2 8
A P R I L
2 0 1 6
9 MARCH, 2017
Vancouver Chris
Chris an
an School
School
Vancouver
Preparing students for a life of transforma on and service through
Christ‐centred
Preparing students for a life of transforma on and service through
Christ‐centred
"We wish everyone a very safe and
wonderful Spring Break! See you
on March 27!"
From the VCS Board
Monthly Calendar
March

13 Spring Break begins

27 School begins
April

5 PD Day (No School)

6 First Ave.
Grandparent’s and
Church Hosts
Apprecia on Day!

12 No School for
Kindergarten

14 Good Friday (No
School)

17 Easter Monday (No
School)
To help give the Leadership Team an accurate picture of our school, electronic
ques onnaires will be completed by staff, board and commi ee members as well
as parents. These surveys are administered directly by SCSBC.

20 Broadway
Grandparent’s and
Church Hosts’
Apprecia on Day
Please take some me to though ully complete the survey with your comments
about Ellen Freestone as our principal, and about the board. It is important for us
as a school to know what we are doing well, as well as areas of possible
improvement. Surveys must be completed by March 20th.

24 Knight Grandparent’s
and Church Hosts
Apprecia on Day
As you may know, VCS is part of the Society of Chris an Schools in BC (SCSBC). One
of the recommenda ons from SCSBC is that all Chris an Schools undergo a regular
external leadership review approximately every five years. It’s me again for a
review at VCS; this one will focus on Ellen Freestone as the school principal, and on
the board.
The Leadership Review Team, a team of Chris an educators from other Chris an
schools, will visit our school and prepare a report with their recommenda ons.
They will be at VCS on March 29 and 30.
As a board, we thank you for your help.
—Gerald Boersma, Board Chair
Looking to Grade 7: Welcome to BYOD at Carver Christian High School
By the me students complete Grade 6 at Vancouver Chris an School, they’ve
received an extensive introduc on to digital ci zenship rights and responsibili es,
they’ve begun to develop proper keyboarding skills, and they’ve been taught the
effec ve use of Google Classroom and Google Apps. Although there is s ll much to
be learned and maturity to be gained in their use of technology, they are well‐
prepared to step into the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment at Carver
Chris an High School.
Broadway Campus
3295 Broadway E
Vancouver BC
V5M 1Z9
First Ave Campus
2855 1st Ave E
Vancouver BC
V5M 1A9
Knight St Campus
3330 Knight St
Vancouver BC
V5N 3K8
Carver’s BYOD program has been developed with the understanding that properly implemented, student
devices can improve 1) access to resources, 2) comprehension of concepts and material, and 3)
opportuni es to represent learning. Like the world of middle school at VCS, Carver students do not use
devices in every class or in every course. But improved access to devices does broaden instruc onal op ons
for every teacher and expands the learning poten al of every student.
As a parent of a Grade 7 student, I share the concerns that all middle school parents feel about my child’s
exposure to harmful material. Parents of Grade 6 students will want to know that at CCHS, our wifi network
is regulated by a fairly aggressive filtering service that blocks pornography, gambling, and other
inappropriate content. And in previous newsle ers, I’ve wri en about some of the common sense policies
my wife and I have put into place at home to make sure that our son is never
accessing the internet unsupervised. Technology is never an end to itself, and must
be supported by though ul prac ces.
Of course our collec ve journey with technology is always a work in progress, and
we will monitor and adjust policies as Carver con nues its gradual transi on into
two new secondary campuses. As part of the VCS Technology Commi ee (made up
of administrators and teachers from VCS and CCHS), I’ve been asked to give careful
considera on to possible configura ons and permuta ons of technology
implementa on at the K‐12 site in 2018. Our conclusions about appropriate technology access, device
requirements, instruc onal op ons, etc. will help to form future policy in though ul and inten onal ways.
Ul mately, we believe that healthy and mindful engagement with technology is an important aspect of
prepara on for life and service in today’s world.
By Mr. Tim Cavey
Humani es and IT Teacher in Grades 7‐9
Comments on this ar cle? Please email tcavey@carverchris an.org.
From the Development Office
Hope and a Future: Soon‐to‐be‐Spring Pledge Reminder
In a few short months, we will be taking on the mortgage for our new school. Our goal is to carry as li le
debt forward into our new building, so everyone contribu ng really ma ers. Our fundraising milestone for
2017 is $4 million. We are most of the way there, and we feel fully confident that we can meet this by
December, if everyone is doing their best to meet their pledges, make new pledges, and/or extend exis ng
pledges. Apart from families new in 2017, our par cipa on rate is 65%. Let’s make it 100%!! Whether it’s a
one‐ me gi , a monthly pledge of $5, or an annual pledge of $5000, EVERY gi ma ers! In fact, if all the
remaining families made gi s or pledges, we would more than pass our milestone! Remember, all gi s
are 100% tax deduc ble.
Grandparents Day! Church Hosts Apprecia on Day!
This year, we will be hos ng our grandparents and members of our host churches at ALL three campuses.
Invita ons will be coming home with your child(ren) next week.
Here are the dates and mes of these events, so you can mark them on your calendar:
First Avenue: Thursday 6 April, 9:00 ‐ 10:30 am
Broadway: Thursday 20 April, 9:00 ‐ 10:30 am
Knight Street: Monday 24 April, 9:15 ‐ 10:30 am
We look forward to hos ng these important guests!
VCS Community News
5G/H bake sale fundraiser for refugees: Thank you to students, parents, and staff at the First Ave. campus
who supported our bake sale fundraiser to provide bedding for refugees. We raised a total of
$718.80! We were able to purchase 4 en re bedding sets (comforter, ma ress pad, sheet set, pillow, and
pillowcase) and also give some addi onal funds to wherever is needed at Kinbrace (a local organiza on
providing support to refugees). Our deep hope is that refugees will feel welcomed as they come to
Vancouver (Canada) as we know the journey of leaving their homes, coming to a foreign country and
star ng a new life can be very difficult.
Personal Educa on Number (PEN) ‐ If you are planning to register your children for summer programs with
the Vancouver School Board (VSB) you will need your child's PEN. You can find this number on your child's
current or last year's report card.
Tax Receipts— these were mailed out by the Business Office on February 28. If you s ll have not received
yours, or if there are any errors, please contact Ellen Chung at [email protected].
Thank you VCS for helping to collect over 400 stuffed animals to send to children in Costa Rica and Chi‐
na. We appreciate your help and your heart to support our outreach trips.
These gi s will be remembered by the children in these countries because the animal came from another
child in another part of the world...Canada.
—Lisa Nicholas de Gonzalez, Henry Chung & the Carver Outreach Teams 2017
Dear VCS Family,
We completed our Mile Swim‐a‐
thon on Sunday, February 26th in
a me of 35 minutes. We raised
over $2,400 in support of BC
Children’s Hospital thanks to
your generosity. We appreciate
your support, and we give a
special thanks to those who
came out bright and early
Sunday morning to cheer us on!
Thanks for your dona ons, the
children of B.C. Children’s
Hospital can look forward to a
brighter future! Thank‐You So
Much! :)
Natalie Fung and Kristen Chan
Grade 5W Students
Important No ce from our Librarians—There were quite a few students who were not able to borrow books
due to outstanding fines at VPL and overdue books. Please se le the account on the card and return any
overdue books so that your child will be able to borrow books to read for pleasure. The school generously
pays for the bus to transport students to the library and we would like all students to use that me to select
books to take home.
Thank you,
Mrs. Kwong and Mrs. Mah