School Closure #4, Version #1

The purpose of John Calvin School is to assist and support parents in the education of their covenant children to the glory of God.  In accomplishing this mission, the vision of John Calvin School is to provide excellent Christ-centered education in service to God and our neighbour.

                Greetings school community and Happy New Year! Hopefully you had a good and relaxing Christmas Break in spite of the fact how it ended with schools being forced to close once again.  We hope and pray that it will be a short closure and that we will be back in school again the week of January 17.  We don’t know what the new year will bring but as long as we put our hope and trust in the Lord, we can move forward with whatever he puts on our path, including the most recent covid variant.  We pray for the Lord’s blessing on the first week of round four of at-home learning.  We are thankful that the in-school instruction of our Learning Resource and Special Needs students can continue in spite of the closure and that the staff has the option of working from the school. As we begin a new calendar year, we do not begin it on our own or in our own strength.  We continue to rely on God and pray to him to teach us, guide us and lead us in the way we are to go.  Every day, we need to do all things to his glory and honour.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your child(ren)’s teacher.  If you have any questions of a general nature about at-home learning, please don’t hesitate to contact the principal.  Please continue to pray for the staff as they continue to pray for you.  May our Heavenly Father provide us with everything we need during this time of at-home learning as we continue to deal with the effects of the omicron variant.  We are thankful for the One Anothering initiative from the board and office administration.  A number of people/families have made use of it already, on both sides of the ledger.  I would also like to encourage everyone with the words of this year’s theme text, “Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  (Psalm 124:8, NIV)

                May the Lord continue to provide for those in our community who need Him in a special way; be it those who are sick, who are impacted by the virus (either directly or indirectly), who are dealing with difficult family situations, or those who are grieving the death of a loved one.  In particular we think of Miss Breukelman and her family. 

A few items for your attention:

*Earlier this week we could welcome Avery and Alexander Watson to John Calvin School.  Avery has been placed in Grade 1B and Alexander in Grade KB.  The Watson family plans to move into Smithville at the beginning of February.  

*FYI- like the rest of the grades, Kindergarten is also on Google Classroom. 

*Another FYI- here is a link to Mental Health supports from School Mental Health Ontario.  It contains practical resources to support student mental health during another round of covid-

https://smho-smso.ca/covid-19/

*The assembly has been postponed until our return to in-school learning.    

                Have a good weekend everyone and have a blessed day of worship.  We’ll touch base again in a week’s time, D.V.

G. Hofsink