Changing how we communicate

We are changing the way we deliver news and reminders to parents. Sometimes good stewardship requires change.

We are always trying to find more efficient ways of delivering a good product. As a school organisation, we want ‘to be our best’ and, if required, restructure to achieve better efficiency.

Recently we have been considering how we can offer the very best contemporary service to our students and parents by reimagining how we communicate via our E-Newsletter, Facebook posts, SEQTA Engage app, Consent2Go, emails and school website.

As a result, our weekly e-newsletter will now be delivered fortnightly on a Wednesday, and every Friday you will receive a new email called ‘Friday Night Reminders’.

The Friday Night Reminder email is an important email that you will receive from the school each week as a reminder of all the information you need to be aware of relating to your child(ren) for the upcoming week. Then, every two weeks you will receive our digital e-newsletter, highlighting all the great things that are happening at and around Calvin.

This is a fairly big change but with the large amount of information coming home from the school, we thought it would help you to have a single email to look at every week to make sure you are up to date with what is happening.

“ As always, we appreciate your feedback”

Keep an eye out for your Friday Night Reminder email next Friday, and stay connected to what is happening at our wonderful school via our Facebook page and the fortnightly e-newsletter. As always, we appreciate your feedback so please let me know if you think the new system is working well or have any other ideas. It’s all part of being in partnership.

So… may I encourage you to be connected with us wherever possible. Communication is vitally important in any relationship. Please continue to pray for our school and all that we do, that we may please our Father.

May He bless you!

Ineke Laning – Acting Principal

All in a week!

Some weeks at school just seem to have it all! Well, in the life of Calvin this week (and it’s only Wednesday as I write), this week is no exception.

Monday saw the first of our HPE ‘mini excursions’ happening, with the Year 8s and Year 9s heading to the Kingborough Sports Centre for indoor cricket and European handball respectively. A number of Calvin students from the Secondary School have been participating in Tasmanian Rugby Union rugby training at Kingston Beach Oval in the evenings (from 6pm) and all other U12 to U16 boys and girls are welcome. Our KHBA (Kingborough Huon Basketball Association) after-school basketball rosters were also in full swing this week with teams from Year 3/4 all the way through to our Year 9/10 teams all having a run.  We also had our SATIS (Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools) basketball rosters start up this week with our Year 9 girls playing on Monday night, Year 7 girls playing on Wednesday night, Division 1 boys playing on Wednesday night and the Division 1 girls playing on Thursday night. The Primary School soccer teams have continued to excel in their respective rosters on Saturday mornings as well.

“all credit to the students for their adaptability and compliance”

Tuesday’s early morning emergency evacuation due to a potential fire in the Secondary School administration building certainly got the adrenalin going. All credit to the students for their adaptability and compliance as they arrived at school only to be redirected to the Emergency Assembly point. With no fuss or uncertainty, teachers assumed their positions, donned their respective identification items and carried out their emergency protocols with absolute professionalism and efficiency.

In keeping with the theme of quick thinking and responding to unfolding situations, Tuesday also saw the effects of the anticipated cold front as roads were closed and buses were diverted or stranded. Whilst the timelines were tight, our students from both campuses were accounted for and parents were informed of the arrangements, albeit in their fluidity.

Despite the disruptions to commuting, parent-teacher interviews remained a highlight of both the Primary and Secondary School calendars. Where parents were unable to attend their scheduled times, our now all too familiar relationship with technology allowed those interviews to still happen — either as phone calls or online.

“It is because of you, that we continue to do ‘school’... and do it well!”

School photos were the order of the day for the Primary School on Wednesday and on Thursday. We played host to a professional photographer who was invited to showcase Calvin life across both campuses. The Secondary School then had their turn on Friday to have their photos taken.

The Thursday co-curricular program got under way on Thursday and continues this week, as do the regular scheduled Outdoor Education excursions. We also look forward to the first official face-to-face meeting of the Primary School as they gather for assembly for the first time since social distancing measures were first implemented in March.

In each of these events, whether planned or unplanned, some very special people have stepped up and been a hero.  So, whether that hero was a parent, student, teacher, front office staff, bus driver, coach or crossing guard, to each of you, may you know God’s favour and be blessed. It is because of you, that we continue to do ‘school’…and do it well!

Ken Holloway — Director of Operations

God Provides

We have found a new Principal and I am very pleased! Mr Scott Ambrose will join us in November; we are truly blessed.

If you missed the announcement you can read the full message from the CEO and Board President.

Southern Christian College is releasing their Deputy Principal with grace and the sure knowledge that God will provide for the huge ‘gap’ he leaves in their community and school. Please pray for them as they now seek to replace him.

Our God does provide for all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). As I look back over my journey through life, I can certainly testify to the truth of these words. In person, I am happy to share examples from my life but on this page I want to exhort you to look at your own lives and remember the answers to prayers, the blessings you have received, the encouragement you have found in Scripture, the joys of relationship with family and friends…

But, if this is a time of grief or suffering, I again exhort you to reach out and talk about your needs with Him. We often talk about our burdens: work overload, sickness, relationship problems, rebellious children, fears and anxieties, financial difficulties, being taken for granted and the list goes on. Do we ask others to pray for us? Is our first impulse to turn to God, whose arm is never too short nor His ear deaf (Isaiah 59:1)? The enemy would have us be hopeless, complaining, discouraged, broken and unbelieving but Jesus tells us He came to give us an abundant life (John 10:10).

I often ponder this verse. I know it is more about the purpose of life than about my pleasures and comfort. ‘Abundance’ means to have more than we need (not want). God’s idea of abundance is that we know Him intimately, talk with Him and seek our encouragement in Him. Is the ‘peace that passes understanding’ (Philippians 4:7) better than getting our own way, whatever that might be? The most content, joyful and ‘rich’ people I know are those who have the qualities mentioned here.

The ‘core business’ at school is, of course, our academic program as that is what schools are about; however, the ‘core business’ in life is to worship and serve our God. We are partnering together in training up our young people to know Him and the world He created. Let’s remind them also to depend on their Lord as they navigate life with all of its joys and sorrows. Let’s model this in the way we navigate life.

There is a beautiful song that goes: 

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

[Chorus]

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.
Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings;
See what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings; ev’ry doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days
go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold, Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold. Count your many blessings; money cannot buy Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.

So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged; God is over all. Count your many blessings; angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

— Johnson Oatman Jr (1856–1922)

We don’t often invite those in our school community who may not share our faith, to chat with us about the reasons for our faith, but I would like to do so now. Please email me or any other staff member you might feel more comfortable with, should you like to chat. We would also be happy to pray for any needs you might have. May God bless you.

Ineke Laning — Acting Principal