Liberton Christian School
2007 Annual Report
Chairman’s Report
The 2007 calendar year was in many respects a new beginning for Liberton Christian School. Fiona Sizemore was appointed principal at the end of 2006 and has completed her first year in the role. Fiona has quickly grown into the position and tackled the new challenges with a passion. Her enthusiasm for Liberton and for Christian education are evident to everyone who visits, and the School has benefited greatly from her leadership over the past year.
The triennial Board of Trustees elections were held in May this year. Bill Lee decided to step down from the Board at this time. Bill has served on the Proprietor’s board at Liberton since it was established 26 years ago, and was chairman of the Board of Trustees when Liberton became a state integrated school in October 1999. Bill has had a tremendous passion for the school and for Christian education, and we sincerely thank him for his years of service to Liberton Christian School. Two new representatives were elected to the Board of Trustees in 2007: Andre Copland and David Berg filled the vacant parent representative positions.
The Board of Trustees was delighted with the award of the primary, intermediate, area and composite schools (fewer than 100 pupils) category of the 2007 New Zealand School Annual Report Awards. The aim of the awards is to encourage quality, excellence, integrity and communication with stakeholders-including parents and caregivers-through the provision and presentation of information in annual reports. John van Dyk has done an excellent job preparing the School’s annual report for 17 years and we are pleased that his efforts have been acknowledged in this way.
Last year, the Board made the strategic decision to make development of the senior class a focus. This was achieved through an upgrade to the senior classroom which has greatly improved the learning space. Two new computers were added to the classroom to improve ICT resources, and a highlight of the year for many of the senior students was a ski camp in the middle of the year.
The School’s library continues to improve as a learning resource with the addition of a significant number of new books during the year. The new book purchases were again primarily made possible through a grant from the Synod of Otago and Southland of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Liberton successfully applied to join a cluster of Dunedin schools to participate in an ICT contract for the next three years. The computer facilities at Liberton have not kept pace with the advances in technology, so this will be a strategic focus for future resourcing and professional development.
The School finished 2007 in very good heart. The roll has been close to the maximum throughout the year. As the Board looks back over the year, student achievement levels were high, all of the major goals in the School’s Annual Plan were met, and the new Board of Trustees has worked well as an effective governance team. The relationships within the School community were strong and there was good community spirit. The School looks forward to 2008 to continue building on the excellent progress made in 2007.
Neville Jopson
Principal’s Report
As I reflect on the 2007 school year, my first full year as principal, I marvel at the amount of activity and achievement we have experienced as a school community and are thankful for the Lord’s sovereign reign over all that we do.
2007 Staff
The Board of Trustees and staff were very pleased to welcome Mrs Chantal Smith to the School community at the beginning of the school year to teach in our senior class. She and the year 6-8 students had the extra bonus of a newly refurbished classroom which was completed over the Christmas holiday break. New pin-boards, white boards and carpet were installed and really gave the senior classroom a needed lift.
Mr Alan Robertson continued to teach our year 4-5 students in the middle class. His contribution to the life of the School is an on-going blessing. This year he spotted the potential in our year 8 student leaders’ fairytale-spoof play of Cinderella and supported the students and teachers in developing it into our end-of-year dance extravaganza.
Mrs Kyra Jones continued to provide a high-quality visual arts programme to the whole School each Wednesday. As a school we are often complimented on our visual art displays and really appreciate the talents and energy Kyra adds to our community.
At the end of term two we had to farewell Mrs Christine Jones who had been teaching in the junior class as principal-release teacher. Christine had made a positive and valued contribution to the junior students.
At the beginning of term three we welcomed Mrs Kristie Bayne as our junior-class teacher for the remainder of the year. The children warmed to Kristie immediately and her songs were particularly popular in the junior class.
With roll growth in the junior classroom the Board of Trustees provided extra teaching hours to the year 1-3 children from the beginning of term three, for the remainder of the year. Room 4 was once again used to accommodate the growth.
The senior class were blessed to have Mrs Chantal Gauchet give French lessons each week from term three. The students really enjoyed the experience and opportunity for new learning and we plan to continue to offer language modules in the future.
Christian Character
The 40-hour famine effort this year was outstanding as the students raised over $2,500. We were presented with a silver award from World Vision. Twenty-two children and seven adults slept over at the School on a Friday night during March where we enjoyed an evening of fun and fellowship. Rick George, the World Vision School Shows Coordinator, presented to us the No Chicken Show staring our own talented students as actors. The show had us rolling with laughter whilst at the same time reminding us to “live life to the max and make a positive difference in our community and the world!”
In May we were blessed by visitors from Harding University, Arkansas, USA. Ten students came to school for two lunch-breaks and joined our students in various sporting activities. They then presented Christian drama and song to us at a Friday assembly.
During the July holiday break Alan Robertson and I were pleased to attend the New Zealand Association for Christian Schools’ conference in Tauranga. The keynote speaker was Dr David Smith, who is currently a professor of linguistics at Calvin College, USA. The focus was on the Bible and the task of teaching. Throughout his keynote addresses, Dr Smith challenged us to consider the function of the Bible in Christian education. We came away from the conference encouraged and inspired in our work as Christian teachers.
We once again enjoyed the Kool Kids Care magic show with Elegreo. The show promotes Christian problem-solving strategies for bullying issues. We were delighted to host Pinehill School and Amana Christian School pupils and teachers for the event.
In August the Covenant Players visited us to present Christian-themed drama to the students. One of the players, Howard Rogers, was a pupil here at Liberton in the late eighties. We have enjoyed many presentations by the Covenant Players over the years as they seek to present the Christian message to young people in schools throughout Australia and New Zealand.
The Dunedin Christian Schools Association organised Dr Rod Thompson to visit and speak at a public meeting on “Christian Worldview and the Transformation of Culture: What should we expect?” The meeting was well-attended and further inspired us all in our calling to provide an education that is Christ-centred and focused on developing a Christian worldview in our students. Dr Thompson also spent time with the teaching staff and Board of Trustees members.
The whole School attended the DCBC production of Prince Caspian. It was an excellent performance and the cast included some of our students and parents which made it all the more special for the School to attend.
We held a Wild Hair Day to raise funds for the Save the Children Fund which supports children who do not have access to education and health services like we do. It was lots of fun for the children and as a result of the coin trail we raised $93.
In November we were visited by the senior students from Southern Lakes Christian School (Queenstown) while they were in Dunedin for a camp week. Our senior class organised games and a morning tea for the visitors and a good time of fellowship was enjoyed by the students and teachers.
In early December we attended the St Mark’s Christmas service with the students and teachers from Pine Hill School. We are grateful to Mrs Barton for all the work she does to bring the two schools together for the church services each term and for the team of helpers who put together the take-home packs for all the students.
For our final assembly, the junior class presented the nativity play and we sang Christmas carols as we all celebrated the birth of our Saviour.
Student Leaders
We have been purposefully developing our year 8 students as leaders within the School. They are involved in organising a theme day each term as well as other leadership roles regularly in assembly and around the School. Their first theme day, a Teddy Bears’ Picnic, was a great success. Students brought along to school their favourite teddy or soft toy which was entered into a competition and there was a treasure hunt and relays. Our senior students did a fine job organising the event and we were blessed again as it did not rain until we had finished our outdoor games!
This year we were delighted to be represented at the Young Leaders’ Conference for the first time by Natasha C. (Year 8) and Matthew B. (Year 7). This event is held annually at the Regent Theatre where potential young leaders are inspired by well-known and successful leaders from a variety of fields. Natasha and Matthew both really enjoyed the opportunity and we plan to send future students who demonstrate leadership gifts.
We had a wonderful Cultural Theme Day on the last day of term three with awesome costumes and magnificent food from around the world to share. Our year 8 student leaders did a great job in bringing the day together; working hard behind the scenes and up front in their leadership roles. These leadership experiences are valuable in their preparation for the high-school years, and one of the real benefits of being part of a full-primary school is all senior students get the opportunity to experience leadership across a range of areas. Our coin trail raised $55.70 which was sent to support World Vision’s work in Zambia.
Our graduation assembly in December was a special time as we officially said goodbye our year eight students and wished them well as they left for high school. Each of the students shared short reflections of their time at Liberton and it was a proud moment tinged with a little sadness; they had been great bunch of leaders in our school.
Curriculum
An important focus early in term two was Road Sense. This programme is run by our local Police Education Constable and offers the children essential safety knowledge in keeping pedestrian (juniors) and bicycle (middle and senior classes) safe.
In June the whole School visited the Otago museum to complement our science study of LIGHT. The year 4-5 students wrote some beautiful prayers at the conclusion of the study which are published on the School web site for all to enjoy.
Over the last year our library has been a major focus for upgrading. Our term-two theme day, once again planned and led by our year 8 students, was a Book Characters’ Day to celebrate and thank the Synod of Otago and Southland Presbyterian Church for the grant of $5,000 towards our library resources. Students and teachers dressed up as favourite book characters in the most wonderful costumes and had loads of fun. The year 8 students created and presented a funny play based on Cinderella (later developed into Cinderella’s Dance Extravaganza) and we enjoyed a shared afternoon tea.
We were very pleased with the results of our Spelling Bee participants in June. We had three teams competing at the event held at Tahuna Intermediate where our teams came fifth, thirteenth and fourteenth respectively, a very fine effort for their first competition.
The whole School joined with Pine Hill School to attend the Kahurangi Maori Dance Company People of the Pacific performance. It was an exciting opportunity for our students to experience a taste of Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan and Tahitian dance and music.
We also enjoyed a visit from Waimate High School’s drama and music group as they toured our area in July. Their gifts and talents were very apparent and gave our students a glimpse of what high schools can offer them further down the track.
The senior class had a fantastic ski camp in Queenstown and we enjoyed hearing about their favourite moments and antics on the ski field. Mrs Smith did an awesome job of organising and preparing the students for the camp and ensuring the camp went so smoothly.
Early in September the senior and middle classes, armed with gloves and bags, went out into our local community and picked up rubbish along Hillary Street and in a nearby reserve area. This was to support the Keep New Zealand Beautiful week. Many of our students were amazed at how much rubbish we were able to collect in a short time. The students worked enthusiastically and it was very nice to be out and enjoy the afternoon sunshine.
Our year 3-8 students went to the Otago Museum for the Robotech programme in November and the whole School enjoyed the StarLab programme in December.
Our end-of-year performance, Cinderella’s Dance Extravaganza, was a big success as we celebrated the skills and talents of our students through movement and dance. It was wonderful to see our wider community getting behind the students and our school; there were long-time supporters of the School present, as well as several ex-pupils and of course our close family and friends, toe-tapping, clapping and joining in. I know it meant a lot to many of the children to have a performance where their parents, family and friends could participate so meaningfully.
Sports
The winter sports season got underway in term two and there was plenty of excitement amongst the students (and some parents!) as our sports teams began demonstrating their skills on the court or field. This year we fielded a year 7-8 miniball team, a year 5-6 netball team and a year 4-6 soccer team.
During term three, winter sports continued plus we had a group compete in the Otago Primary Schools’ cross country.
Term four commenced with swimming lessons for the whole School through JC Swim School for the junior and middle classes, and Moana Pool for the senior class. We also fielded our first touch teams in the Otago Touch Association school competition. One of our parents, Mr Greg Park, coached the two teams who played each week at the Oval. It was great to have a new sport introduced to the children.
We can reflect on a blessed and productive year in the life of the School.
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our wonderful staff, BoT, school and wider community for the support and encouragement given to our school, students and myself over this year. I am especially grateful to those who uphold the School in prayer. We have much to be grateful to our Lord for as we all work to provide an education that seeks to honour God as creator and sustainer of this world.
1 Corinthians 1:31 says, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” Christ is the centre of this school so let us give Him thanks and praise as He exercises kindness and grace towards our community and let us pray for His guidance to know what to do and when regarding all aspects of the School’s future.
Fiona Sizemore
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