if your order is ready? ‘When did you call it in?’ the server asks. ‘Oh, I didn’t,’ you reply. ‘I just thought perhaps you might have something with my name on it.’ That’s as ridiculous as ex-pecting God to answer prayer requests you haven’t made—or haven’t made in faith. The Bible says, ‘The reason you don’t have what you want is… you don’t ask God.’ (James 4:2 TLB) Will God give you everything you ask for? No. ‘Even when you do ask you don’t get it because… you want only what will give you pleasure.’ (James 4:3 TLB) Your request must be in har-mony with God’s will. ‘If we ask anything… according to His will… He…hears.’ (1 John 5:14 AMP) Jeremiah said, ‘The Lord is good to those who wait…expectantly for Him.’ (Lamentations 3:25 AMP) Expectant prayer demon-strates confidence in God’s goodness. So instead of fretting, or talking about it to everybody but God, or taking matters into your own hands, say, ‘Lord, I’m going to trust You with this regardless of the outcome,’ and He will honour your faith. Paul writes, ‘Pray and ask God for everything you need, al-ways giving thanks.’ Do you need a job? Help overcoming a problem? The salvation of a loved one? A deeper spiritual walk? Physical or emotional healing? Guidance? Jesus said, ‘It gives your Father great happiness to give you the [benefits of His] Kingdom.’ (Luke 12:32 NLT) God wants to be good to you, so tell Him the ‘desires of your heart.’ (Psalm 37:4 NKJV) Then thank Him and believe the answer will come—in His time! SoulFood: Num 14–15, Luke 7:11–23, Ps 107:23–32, Prov 3:25–26

Mission Statement Westminster Christian School, through the Spirit of God, educates the children of Christian parents for time and eternity by providing a Christ-centred

academic curriculum founded on a Biblical World View. Our Vision

To be a leading primary/intermediate school in New Zealand Christian Education, built to full capacity and reaching out to those in need.

Newsletter—T1.W5.2017—Page 2