In response to student initiative, we will be holding a Colour Explosion Fun Run to raise money and awareness about bullying and cyber bullying in schools. We are looking forward to a fun event as we support an Australian charity, Dolly’s Dream.
The Colour Explosion Fun Run will be held after lunch, this Friday 14 May. To participate, students must wear non-uniform that includes a white t-shirt and bring a gold coin donation. During the fun run, students will be covered in non-toxic, biodegradable coloured powder from head to toe. If you do not wish your child to participate, you must submit a non-consent form (below). Your child would have already received a sponsorship form that explains the event and how they can fundraise.
If you have any questions at all, or would like another sponsorship or non-consent form, please contact the Office.
Over the past term, Primary and Infants students here at Kuyper have been looking at the amazing, and sometimes sad, last days of Jesus’ life. Here is a summary of the narrative we shared with the kids:
Jesus had his last meal with his disciples. He was taken by the priests and beaten. Pilate had the chance to free him and didn’t. Jesus was whipped, spat on and laughed at. He was forced to carry a heavy piece of wood up a hill, was nailed to it, and lifted up for everyone to look at. He cried out to God “Why have you forsaken me?” And there, the son of God died. Jesus’ body was taken down and placed in a tomb on the side of a hill with a giant rock in front of it. There were soldiers guarding the tomb…
The next part of the story is what makes it SO amazing!
Some women who were Jesus’ friends went to take care of his body by putting herbs and perfume on it. But when they got to the tomb, they saw that the giant rock had been moved. Then they looked inside the tomb and Jesus’ body was gone! They saw an angel sitting in the tomb instead, and they were terrified. The angel said “Do not be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus. He isn’t here. HE IS RISEN.” The women were very confused. They left the tomb wondering what had happened to Jesus, and suddenly, there he was! When they saw him, they hugged him. Jesus is alive! The women went and told the disciples. At first, the disciples didn’t believe them, but then Jesus appeared to them too. He ate with them and said this:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
“I am with you always, to the very end of the age” means that Jesus is with us right now, and he will continue to be with us forever. The Bible tells us, in Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, that 500 people saw Jesus before he was taken up to heaven. He is alive and he promised to be with us always. THIS is why Good Friday is so good. It’s the gospel; the good news of Jesus:
On the cross our sin was dealt with completely; he took our punishment, BUT
Jesus rose again! He defeated death.
This means that we too will be raised. Our sin has been taken, and we can be friends with God. If we understand and accept Jesus’ death for us we will live with him forever.
Good Friday is the day for us to reflect on Jesus’ death. On Easter Sunday we celebrate his resurrection. We need to remember the truth of Easter. Some people have forgotten it, and the world is constantly trying to tell us a different story.
The world has forgotten the wonder and horror of Easter. It has been drowned in a sea of bunnies and chocolate. Will you remember the REAL story? When you’re looking for eggs and eating chocolate, will you remember the sacrifice that Jesus made and his eternal love for us through his resurrection? Maybe, every time you open up an Easter egg, and crunch down on that delicious chocolate, look inside, remember that the tomb was EMPTY and that Jesus is risen!
Easter is all about redemption. We are redeemed through the work of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. This is the truth of Easter, always.
Since 2009, and with the support of thousands of students across Australia and New Zealand, Bible League International have seen more than 340,000 students in South African public schools receive the Good News of Jesus Christ. Many of these students have their own history of pain, rejection and hurt. In 2009 God opened a door for Bible League to get Bibles into public schools. They are now able to minister directly to students, speak into their situations, open up possibilities for a future they may never have imagined, and invite them into the life that God wants them to live.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
Bible League International invites you to join them in this “good fight” by raising money for Bibles to be donated in South African public schools. Collect your sponsorship form from your class or core teacher to begin raising money. We would love every student in the school to find at least 1 sponsor and be part of this great mission. $7 provides 1 bible for a student in a South African school.
Our Primary Cross Country event will be held on Wednesday 21 April.
Secondary students can continue to collect sponsorship. Sponsorship forms are due back on Tues 20 April.
I’ve always loved the first day of school better than the last day of school. Firsts are best because they are beginnings.
Jenny Han
New beginnings are exciting; the beginning of the world in Genesis, the dove as a symbol of hope for Noah’s family, the first cry of a baby in a manger, Mary’s joy at the sight of a risen Saviour, Paul’s transformation at the acceptance of the grace of Christ. New beginnings provide opportunities for transformation and growth. However, new beginnings can also be fraught with worry and apprehension. Joseph’s new beginning started with slavery, the Israelites’ promised new beginning saw them wandering the desert for a generation. At the time, new beginnings can often seem unpleasant and scary as we wait for the full picture to be revealed.
With the benefit of hindsight, we see how God is always at work transforming each person distinctively through their story. God moulds and shapes us in the small daily battles. In the secular world, this is referred to as building resilience. Resilience is the ability to cope with adversity and spring back from significant life events. It is forged in the small every day repeated wins, and losses in between, that help to build confidence for the bigger knocks that life may bring. Resilience is also built through love and belonging.
When we don’t feel claimed, we feel unprotected and live in a heightened state of insecurity and fear, anticipating the worst.
Michelle Mitchell
Belonging is an essential human need. Feeling “claimed” brings security, confidence and self-worth. Babies do not survive without a caring adult. Children need nurture into adolescence and beyond. It is within a safe and loving context that children can be given small opportunities to fail and where they learn to view failure as “not the end of the world” but an opportunity to learn and grow.
A toddler misses a step and falls; the mother encourages them to get up and keep going…
A child gets the wrong answer to a maths problem; a teacher gets alongside them and explains the solution…
A teenager writes something on social media that is inappropriate; a father gently explains the consequences and guides them through the solutions…
In each of these scenarios, a child is “claimed”; they are building resilience as they walk alongside a loving adult. BUT how much more could we grow in the care of a loving God!
In Year 7 Core and Christian Studies classes this term we have been unpacking Two Ways to Live. We dearly hope that students will respond to God’s desire to “claim” them as one of His children. We want them to walk alongside a loving God, who is present in every joy and difficulty. God wants to be their Father and their King. Our Lord wants to build resilience in Him by moulding and transforming them. He also wants to share in their excitement and joy. If you read Joseph’s story in Genesis 37-50 you will see that his new beginning was fraught with challenges and hardship, but God worked through him to transform adversity into joy and salvation. Joseph may not have had a loving adult to nurture him but he did have a powerful, loving and purposeful God; a Lord who claimed him, moulded and transformed him, and ultimately saved an entire nation through him.
Beginning High School invites many mixed emotions. Excitement at the prospect of new adventures, new classes and new friends is swept up with apprehension about how each of these things may work out. It has been wonderful to witness the courage, resilience and transformations for our new Year 7 cohort as they face new challenges and expectations with passion, excitement and apprehension. While, as teachers and parents, we walk lovingly beside our kids, my deep hope is that they will accept God’s “claim” on them and allow Him to transform them by His love and purposes too.
Here’s a quick look at what High School new beginnings at Kuyper look like from our kids’ perspective:
What has been your favourite part about starting High School?
That everybody welcomed me, and made sure I was never alone. They showed me around the school, introduced me to people and helped me learn the teachers’ names and stuff.
Going to the swimming carnival.
My favourite part is the different things we do that we did not do in primary school like Food Tech and Science experiments. I also like that we know what subject we are going to do, at what time.
Learning science and geography.
PDHPE is fun because it is good exercise and it is fun as well.
My favourite part of starting high school is going from classroom to classroom. It gets you outside when you move to a different classroom and I love it.
My favourite thing at high school is Maths and Music.
I’ve enjoyed meeting new people.
Having so many new people start at Kuyper. Having timetables to be more organised.
What are you learning?
In English, Mrs Clarke & Miss Dixon are teaching us that God gave us a voice and that we should use it and that we deserve to use it to say what we believe in. The lesson is called ‘Have Your Say’.
In Christian Studies we are doing the Two Ways to Live project where we talk about how God created everything and how He wants us to live our lives.
How science can be used to make God’s world better and how He made us and science.
How God created intelligent humans to make maths.
In Core, we have been learning about Two Ways to Live – how everything was great then went wrong – but God had a plan.
We are learning about the stages of the water cycle and how it all works.
That God provides plants and food for us and water to make them grow. He wants us to grow too.
What is your most memorable moment?
My most memorable moment so far is: making the parfaits.
My most memorable moment is probably the jokes at recess and lunch.
The most memorable part of high school has been just hanging out with friends and having conversations with the teachers.
PE – Dodge Rush (DodgeBall + Bull Rush).
Using chemicals in the Science lab.
My most memorable moment has to be when I came on the first day and everyone was just so friendly and how I never felt left out.
So far my most memorable moment is the cooking. We do a new recipe every week.
What are you looking forward to?
I am looking forward to coding class and the handball tournament.
Every day, I bask in the beauty that surrounds me during my drive to work. There is something spectacular about the mountains and valleys, the green grass and blue skies, the soft flowers and rugged trees. The beauty of each of these elements is magnified by the contrast between them.
I am blessed to spend my day as part of a team of professionals who complement one another – those who work in classrooms, teaching and supporting our students, and those who work in the various roles in administration, keeping the school running. A school would not function properly without the eclectic passions of those who work there. Imagine if every teacher only wanted to teach History, or Maths, or Japanese! Imagine if we only had teachers who would teach students in Kindergarten, Year 4 or Year 10. A school like that would be incapable of providing the education needed in today’s society.
In the same way, our school would be lacking if we did not have all of our students as part of our community. Each one has been created in the image of our loving God (Genesis 1:27) and reveals something of His character. I am enjoying getting to know our students better and growing in my understanding of what makes them unique.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
1 Corinthians 12:12-20
What a privilege it is to help students discover their value as well as their gifts and talents, so that they can better understand the special contributions God has in store for them to make. When students are faced with the pressures of this world to ‘fit in’ or ‘measure up,’ my prayer is that they would have the strength to be the person that God created them to be.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.