The Messenger - Trinity Christian School

“The Messenger”
January 2014
School Theme for the Year “Worship His Holy Name” Psalm 145:3—5
Main Office:
403-254-6682
Principal
Stan Hielema
Vice Principal—Junior High
Michelle Duimel
Sports Coordinator
Mark Jonker
Development Officer
Laura Doornbosch
Curriculum Support
Cheryl Barnard
____________
Business Office
403-254-6716
Business Manager
John Unrau
Accounting Clerk
Louise Prefontaine
Facility Superintendent
Dave Vriend
#100—295 Midpark Way SE,
Calgary, AB, T2Y 2X1
Phone: 403-254-6682
Fax: 403-254-9843
Website: www.tcskids.com
E-Mail: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook/
tcskids
EXCITING NEWS!
Our Website,
tcskids.com, has been
updated. Check it out
starting Dec. 23. Your
feedback is welcome!
Welcome to
Trinity
Christian School!
What You Will Find Inside January’s Messenger:
Thank you to Mike Visser and The Director’s Chair Video Productions
Statement from the Association of Reformed Political Action, on behalf of ACES
Thank you to Platinum Photography
Tax Receipt Information from the Business Office
Message From the ACSCS Board of Directors
School Start and Usborne Books —Fundraiser results
Pictures from our Christmas Concert, “O Come Let Us Adore Him”
The Magician’s Nephew — Comes to Trinity in January !
Family Movie Night Returns to Trinity!
Thankful for Christmas Activities
Winter Festival for Kindergarten!
Thank You TCS Community!
Live and Silent Auction Dinner—Save the Date
Trip Down Memory Lane with Junior High Retreat
Trip Down Memory Lane with SALTS 2013 Trip
Hot Lunches for the month of January
Music….sweet music
High School Open House Information
Reading Buddies
SALTS Bottle Pick Up for January
Free Dress Friday—Why do Trinity Staff wear jeans twice a month?
Thank you to Mr. Mike Visser and The Director’s Chair Video
Productions who have once again put his time and effort towards the videotaping of our Christmas Concert, “O Come
Let Us Adore Him” . We so appreciate the DVD’s he makes
available to our Trinity Community.
Dear Friends,
On Friday, November 29th, ARPA Canada, on behalf of the Association of
Christian Educators and Schools (ACES Canada), filed our Notice of Motion
in the Loyola School appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. As you may
recall, Loyola School is appealing to the Supreme Court because the Ministry of Education in Quebec has refused to allow it to teach a mandatory curriculum on religion and ethics from its own religious perspective.
Instead, all schools (even independent Christian schools) must teach this religion course from a secular or
“neutral” perspective.
ARPA Canada recognized how problematic such a stance is for all Christian schools. Already at the beginning of this year we began work to intervene in this case in order to bring a principled and legal argument to
the Court on behalf of independent Christian education from across this country. We believe that God has
given responsibility to parents to properly educate their own child (either at home or through various schools)
and that the State intrudes on parents’ religious rights and responsibilities when it insists not only on what to
teach, but even on how to teach.
This Notice of Motion is the first step in the process for us. Over the course of the next six to eight weeks,
one judge of the Supreme Court will review our motion, as well as the motions of 10 other groups requesting
to intervene. At this time both Loyola School and the Government of Quebec (the two main parties in this legal dispute) will also have time to review these applications and file statements with the Court if they prefer to
not have us intervene. We ask for your regular prayers that God will allow us to speak to the Court and that
the judge He has selected to review our Motion might be favourably disposed and allow us to intervene.
Should we be allowed to intervene, we will then have four weeks to file our written legal arguments (called a
factum). After those written arguments are filed, we will prepare for our oral arguments. The date for the
hearing of this case has been bumped up to March 24th, 2014. More details will follow as we approach that
date.
Please check out www.ARPACanada.ca for more information. I should also note that the entire cost of this
Supreme Court intervention will be borne completely by ARPA Canada – although the group of Christian
schools we built represents 315 elementary and secondary schools employing 6,600 staff and teaching 70,000
students, no school has been asked to contribute a cent. On principle, we believe our schools should be using
their resources for teaching the next generation the praise-worthy deeds of the LORD, and that our role at
ARPA Canada is to assist by doing the legal and political work. If you would like to support ARPA’s work,
including this intervention, donations can be made by credit card online or by mailing a cheque to the address
below.
Thank you for your help, your prayers and your support. May God continue to richly bless your schools and
may they produce a harvest of 30, 60, or 100-fold!
On behalf of the ARPA team,
Andre Schutten, HonB. A., LL.B., LL.M.
Legal Counsel & Ontario Director
Association for Reformed Political Action
613-297-5172 / [email protected]
www.ARPACanada.ca
1 Rideau Street, Suite 700
Ottawa ON K1N 8S7
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil
is that good men do nothing.
Platinum Photography Calgary,
Ab. Weddings, School, Sports
The Christmas season is one of generosity.
Generosity is the habit of giving without expecting anything in return.
TCS has been blessed for many
years, with the SERVICE and
GENEROSITY of Platinum
Photography. Our amazing
photographer, Nick, whom all
our children know, goes far beyond providing good service.
He provides GENEROUS service, above and beyond any
call of duty, and has been an
example to all who know him,
of what it means to give with a
smile, and go far beyond what
is expected. An example of this
is when just recently, group
photos of TCS students were
given to students at no cost –
just because. This has been so
typical of him over the years.
We are a small school among the many large Calgary schools he serves, yet for us his service
is personal, and his relationship to the school is part of his legacy. Thank you Nick, and Platinum Staff, for showing us an example of what is means to be generous.
As our Calendar year comes to an end we are working towards completing our business for 2013. This includes the process of tax receipts.
Over the past 5 months we have been investigating and implementing
new software that should help us create these tax receipts and we anticipate that your receipts will look different and have more detail.
Last year, the Board sent a letter with your receipts identifying that the Canadian Revenue
Agency (CRA) was conducting several audits to ensure private schools in Alberta were following the guidelines set out for receipting. The legal counsel to the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta (AISCA) recommended that we take extra care to ensure
our receipting practices are reasonable and compliant to appropriate regulations. Over the
past year we have not heard of any changes to the regulations or outcomes of the audits performed.
Consequently, we will continue to take a conservative approach in issuing tax receipts for
2013. If you have questions or concerns regarding this matter, I encourage you to contact me
in the Business Office at (403)254-6716, ext. 244.
Best regards, John Unrau
As you may have heard, Glenmore Christian Academy recently gave notice it is going to withdraw from
Palliser Regional Schools at the end of the current school year. You may be wondering if this is something
that should cause us concern or to “second guess” our association with Palliser. The answer is, “No”.
The stated rationales for GCA’s decision are:
Regaining control of all areas of the school including education (academic and spiritual formation);
Ensuring the vision, mission and values of the school remain consistent to its foundation and First Alliance Church;
A lack of financial incentive to carry forward with the current model as lease funding is not going to be
provided to GCA.
(source: http://www.gcaschool.com/#!gca-educational-society/c85y, Town Hall PowerPoint Presentation)
These rationales do not apply to Trinity Christian School.
We have found Palliser to be very supportive of our Teaching for Transformation curriculum which incorporates a Biblical Worldview into the Alberta Education required curriculum.
Our TCS Vision Statement, TCS Mission Statement, and Statements of the ACSCS – Basis & Purpose,
Statement of Faith, Statement of Educational Principles are incorporated into our Master Agreement
with Palliser.
We have never expected to receive lease funding. The failure to provide lease funding is a decision of
the Alberta Government, not Palliser Regional Schools. Palliser Regional Schools have advocated
on behalf of the Alternative Schools for lease funding from the government.
We note that GCA operates differently than TCS – it is church governed (by First Alliance Church) as opposed to parent governed (by the Association for Christian Schooling in Calgary South). This governance
model allowed the decision to leave Palliser to be made without, to the best of our knowledge, prior formal
consultation with GCA parents or teaching staff. Under our governance model this could not happen.
The ACSCS Board consults regularly with our school administration and they continue to report positively
on the resources and educational support that Palliser provides for our school. We have been pleased with
the involvement and input we have experienced in the hiring of new teachers and learning assistants. We
recently went through our scheduled review of the Master Agreement with Palliser and both parties continue to be satisfied with the terms of it. Palliser Regional Schools, the ACSCS Board of Directors and our
TCS Administration are all motivated to work together to fulfill the unique potential of each student by
providing education in Christ-centered community.
Thank you for supporting our school library! Through the sales of the Usborne
Books, the library will receive $495.00 in free books.
Many of you have used School Start for your back to
school supplies which we receive at a reasonable cost in
an environmentally friendly, reusable shopping bag. Not only do parents save
money and valuable time over their summer holidays, the bags are delivered to
the school just before the school start date, AND our school also benefits as a
fundraiser. Thanks to your orders and generosity Trinity Christian School received a cheque from School Start for $1,192.28.
Trinity Christian School Theatre presents
THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW
from “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C. S. Lewis
SHOWTIMES at TCS:
Thurs. Jan. 23 2:00pm / Fri. Jan. 24
11am
Mon. Jan. 27 7pm / Wed. Jan. 29 7p
m
All performances are pay-what-you-c
an
, general seating.
For more information, please call 403-863-5754 or message
[email protected]
Produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock,
Illinois. Dramatization by Aurand Harris.
Friday, January 24th, 2014 is
our next Family Nite...
Grade 9’s spend the morning at Samaritan's Purse
Take-outs from the day...you guys are awesome!
Thank you for Mrs. Hedley
and the parents for driving!
Grade 5 bring shoeboxes to Samaritan’s Purse and get a
grand tour!
Mr. Hielema reads a Christmas book to the
Grade 3 class
Grade 3’s hand deliver Christmas cards
and sing Christmas carols ts at the Beverley Center.
A
Kindergarten Action Committee (K.A.C.)
ll families of Kindergarten Students please save Friday,
January 17th for a “Winter Festival” from 6:30-8 p.m.
This will be a great opportunity for families to get to know one another and enjoy some time visiting and playing games together.
Thank you Trinity Community for your support in collecting food items needed for the Calgary Food Bank. We collected
three huge boxes of food items for our Calgary community!
Trinity Christian School
LIVE & SILENT DINNER AUCTION
SATURDAY, April 26, 2014
Mark your calendars
&
Save the Date!!!
If you have any questions please contact
Erin Johnson - [email protected]
Leanne Yacyshyn - [email protected]
This fabulous fundraiser
is less than 4 months away!
Please start thinking about how you, your family, your
friends or
businesses can contribute to one of the school’s biggest fundraisers!!
“Nathan”
“Edo”
Hot Dog Days are January 8 and January 22!
Day is January 15 (K—9) and Jan. 16 (KT/Th)
“Subway
Day” is January 29 (K-9) and Jan. 30 (KT/Th)
Calgary Christian School
Please mark your calendars for our Spring Open House on April 14, 2014 at 7:00.
Centennial High School
Please join us on February 11 from 9:30—11:00 for our Open House.
Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School
Open House is already past, however, please phone the guidance office to make an appointment for a tour.
Bishop Carroll: Open House is February 4, 2014
Holy Trinity Academy: Open House is on
Wednesday, February 26, 2014at 7:30 p.m.
Henry Wisewood High School: Open House is already
passed, however, feel free to call ‘student services’ at the school to
find out about setting up a tour.
Master’s Academy: Open House is Wednesday, January 15, 2014 at 7:00
p.m.
Lord Beaverbrook: Open House is February 6 from 6:30—8:00.
Bishop O’Byrne: Open House is Tuesday, February 4, 2014. Time is yet to be determined, but check their website please.
Bishop Carroll: January 9 is a Program Information Night
in the gym. Open House is on February 4 from 9:30—3:30 and
6:30—8:00.
West Island College: Open House has passed. Contact Admissions for a
tour.
** These are not the only options, please feel free to investigate other options.
Thank you to all the families who have contributed
their bottles to SALTS. We will continue on in this
New Year!
SALTS Bottle Pick up will be Friday, January 10 and
Friday, January 24th.
As many of you know, the teachers at TCS participate in a
fundraising activity each year called Free Dress Fridays.
On these special Fridays teachers are permitted to wear
jeans to school, but at a cost! Each Friday that a teacher
wears jeans they must pay $2 each to the Free Dress Friday
fund. At the end of the year, I collect all the money that has
been raised and I send it to a charity that was decided on at
the beginning of the year. In the past we have raised money
for the Spread the Net Student Challenge and New Hope
Girls Academy. This year we will be raising money for Rob
& Kara Bustin and their work in Ethiopia. Kara was a
teacher here at TCS in grade 3 and now works with Wycliffe
Bible Translators and lives in Ethiopia with her husband,
Rob and new daughter, Madelyn. The money raised from
Free Dress Friday will go to them and their work there. Just
like in other years, if you feel like you would like to contribute to the Free Dress Friday fund, please let me know.
Please pray for them as they acquire the Ambaric language.
Andrew Dykshoorn