Preamble:
This Educational Creed outlines what we believe as we engage in the task of Christian education. These are the principles on which our School was founded. This is who we are; this is what we promote, practise and teach.
Our staff are to uphold the Statement of Faith in both their public and private lives and are committed to the body of Christian believers through membership of a local church.
As an open enrolment School, we recognise that our student and parent community may include a variety of faith and lifestyle beliefs. All are welcome in our School. Nevertheless, it is important when joining the School community, that families understand what the School promotes, practises and teaches. We recognise the right of parents and students to hold different positions on lifestyle or faith as private matters.
We believe that:
a. There is one God and He is sovereign and eternal. He is revealed in the Bible as three equal divine Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God depends on nothing and no one; everything and everyone depends on Him. God created all things, visible and invisible, from His own sovereign will, and by His Word they are sustained. God is holy, just, good and loving. He is independent, immutable, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.1
b. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternally existing, one and only Son of the Father. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin named Mary, truly God and truly human. He lived a sinless life and died for our sins. He was buried, rose from the dead in bodily form and ascended into Heaven. Jesus is King of the universe and Head of the Church - His people whom He has redeemed. He will return to gather His people to Himself, to judge all people and bring in the consummation of God’s Kingdom. 2
c. The Holy Spirit is God at work in creation, revelation, redemption and renewal. He convicts people of their sin, leads them to repentance, creates faith within them and regenerates them. He is the source of their new, sanctified life bringing forth His fruit in the lives of believers. He gifts believers according to His sovereign will, enabling them to serve God.3
d. Since the fruit of all Christian Education depends on the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit, both parents and teachers are to perform their tasks with constant prayer that the Spirit may enable them to bring their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, and that He may so bless their work that the children embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Master, whom to follow and serve in all spheres of life is their greatest privilege and joy.
e. The Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testament is the divinely inspired, infallible written Word of God, the only absolute rule for all faith and conduct, and therefore also for the education of our children at home and at school. The Bible serves as a lens through which the world and life’s meaning and purpose are truly understood. The Bible is indispensable and determinative for our knowledge of God, of ourselves, and of the rest of creation, and also for the whole educational task. Each part of the Bible is to be understood in the context of its place in the overall biblical story, giving due attention to the setting, genre and purpose of each book, section or passage. 4
f. In the beginning, God created humanity, both male and female, in the persons of Adam and Eve, in His own image. God established marriage as a union for life between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others, for companionship and intimacy, and as the rightful place for sexual activity and procreation. As God’s image-bearers, humans have been created to live in relationship with our Creator, to love, serve, worship, honour and enjoy Him forever. This is the very purpose of our existence. As God’s image bearers, people have been given dominion over the creation to rule it, manage it, and develop it for God, who is King over Kings and Lord over Lords. We acknowledge the broken beauty of creation and our God-given task to seek to heal the brokenness while delighting in and enhancing its beauty.5
g. The development of children as the image-bearers of God is a central concern of our educational task.
h. It is a special task of the School to work at ensuring that the light of God’s Word shines in all learning, where children of whatever ability are treated as persons who bear God’s image and are encouraged to see that they have a marvelous place and purpose in His plan for their lives, both for now and for eternity.
i. It is our privilege and responsibility, by God’s grace, to seek to ensure that our school will more and more be transformed into a preview of the Kingdom of God, a foretaste of Shalom.
j. All of human life is grounded in faith commitments. It is unfolded either as service to God or of a substitute for God. Sin alienates us from God and each other. All have sinned, have fallen short of the standards of God, and are under God’s judgement. God holds each person responsible and accountable for choices made and actions pursued. Human responsibility and accountability do not limit God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty does not diminish human responsibility and accountability. Salvation from the penalty of sin, which is eternal separation from God, can only be found through our Lord Jesus Christ, through repentance from sin and faith in His substitutionary, atoning death and resurrection. 6
k. Although, by the grace of God, people who reject the Word of God as the ordering principle of life may provide valuable insights and create works of beauty, truth and wisdom, yet the religious direction of their thought remains radically opposed to that of the Bible, so that there can be no possibility of a synthesis of their systems of thought with the biblical perspectives which our Christian School is called to pursue.
l. True education is possible only where the fear of God is established by God’s grace in the hearts of people as the indispensable foundation of all wisdom and knowledge, as the Apostle Paul affirmed, in Christ are to be found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge 7. To seek to enable children to see God's world and their lives from God's perspective is a most profound privilege and responsibility. We aim to ensure that all school policies, programs and procedures, indeed everything that happens in the life of our school, is shaped by a biblical worldview while at the same time, in our learning and teaching spaces, best practice pedagogy is embraced.
m. True education will celebrate in awe, the breathtaking magnificence of the One whose hands flung stars into space and to cruel nails surrendered (‘The Servant King’, Graham Kendrick, 1983) and who will, in His good time, renew His creation.
n. Parents have the ultimate responsibility, under God, for the nurturing and development of their children, including their education. The Christian school community is a partnership between families and the school staff, sharing together a vision of education which gives to the Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place. The involvement of parents is not only something that is welcomed but is crucial to the life of the school.
o. A Christian is someone who responds to God’s grace and accepts God’s call to acknowledge and follow Jesus Christ as Lord. Christians seek to live authentic, biblically grounded lives in community with other believers, dependent on the Holy Spirit, and across all spheres of life, including education.8
p. In the light of these convictions, it is essential that all members of staff are Christians, able in both word and deed to subscribe to our Statement of Faith.
1: Genesis 1, Deuteronomy 32:1-6, 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, Psalms 23, 24, 136,139, 145, Isaiah 46, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 18:18-19, John 14, Romans 11:33-36, Colossians 1:15-20, Hebrews 1:1-3, 1 John 4:7-21, Revelation 4
2: Isaiah 53, John 1:1-14, Luke 1-2, Acts 1:1-11. 1 Corinthians 15:1-6, 24-26, Colossians 1:15-20, Hebrews 1:1-3, 2:5-18, 4:14-16, Revelation 20-21
3: Genesis 1:1-2, John 14-16, Romans 5:1-5, 8:1-17, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Galatians 5:13-26, Titus 3:3-8
4: John 16:12-15, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21, 3:15-16,
5: Genesis 1:26-28, 2: 15-25, Matthew 19:1-6, Romans 8:18-27,1 Corinthians 7:1-7, Ephesians 5:21-33
6: Acts 2:14-41, 17:16-34, Romans 1:18-25, 5:1-11, 6:19-23
7: Colossians 2:3
8: John 15:1-17. Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Hebrews 10:19-25, Hebrews 13:20-21