Ruth Thompson

Mark Ramsay, Principal

After a lengthy recruitment process, we are pleased to announce that Andrew Southwell is joining the Kuyper team as our new Chief Financial Officer. Andrew is a qualified accountant with a Master of Management. He has extensive experience in business management, having managed his own printing business for nearly twenty years. We are confident that Andrew’s professional background will greatly benefit our team.

Part of maintaining a school culture that remains true to our vision is employing staff who are committed Christians, who identify with the School ethos and have a Biblical worldview. This applies not only to our teaching staff but also to administrative and support staff. If we are committed to being a truly Christian community that keeps the gospel at the heart of all teaching and learning, every one of our staff members needs to be on board. Andrew’s Christ-centred heart for people is a good fit for our school community. 

Andrew joins us three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday. Feel free to pop in and say hello.

Mark Ramsay, Principal

Every second Wednesday at 2:50 p.m. in the Library, K-6 students meet for a Primary Assembly. This is an opportunity to celebrate the learning that has been happening in our Primary classes, sing together, and talk about what it looks like to Learn in God’s World at Kuyper. 

Last week, I shared with the students the importance of being thankful. Thankfulness helps us be happy, which is the H in WHOK.* Being happy or joyful is something that God calls us to do.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says this:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

One way that we can practise being joyful or happy is by thanking God in all circumstances.

In the spirit of this, I asked the students and staff to share some things about the Athletics Carnival, for which they were thankful. Here are some of the answers:

• That we could run races.
• For the good weather.
• For Mr Baldwin, who organised it all.
• For strength.
• For fun times.
• For the sausage sizzle.

We then prayed, thanking God for each of these ways that His provision for our Athletics Carnival made this day such a fun and enjoyable time together. 

God provides for us in rich and abundant ways, in both the large and small details of life. We have much to be thankful for. Practising thankfulness is a good and right response that helps us have the right attitude towards God and others.

Here is what I am thankful for today:

• All the parents and families who make up our Kuyper community.
• The students who approach each day of learning with wonder and enthusiasm.
• The staff who work tirelessly to provide the best learning environment for our community.
• Coffee!
• Jesus – who loves us to the point of laying down His life for us.

Let me encourage you to consider what you can be thankful for today and to share it with your childen. You might find that this, in turn, encourages them to rejoice and be thankful as well!

Parents are always welcome at our Primary Assemblies. The next one will be held on Wednesday, 3 July, commencing at 2:50 p.m. in the Library. 

* WHOK stands for Wise, Happy, Obedient, and Kind. These are key things that we are called to do by Jesus. We use the WHOK acronym with our Primary students to help them understand how to love God and love others.

Mark Ramsay, Principal

I’m pleased to share that in my time here over the last two and a half years, I’ve never heard a parent ask, “Oh, you teach about Jesus here? I didn’t realise this was that kind of school.”

At every enrolment interview, and indeed in every conversation I have with parents considering Kuyper for their children, I am very clear that Kuyper is a Christian school. If there is one thing that I want to ensure that all parents fully grasp, it is that all the staff at Kuyper hold to our faith in Jesus with the utmost commitment. Every staff member at Kuyper is a follower of Jesus, and we all view our work at Kuyper as service of Him. 

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection change everything. They change our view of ourselves, our relationships, and how we live. They also change our approach to running a school. There is nothing outside of the scope of Jesus’ Lordship. What we teach in our classrooms, how we maintain our facilities, the compassion with which we care for unwell students, the way we drive the school vehicles, and the integrity with which we manage our finances – Jesus claims authority over all these things. As a school, we seek to honour Jesus in every part of every day. This is what we believe. This is what we hold firmly to.

It is also true that we are an open-enrolment school. This means that we recognise that our student and parent community includes a variety of faith and lifestyle beliefs. Let me be very clear—all are welcome in our school. We recognise the right of parents and students to hold different positions on lifestyle or faith as private matters. Nevertheless, it is important that families who join our school community understand and support what the school promotes, practices, and teaches. 

The founders of Kuyper wrote a Statement of Faith to ensure that all members of the school community understood the beliefs they held to be of the highest importance. Upon enrolment, all parents are asked to acknowledge that they have read and understood this Statement of Faith.

At the recent Annual General Meeting, the Kuyper Christian School Association voted to accept an updated version of the Statement of Faith. It does not contain new beliefs and continues to acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship over all things. However, the language has been amended, which should help convey meaning more clearly. I encourage you all to read this new Statement of Faith to ensure that you continue to understand what Kuyper promotes, practices, and teaches.

If you have any questions about Kuyper’s Statement of Faith, I encourage you to raise them with me or a member of the Board. Please do not hesitate to make contact via the school office on 4573 2999 or admin@kuyper.nsw.edu.au. We would love the opportunity to discuss any questions you may have over a cup of tea or coffee.

Mark Ramsay, Principal

In the face of what seems to be an unrelenting cultural assault on our young people, what can we do?

This was the question that a room full of parents and community members were confronted with on Monday night as renowned speaker Melinda Tankard Reist (founder of Collective Shout) presented parents with a disturbingly long list of examples of the sexualisation of contemporary youth culture. I am sure I was not alone in feeling shocked at what our children and young people see in advertising, music, movies, gaming and social media. 

At Kuyper, we desire for our students to grow up confident in the knowledge that God knows and loves them and that their value does not lie in a particular form of ‘attractiveness’ to another. We also want them to be other-centred, understanding how to act with integrity and treat others with respect. 

So, the question is confronting: In the face of what seems to be an unrelenting cultural assault on our young people, what can parents and educators do? Is it a hopeless situation?

Awareness is crucial, and there are many practical things that parents can do to help their children navigate the particular dangers of the digital world. The Australian Government eSafetyparents site is a great place to start, and many other excellent resources are available for parents. I’ve included a list of recommended readings below.

There is no doubt that the task is daunting. However, as Christians, we have good reason for hope. We know that we are not alone in navigating this world. Jesus promised to be with his followers at all times (Matthew 28:20) and that the Holy Spirit would be a helper for them (John 14:16). 

Even more, we know that Jesus is the victor over all the challenges confronting us in this world. He encourages us to “take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Whatever evil and sinfulness we see around us, we can have great confidence that Jesus’ death and resurrection have achieved victory over all things, including this sexualised culture.

So, let me encourage you to do three things:

1. Be aware – know what your children are viewing and doing.
   
2. Talk to one another and to us – we are stronger together.
   
3. Pray for all young people, particularly those in our community.
   Pray that they will know that their value is not determined by their external appearance; pray that they will not be tempted to focus entirely on the online world; and pray that they will know that God’s love for them is greater than any other force or experience in this world.

Recommended Reading

Raising Resilient Kids
From Collective Wisdom Publications
With contributions from Michelle Mitchell, Michael Carr-Gregg, Melinda Tankard Reist, Danielle Miller, Wendy Mason, Hugh Van Cuylenburg, Susan McLean, Sharon Witt and Micheal Gross. 
Available from Koorong.

How to Talk to Your Kids About Pornography, Second Edition
From Educate and Empower Kids, Dina Alexander and Jera Mehrdad (Illus)
Available from Booktopia.

Good Pictures. Bad Pictures, Second Edition
By Kristen Jensen and Debbie Fox (Illus)
Available from Koorong.

Raising Tech Healthy Humans
By Daniel Sih
Available at a special price through Christian Education National.

Kaelene McCaull, Head of P-6 and Director of Teacher Development

Last week, I discussed the science of reading and its five fundamental elements: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension.

Reading is a complex skill, and our reading programs at Kuyper teach these essential elements explicitly and systematically, progressively building students’ literacy competency.

Practice is fundamental to building reading skills. Students in K-2 at Kuyper use books called ‘Decodables’ to practise their reading. First, students learn the code for various sounds and then practise blending them into words. Then they tackle reading a ‘decodable’, which contains words comprised of the sounds for which they have learnt the code. Early readers start with short CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words like ‘cat’. The length of the words increases as students learn more of the sound combinations and the letters that represent them. 

This approach puts the student in the driver’s seat by equipping them with skills to decode unfamiliar words in the text. Working out unfamiliar words independently gives students a greater chance of remembering them the next time they see them.   

The two short videos below are produced by SPELDNSW and provide some great tips for reading decodable text with your child at home. The first video deals with reading regular words, i.e. words the student knows all the sounds for. The second deals with reading irregular words, i.e. words with unfamiliar spelling the student doesn’t recognise yet or less common sound combinations like ‘the’ and ‘says’.

Helping your child read regular words

Helping your child read irregular words

Once your child can confidently decode words, they need to keep practising reading these words to build their Fluency. In our lessons at school, we describe this as making our reading ‘smooth like talking’. You should expect your child to be able to read all the words in some of the readers they bring home. This practice will develop fluency. Fluent reading enables students to use their focus and cognitive energies to understand what they are reading rather than working out what each word says.  

In addition to listening to your children practice reading their decodables at home, there are many other things parents can do to encourage and support the development of reading skills: 

Read to your children
In particular, read books your child cannot yet read for themselves. This builds Vocabulary and develops interest and enjoyment in reading. As you read, predict what might happen next and discuss the sequence of events or reasons behind actions. For example,

“Why do you think they did that?” or “How do you think such and such a character will react?”

Ask questions
Check that your children have understood what they (or you) have read and encourage them to ask questions. This builds Comprehension, which is a much harder cognitive skill and will take lots of practice. If children ask a question not answered in the text, you could pretend to look for it and say something like,

“I don’t know. It doesn’t tell me in the book, but if I were the character, I would…”

Read Fiction and Non-Fiction 
This helps children understand that we can read to learn about new things or things we are interested in. Some children prefer reading and hearing non-fiction books. All reading is beneficial.

Use and explore language
Talk about what you see happening in the world around you and look for opportunities to introduce new words into your discussion. This will allow your children to hear new words in context and ask you about their meaning. Students with a greater vocabulary better understand what they are reading.

Let them see you reading in real life
For example, reading a recipe or instructions and using a Google search to learn about something.

Celebrate your cchild’ssuccesses
Whether it be reading a new book, sticking with it when it is challenging, or as small as mastering one tricky word, success breeds success. Remember, mastery of reading is a lifelong skill that supports all students’ future learning in whatever subjects they are studying.

Building literacy skills truly is a home-school partnership. Please talk with your child’s teacher if you have any concerns or questions, but also share your child’s successes with us so that we can celebrate together.