John Knox Christian School-Brampton

ROOTED IN FAITH, GROWING IN KNOWLEDGE

Welcome to another year of education at JKCS. I am excited to be a part of the team and look forward to meeting you and working with you, for the benefit of your precious children and God’s great Kingdom. As we move forward together, I’d like to hear your great stories about JKCS and any suggestions you might have in order to make this great school better. Give me a call, send me an email or schedule a meeting to see me. Let’s get the conversation going…

Let me set the stage for this school year by sharing a few thoughts on our school theme, “Rooted in Faith, Growing in Knowledge”. If you haven’t noticed already, it is JKCS’s new tagline which is attached to the new school logo and is a major component of the school’s mission. As we unpack the meaning of our new tag line/theme with students and parents, in the classrooms,assemblies and meetings, it is our hope that we will be able to embrace it, share it, and live it out to the glory of God.The theme verse is, “You have received Christ Jesus as Lord. So keep on living in Him. Have your roots in Him. Build yourselves up in Him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. Be more thankful than ever before” (Colossians 2:6-7).

Rooted in Faith, Growing in Knowledge: At first glance, you might think that our endpoint in learning is educating the mind. But this is not the case. What good is knowledge alone? Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, impressing others, maybe. However, knowledge that is rooted in the Christ, (knowledge that is right, honourable, noble and pleasing to God) has great potential (kinetic energy). This knowledge then, when embraced by a genuine heart and God’s spirit, has the ability to passionately empower the rest of the body (hands, voice and feet) to a life of thankful living/service. Now that’s exciting!

We will focus on the theme in three ways: Rooted, Growing, and Bearing Fruit. Naturally, to assist the students in the visual derstanding of our theme, a tree is, naturally, a good object lesson. Therefore, a tree will be set up in the main lobby (not a real one). As students begin to understand the different parts and functions of a tree, they will begin to develop similar parallels to Christian living. For example, the roots of the tree provide nourishment and support. A healthy root system is foundational to a healthy tree. So too, a Christian needs a strong, firm foundation that is rooted in Christ in order to find nourishment, support and purpose in life. The leaves will represent the growth in learning, whether that is in Bible, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Gym, Music, etc. Students will be given the opportunity, from time to time, to share their classroom learning with the rest of the school by posting “leaves of learning” on the hallway tree. When this knowledge is embraced by the heart, to “acts of service”, they will also have opportunity of adding, “fruit”, representing specific actions that they have taken with the knowledge they have gained. Now that’s Wisdom!

God wants his children to be strong trees….rooted in Him, growing in Him and living for Him. Working together, home, school and church, we can grow a forest. ~G. Zondervan