Dear Parents and students,
Welcome to the 2016-17 school year!
Yesterday we reunited as a PreK-12 staff to kick-off the year. We began by joining with Board members and VCS Prayer-team parents for worship and a campus-wide prayer walk. Wow! How powerful to see every square foot of the property, hallways and classrooms prayed-over, as we invited God to protect our community and guide all that happens on this soil throughout the year.
After our planning meetings, we even took advantage of the warm afternoon sun and launched out on Okanagan Lake in Voyageur canoes, putting our cooperative skills to the test. It turns-out our team-work needs a little work, because we ended up capsizing! (Nobody’s to blame, though – right, Mr. Gingras?)
In Hebrews 12, the Apostle Paul encourages us to “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (NLT). As a theme for the year, we are going to use this image of a race of faith to stretch our understanding of what it means to follow Christ, our Champion. While Jesus had to endure the path to the cross alone, we have the support of a community – a team, with whom we pass the baton. Students, staff, parents and Holy Spirit – we will run the 2016-17 journey together, our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
I am excited that VCS will be teaching the new K-9 BC curriculum this September. Together as a staff team throughout this past spring, we developed a unique approach to the province-wide education shift. Our approach will focus on inviting students to find their place in God’s story – in his unfolding plan, through all aspects of their studies.