As I’ve mentioned earlier, our mission at Woodstock Christian School is to nurture faith, engage learning, and grow in community. Over the past few weeks we’ve had some tremendous opportunities to grow in community, and I’d like to highlight a few of those for you this week.

This week will be the last week for our G1-8 students to participate in electives. I’ve had the privilege to lead, and watch several electives groups as they have grown in community. I’ve watched students teach each other new skills, and build new friendships with students in other grades. 

But community is not just built inside our school, we also value building community outside of our school. Last week we also had the privilege of hosting officer Skillings and the K-9 unit from the Woodstock Police service for an assembly. Our students were introduced to the new dog that is part of their K-9 unit. We learned about how this dog is trained, what its role is on the police force, and we were invited to submit potential names to name this new German Shephard. Maybe the name will come from one of our students suggestions?

We are also building community internationally. For instance, our Grade 5 class has partnered with Children of the Promise to support a school in Haiti. Today, students had the chance to video call Bernice Huinink-Buiter (our former principal) who is currently in Haiti. Our students had the chance to “tour” the school, and say hello to some of the students. Mrs. Huinink-Buiter was able to deliver the letters our students wrote, and will bring back the letters written in response. In March, our students will also be hosting a fundraiser at here at school. They will be selling lunch to our students, with the proceeds supporting the same school in Haiti.

Having a connected community helps us build positive school culture, and makes WCS a great place to learn. We’re thankful to God for these opportunities to grow in community. It’s a blessing to us, and a blessing to others.

                                                   Mike Vander Kooi, Principal