What is our responsibility as parents?

When we speak about our faith as adults, one of the questions we should be asking ourselves is what our responsibility as parents is to training our children? Where does a school like Kings School’s, responsibility end or start regarding the spiritual growth of our children and our responsibility start or end?

Well, I am of the opinion that the spiritual growth of my child is not entirely the school’s responsibility, after all, God did not entrust my children in the school’s hands as the primary relationship, no, he placed my son and daughter into my hands and I in turn placed them in the hands of the school and I will be held accountable for their spiritual growth. 

The relationship between parent and school is symbiotic by nature and there has to be a synergy between the school and us as parents. That the school has a role to play, there can be no doubt but that role is not to be the sole shaping or influencing role of my child’s spirituality, it’s role is to reinforce two things in my child’s life- the teachings of my Lord and saviour and the bible as the ordained word of God. It is our responsibility to teach our children about Jesus and the word of God before they get to school, the school has to reinforce those teachings if they are a Christ following school with a Christ following curriculum. 

The reason I say this is because not every child in South Africa goes to a Christ Following school like Kings and so there is little or no external influence into a child’s life from the educational institution it may be a part of. This makes the task of raising your child in a Christ following environment a lot more difficult and so much more important for parents. I hope that this blog will help. 

Next time, I will look at what happens when we raise our children in Christ-like way and with Christ following principles. Until next time…

God Bless

Andre Henning

Five Trajectories In The Development Of TKSWR

Here are five trajectories in the development of The King's School West Rand over the last five years:

1.     Increase in enrolment. In 2009, there were 615 students in The King's School West Rand. A steady increase in enrolment over the next five years took place and there are currently 831 students in the school. An increasing number of students in a school doesn't always mean that the school becomes better, and the Board of Directors had to prayerfully seek God's wisdom before making the decision to introduce additional classes into the school. The fact is that a bigger enrolment carries with it the risk of losing the family atmosphere of a smaller school while introducing additional challenges in terms of discipline and logistics. However, the school was originally founded to serve as many Christian families in the area as possible and this goal was instrumental in the decision to expand the school. 

2.     Improvement in academic results. Over the last five years, each year the school has attained improved Matric results. In 2009, the school obtained 84,8% Bachelors Degree passes and 29 distinctions. Most recently, the school boasted 89,5% Bachelors Degree passes and 46 distinctions.  The school is well-known for the hard work and devotion of its team of Matric teachers but one also has to acknowledge the important foundational work of teachers in the lower grades and even in the Primary School. 

3.     Extension of facilities. As a non-profit organisation, The King's School has always relied on careful financial management and fiscal integrity to be able to undertake large building operations. Expansion of facilities has always also only been possible in incremental phases and with favourable consideration from the bank for a mortgage loan. In the last five years, the school has undertaken two building projects to add classrooms, laboratories, a visual arts studio and tennis/netball courts to its facilities. 

4.     Enhancing the Christian distinctive in The King's School. As a Christian school grows in numbers, it is often said that it loses something of its nature as a Christ-centred learning institution, while other worldly aspirations tend to become more valued. Christian distinctive is not as clearly measurable as many of the other aspects by which schools are commonly judged, and sometimes much of what is reported is purely anecdotal. However, The King's School West Rand has strived to progressively enhance its Christian distinctive and the last five years have been characterised by the introduction of a number of programmes and practices to ensure that it maintains and promotes the essence of the school as a Christ-centred, Bible-based, service-oriented and Kingdom-directed institution. This includes a school-wide Scripture Programme, Biblical Worldview Integration in all academic lessons, Philosophy of Christian education training for all teaching and admin staff and introduction of ACSI Learning Support Materials. 

Promoting the advancement of Christian Education beyond our school. The King's School has consistently promoted its conviction that Christian Education is fundamentally different from secular education. It strives to teach students to evaluate all learning material against the absolute truth of God's Holy Word, while integrating an all-pervasive, vibrant Christian faith to all curricular material. To this end, the school has desired to not only be part of training authentic and devoted Christian educators, but also to place such educators as 'missionaries' in other schools. In 2009, the school launched an internal teacher training programme, employing 2 interns that would be exposed to the Philosophy of Christian Education in a professional pre-service teaching environment. Today that number of trainee Christian teachers is up to 15 employees who are placed in The King's School West Rand as well as 8 other schools and community centres in our region.

A bucket list for kids…

1.Lead by example

2.Understand you don’t have to be right

3.Hear your parents say “I Love you” again… and again

4.Hear your parents compliment you

5.Speak out on behalf of someone

6.Play fair

7.Tell the truth

8.Take long walks as a family

9.Learn about superheroes who don’t wear cape or fly

10.Give your opinion in a family discussion