Commitment

 

Bethany School
 Encouraging Commitment

(revised January 2007)

In looking at involvement with Bethany School we have considered what it means for both pupils and parents. This document focuses on parents and their commitment to: our children, Bethany School, and Christian Education.
  

Commitment to our children  

Parents’ aims
1.  Most parents applying for Bethany School places show a lot of commitment to their children. They aim to meet the needs of their children by:
  • providing a safe home ordered with love and discipline;
  • we also represent a company where you can order the "write my outline for me" service
  • organising appropriate diet, exercise, and bed times;
  • having commitment to their education;
  • having a stimulating home with care taken over choice of reading materials, television, computer games and friends;
  • nurturing a caring attitude to people, animals, plants and things;
  • possessing a desire to pass on important values and hopes.
    Parents with these aims may or may not be Christians. Christian parents may or may not have these aims.

Why some parents apply to Bethany School
2. Many parents have concerns about sending their children to a state school. They may not be able to afford to send their children to a fee-paying school. They may be attracted to Bethany School because of the small classes, excellent examination results, parental involvement, caring approach and happy atmosphere. Many will value having a Christian ethos. Their children may fear problems in other schools, or have had bad experiences in such schools. Children and parents benefit from the loving concern of Bethany families. Many families find the school’s generosity a wonder and delight.
3. Some parents will pay for these benefits for their children, with the relatively low cost of a place at Bethany School an added advantage. Parents who seek to join for these reasons alone may or may not be Christians. Their primary commitment is to their children.

Starting points and progress
4. The above aims and reasons are an acceptable starting point for involvement with Bethany School. However, we expect families to develop:
  • a stronger conviction of the Biblical mandate for our guiding principles (e.g. Creation-Fall-Redemption; Family-Work-Worship-Rest; Righteousness-Justice-Peace);
  • an increasing enthusiasm for the work of Bethany School, and
  • a deeper understanding of Christian Education;
5.  Experience shows this development (involving Parents’ Training Course, private reading, informal conversations) is essential for both the children and Bethany School to succeed. The primary aim of Christian Family Schools Ltd. is to support parents in providing a Christian education for their children by providing a school, staffed by Christians who will devise and deliver a Christian curriculum and maintain a distinctive, evangelical, Christian ethos. Christian Family Schools Ltd. has an evangelical and evangelistic outlook seeking to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and promote the Christian faith and Christian Education through Bethany School.

A process
6.   For some parents this development is not a rapid process, but for all parents it is essential that they do develop:
  • knowledge of the curriculum and awareness of the underlying themes;
  • knowledge of the distinctive differences in our material;
  • a true grasp of the assumptions made about the pupils;
  • an understanding of the support expected from the parents, and
  • an acknowledgement that we seek to apply the Bible in every situation.
7.  The school must work hard to share this information; parents must work hard to take it in and decide if they share our vision for Christian education.
8.  The aims of the school will not be fulfilled if parents do not develop in this process of study and realignment. Tensions will arise when too many families in the school are merely tolerating Christian Education when others are seeking actively to develop and promote it.

A place in Bethany School
9.  It is acceptable for parents not to want to be informed activists on behalf of Bethany School or to share our wider vision of Christian education. However, this will hinder their children’s achievements, and the development of our school.
10. After a time of involvement with Bethany School, parents may feel they cannot embrace the ‘challenging concept ofChristian Education’. It would then be acceptable for them to find another school that is more in keeping with their views. Bethany School may also withdraw the place where such an understanding is not developing.

Commitment to Bethany School

Essential requirement
11.The school’s Annual Commitments form clearly states the wider costs of involvement. They are not optional, but represent the emotional, physical and financial costs of involvement with Bethany. Parents / guardians sign these promises annually to commit themselves to aspects of school life. It is a positive reinforcement of the principle that Bethany School exists to help parents in their God-given responsibility to educate their own children.

Impressions
12.These commitments are not formally monitored, but an impression of parents’ commitment does build up quite quickly. The attitudes of some children to punctuality, respect for adults, discipline, homework, Family Afternoons, tidiness, morning prayers, resources and many other things suggest that Bethany for them is a school rather than our school.
13.For parents, attendance at meetings, responses to requests for help, setting out / clearing away classrooms, reading meters, locking doors, involvement in work nights, prayer meetings, fund raising events, preparation for Open Mornings, Family Afternoons also indicate their commitment. Demonstrating an understanding of the topic, supporting the curriculum, involvement with homework, looking out for, finding and supplying resources and ideas all contribute towards parents’ positive commitment.
14.The need for clear accounting makes the financial commitments easier to monitor. Our belief in sacrificial giving rather than fixed fees means we gladly accept what each family commits and gives to the school each year. God has blessed us with prudent managers, resourceful teachers and generous families. Balance sheets do not record sacrificial giving and most families do honour their financial commitments. We are all human and can be dismayed by conspicuous consumerism but we need to be thankful for God’s provision for us rather than envious of God’s provision for others.
15.Commitment to *‘supporting’, ‘building on’, ‘contributing to’, ‘taking part in’, ‘attending’, ‘ensuring’, ‘doing’, takes daily time, effort and energy. All families struggle at times and where both parents are in full time employment it can be especially difficult fulfilling responsibilities to school. We understand this and appreciate the extra efforts that they need to make, but the school nonetheless expects that all commitments will be honoured.
(‘*’ Extracts from the Annual Commitments Form)

A place in Bethany School
16.Where families feel that they cannot adequately fulfil the expectations of Bethany School it would be entirely appropriate for them to find a school which makes fewer demands. If Bethany School felt that a family was not fulfilling all their commitments then it may withdraw the place.
17.These issues are judged very subjectively and, honesty, good communication and great sensitivity are required.

Commitment to a vision for Christian Education

Bethany School is radical
18.Bethany School is not just a private school staffed and populated by people who go to church. Its educational philosophy and methods are distinctive.
19.Our bedrock beliefs declare that “The world belongs to God! God created and sustains it. He has a plan for all of creation. Sin has entered and spoiled God’s good creation. Jesus redeems and restores the brokenness. By the power of the Holy Spirit people are called to be his people in this world, to develop it according to his laws, to shine as lights in the world and finally, to share in the glorious and incorruptible renewed world that is to come.”
20.Our authority is the Old and New Testaments that infuse every aspect of the school’s practice. Our beliefs and practices link us to many other Christian schools in the UK and world-wide. Christian education is radical, visionary and pioneering, developing in its adherents an optimistic, God?centred world view.

Transforming
21.The Bible teaches that only those who ‘fear the Lord’ can truly know, understand and be wise. God’s grace transcends the balance sheet approach to life; co-operation comes before competition, service before self-interest. The great Biblical themes of family, work, worship and rest; the guiding principles of righteousness, justice and peace; the practical out-working of service, stewardship and doing good; the expression of the full range of God-given emotions – wonder, shame, passion, joy – an understanding of the diversity, richness and complexity of God’s world as worth pursuing and celebrating; the sense of Biblical community – we are not trading money for services, we live by covenant not contract; building and planning for change – challenging what exists, making a godly difference to the structures and institutions we are called to serve in; these are the themes of the transforming vision of Christian education.

The Bigger Picture
22.Teaching and learning take on new meaning. School has a new purpose. Subjects become related to God. Work becomes service to God, our Father, Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of heaven and earth. Bethany School becomes the means for our children to pursue their God-given task, in a God-honouring way, to fulfil their God-ordained destiny: the bigger picture!
23.Parents need to become aware of this transforming vision. They will need to look back in history to see how Christian teaching has influenced the world. Look at science, literature, art, social reform, and technology for examples of believers influencing culture and acting as the restraining hand of the Holy Spirit. Evaluate recent cultural trends and note how the secularisation of education, the downgrading of Christian absolutes and the inability of Christians and the church to promote a credible Christian world view has brought about the decline of the Western world into materialistic paganism. Consider how far Christians have failed to transfer to the next generation God’s wisdom regarding the ordering of society and have abdicated their responsibility to declare and apply Biblical truth.
24.Pray that God would revive his people and restore the honour of his name in our nation. Pray that individuals and institutions, like Bethany School, which seek to operate according to God’s word, remain faithful to their task. Work in the school, in the church, in your own workplace, in the nation and among the nations to model and proclaim ‘a more excellent way’.
25.As parents involved with Bethany School we are also involved in promoting the cause of Christian Education. From the beginning in 1987 we have always thought of Bethany School as being the first of several Christian Family Schools in the city. We need to pray and make plans to share with other Christian parents and church leaders what we value so much.

A place in Bethany School
26.Some parents feel they have problems in understanding, supporting and promoting this wider vision for Christian education, and are uneasy with involvement in raising its profile in the City. They may wish to look for a school with less intimidating aspirations. If the school considered a family was positively promoting views that undermined Christian education then it would be justified in withdrawing the offer of a place.
  • Procedure for Encouraging Commitment
In this document we have attempted to explain the high value we place on parental commitment. Each family contributes different skills and we are grateful to God for bringing together such a diverse group of people and enabling us to work together in Bethany School. There are many opportunities to become involved with the school and some of these are listed in the appendix.
Many of these activities require involvement at several levels (e.g. Person who is ‘in charge’ to those who ‘help’). In particular, the Family Afternoons require several people to be involved each week. Most families will find an opportunity to serve the school in an area which best suits their skills and which will often develop previously hidden talents.
In all our work for the school we are trying to serve one another and demonstrate in a very practical way the results of genuine Christian love.
      … by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again …
      (1Peter 1: 22-23)
Commitment to Bethany School is encouraged as soon as a place is offered to a family. To facilitate this, all prospective families are placed on the mailing list and encouraged to spend time in school prior to admission (e.g. Open Mornings, some Family Afternoons, occassional coffee mornings). The Early Years Team will make contact with the family if the offer is for a child below school age in order to establish an open line of communication. Every family will be invited to attend the Parents’ Training Course in the year before admission of their child into the Reception Class.
Once in school, a Link Governor will be allocated to the family and will make every effort to establish a good relationship with them in order facilitate open and honest two-way communication. The Link Governor will have regular contact with each family but particularly prior to distributing the Annual Commitments Form in order to re-enforce the significance of signing it and to address any concerns.
 
  • OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMITMENT
Each Week
      Morning prayers                          Fire doors
       Lunch duties                                Rubbish bags
       Cleaning toilets (daily)                 Prayer meeting
       Mounting display work                 Changing towels and toilet rolls
       Sweeping hall and stairs              Christian Union / Lunch Clubs
       Family Afternoons                        Administration
 
Each Term
      Parents’ Meetings (inc. AGM and Parents’ Prayer Meetings)             
       Open Morning preparation
       Fundraising
       Prompt payments – levy, cleaning fund
       Worknights
 
Other Opportunities
      Governor                                     Listen to readers
       Help with computers                   Singing / recorders
      Sewing                                        Class outings
       Classroom teaching                    School productions
       School Camp                               Classroom helper
 

PROCEEDURE FOR ADDRESSING LACK OF COMMITMENT

 
Any parents who appear not to be fulfilling their commitment to school will be ‘flagged up’ at a Governors’ Meeting. This concern may come from any number of sources e.g. Staff, Family Afternoon Team, parents, Link Governor.
 
If the Governors agree there is a problem then …
The Link Governor or other appropriate person will discuss the matter with the family subjectively and sympathetically. They should explain that a more formal monitoring of the situation will take place and a time scale set for action. A report will be given at the next Governors’ Meeting.
 
If the problem is not resolved …
A meeting will be arranged with the family at which a second Governor will attend. The continuing lack of commitment will be discussed, a plan of action produced and a time-scale for resolution agreed. This will be documented and reported to the next Governors’ Meeting.
 
If this fails to resolve the problem …
The matter will be referred to the Governing Council for resolution. The family will be made aware that the ultimate consequence could be the withdrawal of their child(ren)’s place at Bethany School.
 
 
Our aim is to develop a community committed to service. Serving our children, our families, our school, serving our city and, most of all, demonstrating through willing service, our desire to serve God.
 
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time
we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6: 9-10