To be a Christian Community of Learning

KingsWay School

— Apr 11, 2024

Dear KingsWay Community,

The theme of Term 1 KingsWay Connect is: To be a Christian Community of Learning. This phrase references the first part of KingsWay's mission statement and is apt after the successful Bigger Than Ben Hur Gala community event. I cannot express enough gratitude for how staff and parents united to bless our KingsWay and the wider community.

People often misunderstand the KingsWay Christian community reference in the mission statement. It does not replace the church's role or exist primarily as a social support system. Its primary purpose is learning. However, that learning comes in many forms and involves more than just the teachers. The school strives to work in parent partnership and involve other community agencies to achieve its goal.

As a school, academic learning is paramount. KingsWay excels in educational achievement, as evidenced by outstanding NCEA results and other value-added measures. Our primary staff continued to invest in evidence-based approaches such as structured literacy long before the ministry-mandated schools adopted this approach. Our Middle Years programme focuses on keeping students engaged, including academically and continues to build academic rigour into the programme.

KingsWay staff know that we do not teach brains on sticks, and there is more to a school than academic outcomes. Students need to learn to grow in their ability to serve, relate to others, think and manage themselves to achieve their full potential. This type of learning is paramount to prepare students for life after school and, although challenging to assess and teach, remains vital. This year, we aim to continue investigating how to integrate these essential key competencies into our programmes while focusing on the pursuit of academic excellence and rigour.

Christian spiritual learning is unique to Christian education. We design our spiritual formation programme to ensure that our students flourish. This type of learning is not always linear or relegated to devotions and biblical studies. It can be messy as all students are at different spiritual journey and development stages. Nevertheless, it is vital as KingsWay exists to ground our students in the beautiful and transformational work of the gospel.

The work of the Christian community is never complete. We look back so we can look forward, adjust when we miss the mark, and strategically plan to do better in a world that appears to be moving and changing so fast that it is losing its true north. Thank you to all parents, guardians, and staff who contributed to the consultation and evaluation process, which informs the board and school leadership about where to go.

Please refer to the following documents that outline past progress and achievements and strategically where we want and hope to travel as a community: