Graham C Preston and John Norsworthy
On behalf of
NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Contents
1. Why You Should Consider a Christian School
2. Where Do We Start? – Clarifying the Vision
3. Promoting the Vision
4. Steering Committee Stage
5. Defining the Parameters and Governance Structures
6. Government Requirements
7. Board of Trustees
8. Board of Governors
9. Board of Reference
10. Parent Teacher Association / Friends of the School
11. Things Not to Do !
12. Support and Advice
13. Some Helpful Reading
1 . Why You Should Consider a Christian School
1.1 God is the creator of the universe, the source of all knowledge and wisdom.
1.2 The 1877 New Zealand Education Act requires that state provided education be secular. This has come to mean without reference to God as the source of meaning. Instead of discovering God’s meaning in creation, man becomes the meaningmaker whilst claiming to be neutral. It is actually man-centred.
1.3 God has given mankind the task of developing and caring for his creation in fellowship with the Creator. Humanism as a religious force has taken on the tasks on man’s own terms.
Christian education should prepare our children to take this God-given task in the Spirit and Power of the Gospel. We need to live out a Christian World View if we are to live for Christ.
1.4 The Church’s task is to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples and encourage them in their calling. The State’s task is to maintain law and order, and to promote justice. The parent’s task is to educate their children. That involves deciding what type of education they desire for their children. A Christian School helps Christian parents give the best possible God-centred education.
1.5 A Christian School is one where the Bible, devotions and prayers are more than a religious extra to the curriculum. The Word of God should be central to the whole curriculum.
1.6 The Christian School prepares a child to serve the Lord in his world, rather than being a mere ‘hot house’ to separate them from the community. It helps children to appreciate the fullness of the Christian task and to be “salt” in the earth.
1.7 The Christian School demonstrates principles, attitudes and ideas that are rooted in the Gospel
1.8 A Christian School can be interdenominational, controlled by an association of parents or a board of Trustees.
1.9 A Christian school should not be elitist, but open to all. The Biblical teaching regarding the Christian’s responsibility of sharing finance is taken seriously.
2. Where Do We Start? – Clarifying the Vision
2.1 With every move of God there are one or two to whom God speaks and imparts His vision. The Vision has to be established and proven over a reasonable length of time. (Often this is frustrating for the visionary, as the vision seems to die many deaths before clarity comes. Patience is tried to the extreme).
2.2 A vision needs to be a passionate desire in the hearts of those who catch it.
2.3 The vision needs to be written down succinctly and clearly.
2.4 It needs to express what is desired to be achieved, what is the nature of the ministry which will effect this transformation in the lives of those who are ministered to, and a concept of the programme which is going to be defined and put into action.
2.5 Every vision needs to be ‘bounced off’ a wide variety of people. This is to confirm, not only it’s content, but the timing for it’s commencement.
2.6 If there is warm acceptance that the vision is attainable and in the Lord’s time, then one can begin to make positive steps.
2.7 Prayer. Every step in God requires diligent prayer. The bigger the vision, the greater the tests will be, and the greater commitment to prayer is needed, both individually by the visionary and corporately by those who are supporting the vision.
3. Promoting the Vision
3.1 Submission . The visionary must be in submission to a group of elders or church leaders and have their release. The reason is that the visionary will be moved in God in a new and vital way. This will demand priority over some other ministry commitments. If he or she has responsibilities in the Church, they may need to be relinquished. Therefore, the Church leadership needs to release them into the vision, committing themselves and the church to encourage, assist and pray for them.
3.2 The vision, having been written and clearly presented, needs positive support by a wide range of Christian people. This being so, God will then bring people across the visionary’s path indicating the time to promote the vision publicly.
3.3 Publicity . It is essential that a public meeting be called. An advertisement could be placed in the local newspaper, and in the local churches’ notices, inviting interested people to attend this meeting to air their thoughts about the possibilities of an independent Christian School . Prayer should be part of this meeting as with all that occurs.
3.4 This meeting should not leave the matter up in the air but should end with a commitment to a further meeting or definite action.
4. Steering Committee Stage
4.1 Once there are a number of people who believe that the Lord is calling them to work towards the establishment of a Christian School , a Steering Committee should be appointed.
4.2 The role of the Steering Committee will be:
4.2.1 to co-ordinate courses of action
4.2.2 to define the form and shape of the conceived Christian School .
4.2.3 to define precisely the philosophy of the organisation and school.
4.2.4 to pray for and work toward the establishment of a School Board of Trustees, whose responsibility would be succeed the Steering Committee and be responsible for the school as outlined in the section related to the board.
4.3 The Steering Committee and its sub-committees would need to encourage people to consider many matters. In developing a Christian framework for the school, it is vital that everyone, not just the Steering Committee has opportunity to share their thoughts and be involved in the discussion.
4.4 On-going promotion and discussion.
Questions should include:
What is a Christian school? What is its Biblical basis?
Why do we want a Christian school?
What is the responsibility of the Government in Education?
What is the place of the Bible in a Christian School ?
What are the responsibilities of parents and the teachers in a Christian School ?
How do we develop a Christian curriculum?
How will we organise, control and administer our school?
What sort of enrolment policy is envisaged?
4.5 A Statement of Belief should be documented so that there is no misunderstanding on what Christian doctrine is unchangeable. (see section 5 for more guidance)
4.6 Parameters must be developed for the Board of Trustees, Board of Governors, Parent-Teacher Associations and any others. (see section 5 for more guidance)
4.7 Meet with the local officers of the Ministry of Education informing them of your intention. (see section 6 for more guidance)
5. Defining the Parameters and Governance Structures
The Steering Committee should not only have the vision clearly articulated, but also have defined the parameters for their proposed structure.
5.1 The Statement of Belief . This document is vital. There needs to be unity within the Steering Committee. This statement needs to have strong approval. The Board of Trustees, Board of Governors, teachers and any ancillary staff who will be involved in the responsibilities of running the Christian School would need to sign this document, (possibly annually), as the basis of faith.
5.2 Structure. Identify communication lines for each body that will form the hierarchy of the school. These include the relationships between the Board of Trustees, Board of Governors, Principal, Friends of the School, Parent-Teacher Association, Board of Reference and staff.
5.3 Board of Trustees . Identify its purpose, composition, personal qualifications, appointment procedures, terms of appointment, frequency of meetings and general responsibilities
5.4 Statement of Philosophy Draw up a statement of philosophy of education, which will undergird any future policies and practices. It should include:
b} The aims and objectives
c) The curriculum
d} The student in a Christian School
e) The student in the outside world
f} The Staff
Referral to the books for reading in section 13 will be helpful.
5.5 Board Of Governors . There should be a clear statement of expectation showing:
a) The general responsibilities
b} The organisation of the Board
c} The specific responsibilities of the Board
d} The composition
e) The appointment
f) The review of appointments
g) The frequency of the Board meetings ,
h) The sub-committee responsibilities i.e. finance, works, policy and advisory, promotions and other committees.
5.6 Parent-teachers or Friends of the School Association . Identify its purpose, membership, structure and relationship to the Board of Governors and the Trustees
5.7 Board of Reference . Identify its purpose, structure and relationship to the Boards of Trustees, Board of Governors and Principal~ its function, appointment and qualifications.
6. Government Requirements
The statutory requirements and procedures for establishing a School in NZ are as follows:
6.1 Ministry of Education
“An individual or group may apply at any time to the Ministry of Education to set up a private school. The Education Act 1989, Section 35A (a)-(d) outlines the requirements. The school is required to be efficient. ‘Efficient’ as defined in the legislation, means:
(a) Having suitable premises, staffing, equipment and curriculum; and
(b) Usually providing tuition for 9 or more students who have turned 5 but are under 16; and
(c) Providing suitably for the inculcation in the minds of students of sentiments of patriotism and loyalty; and
(d) Giving students tuition of a standard no lower than that of the tuition given to students enrolled at ‘state schools of the same class (primary, secondary or special school).’
A proposed school needs to
6.1.1 Apply to the Ministry of Education for provisional registration as a private school. The application format that is required is available from your local MOE office. It is a detailed application requiring all the plans for the school to be finalized before application.
You need to have firm answers to questions including:
. Name of the proposed school,
. Physical and postal address,
. Approval from local authorities covering buildings, electrical, mechanical, fire protection, sewerage and drainage,
. List of proposed staff and evidence of their registration, and
. Curriculum details.
The school must not begin to operate until they have received notification of provisional registration. There is no operational funding available to a provisionally registered school.
6.1.2 Within a week of opening the school must sent a list of enrolled students and their addresses to the Ministry.
6.1.3 Once the school has operated for six months, the school can approach the Ministry and apply for full registration. (Provisional registration is only valid for one year and then it is revoked.) An inspection and review is carried out to ensure compliance with the Act. Once this is completed and approved full registration will be granted. At this point funding can be applied for.
6.1.4 Once fully registered, the Education Review Office will review the school once every three years.
6.1.5 Integration?
An established private school may apply to the MOE to become integrated with the state system, that is become a state school with a specially defined (Christian) character. Such a move needs to be considered very carefully and prayerfully, because along with the the financial benefits from the government comes the ability of the government to control certain aspects of the function of the school. These may be beyond the vision you have for your school.
6.2 Local Authority Requirements .
6.2.1 Any building that you occupy has to meet the Building Act 1991 standards. It is the responsibility of the building owner to have a current building warrant of fitness. However, as the building may need modifications to suit the schools purpose, then regulations in the building act need to established and met.
6.2.2 The zoning of your proposed site will determine the length of time for permission to be given, for you to carry out the activity of running a school. Establishing a school in the commercial or industrial zones is the best option as this activity is an allowable activity. Wanting to set up in the residential zones requires the notifiable consent process, which can be costly both financially and time wise.
6.3 The Health Department .
They are available as a resource to the school for information on health issues. They do not have standards that need to be met nor do they act as a compliance office. The job of complying with health regulations is the local Council.
6.4 Department of Labour
The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 is an Act that requires documentation to ensure employees are working in a safe environment and manner. It involves writing a Health and Safety Policy. It needs a process to identify potential hazards and eliminate, isolate or minimize those hazards. Assistance is available from the Department of Labour to comply with this requirement.
7. Board of Trustees
7.1 The Role of the Board of Trustees.
7.1.1 The long term owners of the vision and assets of the school.
7.1.2The caretakers of the vision and philosophy of the school and the special Christian character that this manifests in the school.
7.1.3The owners of the facilities with which the school will operate
7.1.4The establishment of the procedures for the appointment of the Board of Governors who will be responsible for the operation of the school.
This role is equivalent to the Proprietors of a special character school integrated with the state.
7.2 The Appointment of the Board Of Trustees.
It should be noted that God will reveal the right men and women. If the School is going to be interdenominational, the Steering Committee needs to keep this in mind when selecting the trustees. There must be a reasonable spread of denominations represented. The time commitment is extreme – up to two meetings per week for, perhaps, two to three years. Therefore, this is a ‘Holy’ calling, people separated by God for the fulfilment of His vision. These men and women need to be visionaries, energetic, spirit-filled, leaders and prominent within education, accountancy, law, business, promotions or administration.
The Chairman of the Steering Committee or a delegated member should speak to those who are showing interest in the school project.
Names of potential Trustees should be presented to the Steering Committee, voted upon and found unanimously acceptable.
7.3 At this point the Steering Committee should hand over all documentation and minutes, releasing the vision into the hands of the Trustees.
7.4 Once the Steering Committee has released the information and finished the task, the Board of Trustees will pick up the baton and run with it. Their tasks would have been defined in the Policy Documents
7.5 In fulfilling their role as defined above the trust board will need to pay particular attention to:
7.5.1 Unity: Over the first several months as the issues are worked through relationships are being formed, trust established and unity imparted. The Lord commands the blessing when the members are at one. We have found that a close comradeship develops as the Board of Trustees meet together submitting themselves to the Lord, honouring and preferring the other members and releasing their gifts.
7.5.2 Location. The Board of Trustees needs to identify the quality of the School they are seeking to develop. Therefore the choice of location is of high priority
7.5.3 Size of site . This will be established by the vision. One can work out reasonably accurately the area required to complete the vision. It is important to do it once and do it right if finance and faith are avail able. It may be necessary to establish faith goals and complete one stage at a time. This may necessitate a change of location at some stage, but the Board of Trustees needs to have worked through this at the beginning well prior to the event.
7.5.4 Promotion. It is vital that all communication is done via one member of the Board of Trustees in a unified and systematic way, releasing only the information that is required to the public and not saying too much too soon.
7.5.5 Promotion within the Churches . The Board of Trustees needs to personally visit every Church or it’s leadership with the Policy Documents and especially the Statement of Belief along with the vision statement.
Listen to what Pastors are saying, attend Minister’s Fraternals, home groups and Churches, imparting vision and your expectations.
7.5.6 Curriculum. The Board of Trustees needs to identify educationalists who are prepared to work on the curriculum, stemming from the philosophical concepts as identified and bringing it down to the ‘chalk-face’. This Committee can begin to establish the framework for the School’s academic goals.
7.5.7 Appointment of the Principal . The appointment of the Principal is absolutely vital. This person must be a man or woman of God, able to be lead, by the Spirit, a visionary, energetic and educationally sound. The appointment should be made six months prior to the start of the School, longer if possible, for his/her tasks are varied, many and time-consuming.
7.5.8 Communication with the Ministry of Education is vital and copies of all Policy Documents should be forwarded or given to them personally.
7.5.9 Identify Potential Financial Support. Identify what Grants and Trusts are available to assist in the development of your project.
7.5.10 Promotion. Once your site and location have been established, the professional preparation of a brochure is an important factor to communicate with others. In this regard, a professionally produced video should also be considered.
7.5.11 Finance. The Board of Trustees need to be those who are bold in faith, but who have a realistic understanding that money does not fall from heaven but comes through God-given Givers. The Word of God says ‘That faith cometh from hearing and hearing by the Word of God’ and as the vision has been firstly imparted by God and is then heard, men and women do give and give generously. Learn to work within the budget of faith with a realistic understanding of the financial needs. An Accountant is an essential part of the Board.
8. Board of Governors
8.1 Specific Responsibilities . These should have been identified by the Steering Committee’s Policy Document, but in general terms they should make policy and administer the implementation of these, thus fulfilling the purpose of the Trust and conducting the complete operation of the School. (This is equivalent to the role of the “Board of Trustees” of a special character school integrated with the state.)
8.2 The Board of Trustees would be advised to function as the Board of Governors until the appropriate time when the Trustees may need to broaden the base. It should be noted that the responsibilities of the Board of Trustees differs markedly from that of the Board of Governors, however, the working relationship within the Board of Trustees will be strong and often decisions will be more easily arrived at in that forum. However, the time will come when the responsibility for the School should fall within the Board of Governors while the Trustees will continue with its designated role, namely the care of the vision and the capital needs.
8.3The Appointment of The Board Of Gover nors .
8.3.1 To maintain the special Christian character and the continued thrust of the original vision and philosophy, it is suggested that over 50% of the Board are actually appointed by the Trustees.
8.3.2 To enable the practical flow between the day to day function of the school and the board’s decisions, it is suggested that the principal and at least one other staff member be part of the board meetings.
8.3.3 To ensure that parents have a direct channel for their vision and concerns to the board, it may be practical to have at least one current parent representative on the board.
8.4 Qualities of the members of the board of governors. It is vital that the appointees be leaders filled with the Holy Spirit with an interdenominational spread and spirit, and talents which include education, accountancy, public relations, law & business administration.
9. Board of Reference
This is of lower priority but it is good to have a group of spiritual and professional men and women, not involved otherwise in the governance of the school, qualified in assessing the School’s programme from an educational and spiritual point of view. They may also be referred to as arbitrators if and when the need should arise.
10. Parent Teacher Association/Friends of the School
As the publicity and promotion of the School develops, there will be identified a large number of people who wish to be informed of the school’s progress. This will provide the basis of a ‘Friends of the School’ Association which then allows for a larger body of people to be involved. Once the School is operating, there are many supporting activities in which they can be involved.
These include:
10.1To promote Christian education.
10.2 To support specific projects financially.
10.3 To establish and maintain a vigorous prayer support.
10.4 To establish sponsorships, scholarships and bursaries.
10.5 To maintain contact with past pupils.
10.6 To to foster warm relationships with a net work of similar schools.
11. Things Not to Do !
11.1 Don’t do anything without dedicated faith releasing prayer and without the full unity of the Committees involved.
11.2 Don’t open the school too soon. Despite the urgency, time must be taken to lay an adequate basis for the school before it opens. Unless a solid Biblically-agreed foundation is laid the supposed Christian School can end up bringing dishonour to the Lord’s name.
11.3 Don’t assume that the term ‘ Christian School ‘ means the same to all people. Philippians 1:27 says ‘Stand firm, with one common purpose and that with only one desire we fight together for the faith of the Gospel’. We must take this injunction to heart in the Christian School movement.
11.4 Don’t expect full support. Beware of potential mockers, even within the Christian community. Pray for them and be patient with them.
12. Mutual support and Advice
12.1 Contact a variety of different schools, especially local schools which are small and in particular Christian schools in NZ with a similar vision. Make yourself known to them and you will find them a wealth of support and information.
They can:
12.1.1 provide advice which will repeating their mistakes.
12.1.2 Provide example documentation to act as templates for your developing documentation
12.1.3 Provide ongoing professional and prayer support
12.2 Contact the secretary or the local regional coordinator of the NZ Association for Christian Schools . NZACS acts as a network coordinator of Christian schools to facilitate mutual support and services. Information can be found on the website www.christianschools.org.nz
13. Some Helpful Reading
The following books may assist you clarify your understanding of your vision and how it should work out into practice:
Schindler C.E.(1979) Educating for eternity . Whittier : Association of Christian Schools International
Edlin R.J.(1999) The cause of Christian education . Adelaide : Openbook
Greene A.E.(1998) Reclaiming the future of Christian education . Colorado Springs : Association of Christian Schools International
Adams J.E.(1998) Back to the Blackboard . Woodruff: Timeless Texts
