Ruth Thompson

Tim White, Interim Deputy Principal

Kuyper Christian School is a unique institution. It is based on the strength and commitment of partnership. It thrives on communication, mutual respect and seeking the best for others.

Kuyper is a community committed to learning. Schools are places for learning, and Christian schools are places to learn about discipleship. More than just equipping our students with knowledge and skills, at its heart, our school has a vision to pursue education that prepares students for real life.

Our vision is that Kuyper Christian School be: 

A learning community that prepares students to live restoratively for Jesus in a world where every square inch belongs to Him.

To bring that vision to life, we must translate it into a story we can explore together as a learning community: a story about God, His world and our identity as world-shapers. Mark Strom, theologian and communication consultant, says that, 

[vision is a] future story built upon the past and the present. It tells a new story in which people flourish through a richer sense of identity and purpose and things they will make and do for others.

In our Western tradition, we love to emphasise a rational approach in our thinking. We tend to reduce complexity into what we think are constituent parts. Strom encourages us to look at our experience holistically, to see life as story. As we live life as a story, we shape our understanding and develop our character as a unique participant in the story.

The big Scriptural story reveals the true nature of God, man, and the world as a narrative about God’s dealings with people. So, it is logical to see our human experience as a story that we inhabit. Theologian Jamie Smith notes, 

It is crucial that the task of Christian education is nestled in a story … Story is the first language of love.

In keeping with this, at Kuyper, we are exploring and experiencing what it means to be God’s Person, In God’s Place, Under God’s Rule, Doing Justice and Loving Mercy, Walking Humbly with God, and Equipped to Contribute.

In 2025, we walk confidently into our story, continuing to shape it and be shaped by it. It is a journey of love marked by God’s ongoing love and commitment to us.

Bill Rusin, Interim Principal

Welcome to Term 1 at Kuyper Christian School! For those who are returning to Kuyper, thank you for trusting us to continue partnering with you in the nurture and education of your children. For those who are new to our community, our aim is to develop a strong and trust-based partnership with you.

I am pleased and grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Kuyper community as Interim Principal in 2025. I have been a member of the Kuyper community as an association member for a number of years, though in recent times, working in the NT as principal of Marrara Christian College.

As a staff, our commitment to you is to seek to be an educational community that provides an environment in which each person flourishes. This includes students, parents and staff. Our staff have been preparing for some time and are excited for the return of our students. As we seek to honour and respect your position as parents and your children’s position as students, we hope that you will remind your children to respect the position of all staff. Mutual respect is at the heart of a thriving community.

Our intent is to engage students in not only learning about God’s world but to remind them that the whole world belongs to Him. As a Christian School, that places great importance on the partnership with parents, particularly open and regular communication between parents and staff. If issues or concerns emerge, please communicate sooner rather than later with the staff member involved. Our staff will seek to reciprocate.

This year, I will be in the Principal’s chair from Monday to Wednesday. I am grateful that Tim White has been willing to hit the “pause button” on his PhD research to look after the school on Thursdays and Fridays.

I look forward to catching up with you in the coming days.

Cassie Dixon, Head of Teaching and Learning

Welcome to 2025! We hope that the Christmas season prompted you to reflect on the birth of our Lord, Jesus and that you also had the opportunity to rest and refresh during the holidays. 

Our staff team has been busy this week preparing for the year ahead. It has been a great time of learning and community building. Bill Rusin, our Interim Principal, shared about the importance of building good relationships and respecting the various offices of members of our community, such as Teacher, Parent and Student. Tim White, our Interim Deputy Principal, shared about the responsibility of our students to respect their teachers, respect their peers and classmates, and to respect the learning. These valuable professional development opportunities equip us as a whole staff to serve well in our roles as we partner with you in educating your children.

I am pleased to introduce four new staff members who are joining our team this year. 

Please join us in thanking God for His provision of the right people at the right time and pray for His wisdom for our 2025 Class and Core Teachers. 

Primary Class Teachers and Classrooms

Prep: Mrs Amanda McAlpine (with Miss Felicity Thornton, Teacher’s Aide)
Classroom: B4
Kindergarten: Mrs Jo Kean
Classroom: B3
Year 1: Mrs Kae McCaull (Monday-Wednesday) and Mrs Amanda McAlpine (Thursday-Friday)
Classroom: B2
Year 2: Mrs Hayley Mullen (Monday-Wednesday) and Mr Guy Boughey (Thursday-Friday)
Classroom: A2
Year 3: Mrs Anne Cuthill
Classroom: A3
Year 4: Mr Rob Weule, and Miss Cassie Dixon (afternoon sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday)
Classroom: A4
Year 5: Mr Jeff Brown
Classroom: A5
Year 6: Mrs Merrilynne Shaw
Classroom: Pearl Place (in the KRC)

Secondary Core Teachers

Year 7: Miss Jemima Robinson and Mr Ja Baldwin
Year 8: Mr Matt Daly and Mrs Heather Cumming
Year 9: Mr Rob Coleman and Mr Steve Lauter
Year 10: Mr Matt McCaull, Mr Tim White, and Mrs Karina Chambers
Years 11 and 12: Mrs Sandra Daly, Mr Daniel Nixon, and Mr Charles Tan

We are looking forward to welcoming students back next week. It is going to be a great year with our staff and students as we all continue Learning in God’s World.

Wayne Speirs, Board Chair

Happy New Year to all our Kuyper families. The Kuyper Board and School Staff are excited to be partnering with you in the venture of Christian education this year. As we commence the new school year, I would like to formally welcome our Senior Leadership Team for 2025. 

Mr Bill Rusin has commenced his role as Interim Principal (Monday to Wednesday), supported by Mr Tim White as Interim Deputy Principal (Thursday to Friday). Bill and Tim bring a wealth of experience in Christian education and school leadership to Kuyper. We are grateful to have such an experienced duo heading up our leadership team in 2025 as the Board undertakes the recruitment process for a permanent principal. 

Mr Mitchell Cavens will join the Senior Leadership Team this year in his current role as Head of Secondary. Mitch has been with Kuyper for five years, initially as our Secondary Music Teacher and for the last twelve months as Head of Secondary. Our teaching staff has valued his leadership, and we are pleased to have him take on this increased responsibility. Please take the opportunity to congratulate Mitch on his appointment and pray for him in this new role.

Mrs Kae McCaull will continue on the Senior Leadership Team as Head of Primary. As a longstanding member of our teaching staff, we are grateful to Kae for the tremendous work she has already done in our Primary school and thank her for her ongoing commitment to the leadership of our school.

Miss Cassie Dixon will also continue as part of the Senior Leadership team this year in the role of Head of Teaching and Learning (P—12). I want to take this opportunity to thank Cassie for graciously sharing the Acting Principal role with Tim White at the end of last year and for her ongoing commitment to our Kuyper community. Please pray for Cassie in this important role.

The Kuyper Board commends our 2025 Senior Leadership Team to your prayers as they seek the Lord’s will in leading our school this year.

 As we bring the year to a close, we say goodbye to some members of our staff as they move into new roles in different places in 2025. We also share exciting news about new roles at Kuyper next year for some familiar faces.

We also bid farewell to two of our Teacher’s Aides, Mr Will Ramsay and Mr Ben Speirs, who have been working with us part-time while studying.

Will and Ben have been an absolute asset to our Diversability team over the past two years, providing support in both Primary and Secondary classrooms and working one-on-one with students. Special thanks to Will for providing Math tutoring for our high school students. Both Will and Ben are applying for conditional accreditation to commence teaching. We hope to see Will around the school in a casual teaching capacity next year.

Some other familiar faces will join us in permanent positions or take up new roles in 2025.

We are looking forward to having these two wonderful young men join our Secondary teaching team in the new year.

Tim White and Cassie Dixon, Acting Principals

What a unique celebration we had on Tuesday night as part of our end-of-year celebrations. The limelight was on Jesus! What joy was expressed by our performers and contributors! It was so indicative of what this season holds and what knowing Jesus and celebrating him is all about.

When focussed on Jesus, we don’t want anybody else to ‘steal the limelight!’ This is actually a well-known expression. It means to get more attention than anyone or anything else in a situation.

So what is limelight? Hundreds of years ago, lime was burnt to light up the stage area for performances at night. The expression ‘stealing the limelight’ was said of actors who perhaps had a minor part in a production but wanted to draw all the attention to themselves. They stole the limelight, the attention that rightly should have been on others.

When Jesus came to earth, he did not live a life seeking attention. He wasn’t born into a privileged family. He was born to a young unmarried mother and step-father fiancée. He was born in a stable. He was born in a smallish country town, not the nation’s capital city. His was a humble birth celebrated by local tradies, not the rich and famous. Yet, he was the King over all kings.

Jesus lived a humble life too. He served people’s best interests. He didn’t look for servants or even an adoring crowd. The Bible tells us that Jesus humbled himself, even to death on a cross. Jesus did not come to steal the limelight; he came to serve, to show mercy and kindness, and he said, ‘Follow Me.’ He was humble and meek, yet today, millions of people value his teaching, appreciate his forgiveness, pursue salvation in his name and want to walk in his footsteps. After all, he is King over square inch of all creation.

This Christmas, I hope your light and attention will be on the birth and life of Jesus. I hope at your place there will be celebration at the birth of that Saviour – King. I hope the Grinch or Santa do not steal the limelight. As you hear and perhaps join in on Christmas Carols that celebrate Jesus, may he shine in your hearts. May we all celebrate the good news of God’s gift to us. Might we listen in silence, despite the noise of consumerism, and realise that a Silent Night can be a Holy Night. Let’s keep the light, the attention on the King.

Thank you God, for your indescribable gift of love that we see in a small, vulnerable, humble baby. Shine, Jesus, shine.

Have a safe and blessed break.

After much prayer and reflection, our Director of Programs and Development, Mrs Alexis Clarke, has shared with the Board that she will close this chapter of her story with Kuyper at the end of this year.

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

Last Thursday night, Kuyper’s 2024 Year 6 class had a pizza and ice cream party to mark the milestone of moving from primary school to high school. The students, their parents, staff and even a couple of grandparents had a fantastic time celebrating this momentous occasion. Thanks to our Year 6 teacher, Mrs Shaw, and her support team for all their hard work in making this special evening happen.

A night like this is a wonderful chance to pause and reflect on the learning journey of our oldest Primary School students. The picture below is a puzzle created by the class. Each student decorated their own piece to reflect themselves. When joined together, the puzzle demonstrates the strength of what we can do when we work together using our unique God-given personalities and gifts.

As we think about the years that have passed, it is an opportunity to reflect on the unique community that has supported, challenged, and taught these students as they have moved through their most formative years of schooling. In addition to their peers, many teachers, family members, and friends have brought their own God-given personalities and gifts to help shape these twenty-six young people. This same God-given community will continue to provide the support they need as they navigate the next chapter in their learning journey. Our prayer is that each student will also realise that the God, who loves them immeasurably more than they can fathom, is also with them every step of the way. 

It is not difficult to marvel at the changes in our precious young people as they have journeyed through their first eight years of schooling. They have already mastered an incredible array of knowledge and skills in their pursuit of learning about the world that God has placed them in.  Even more importantly, they have developed character, resilience and the ability to work and play alongside others.  We are excited about the learning adventure that our students have ahead of them – and it really will be an adventure! It will be full of opportunities to learn about themselves as God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule, and all that this means for them and how they live both as individuals and as a community. Our deep hope here at Kuyper is that as students continue to learn and grow, they will use what they are learning to serve God and their school community and make a positive difference in the broader community in which they live. 

For all those families whose children are continuing on ‘up the hill’ at Kuyper, we are excited to continue our partnership with you. We look forward to many more wonderful and challenging opportunities and adventures ahead. For those who God has called on to other places, we wish you all the best in the new year. May you take fond memories of your time as part of the Kuyper community. Wherever you go, it is still God’s world, full of opportunities to grow and serve as His people, in His place, under His rule.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8