Dear Victorious Parents,
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you, parents and staff, for your attendance at the Parents Staff Fellowship.
Special thanks to all the student leaders for serving, and to two students, Timothy and Clarissa, for their awesome testimony giving glory to God for the school. We were also very blessed by a parent, Nathalie, and her children for the bountiful and sumptuous buffet.
Praise the Lord! It was unanimous that we had a blessed, fruitful and joyful time!
To those parents who could not make it this time, please read the minutes of the fellowship (following below), and do mark your diary for the next PSF on Saturday, 6 July, 2013, from 9am to 12 noon. We are praying for greater partnership with all parents in building God’s school and hope to have full attendance at the next PSF. So do look out for the agenda in the first week of Term 1 in July.
The Lord bless you and your family.
In His service,
Mrs Jan Boey
Senior Administrator
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Minutes of PSF on 30 March, 2013
The fellowship commenced at 9am with students welcoming the parents and leading in pledges, praise and worship, and prayer.
School Advisory Committee
- Advisory Committee chairman Pastor Lawrence Hee (NLCC)
- Resource Advisor Pastor Lee Hak Ming (FCBC)
- Secretary Winnie Kwang (VLCS Parent)
- Members Keong Lim and Caline Chew (VLCS Parents)
We appreciate and thank the Advisory Committee for taking time to be with us. The committee was set up to help grow the school and stay the course of God’s vision and mission. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and financial budget were presented to the committee in February, 2013.
Spiritual Covering over VLCS – New Life Community Church (NLCC)
Pastor Yohanes is our resident pastor for Thursday Chapel and on Tuesdays, he teaches discipleship classes and trains students in worship and media teams. Ms. Vivienne serves as spiritual counsellor and intercessor. Pastor Yohanes briefed us on the plans and logistics for the mission trip to Cambodia in May. Soon, NLCC will begin training our High School students in making preparations for the mission and we are glad to hear that by the end of the fellowship, 3 parents signed up for the mission.
Introduction of New Staff and Student Leaders
Mrs Valluvan introduced two new staff, Mr Philip Yee and Mrs Beth Mok, who heard God’s call. We believe the students will be greatly blessed by them. The student leaders in the School Council, Prefectorial Board, Worship and Media teams, Librarians, Learning support advocates were also introduced to parents.
Special Student Presentation
We were blessed with two awesome testimonies from a high-school student, Timothy, and another student from Junior High, Clarissa, who shared their encounters and experience with God in His school. To God be the glory for all that He has done and is still doing in VLCS!
Brief report on SOTA (School of Tomorrow – Asia) Christian Educator’s Convention 2013
Mrs. Liah Golfo shared what was gleaned at the recent convention held in Penang, and highlighted the following:
1. The Amazing Power of Affirmation: Releasing Hidden Potential.
Affirmation is a positive statement spoken in love and abundant love brings security and peace. A biblical blessing includes meaningful touch, words of love that build up, attach high value, give something to look forward to, and active commitment to champion success.
2. Chapel and devotion ideas.
Devotion ideas to include character traits, current affairs, missions, church ministry, vocations, history, science and creation or invite special speakers.
3. The colours of your students – knowing their temperaments.
Loving children equally does not mean we treat them the same. Emphasize on their strengths.
4. Student Conventions.
The Convention Objective is to see God move in the hearts of young people through the preaching of His Word in the convention rallies, equipping the future generation of Christian leaders to change the world for Jesus Christ. This objective is possible through individual and group interaction, competition, exposure, challenge, and ultimately – achievement.
Students who do well for house challenges will prepare and train for the Convention. Students who are not competing can also register as observers. We want to encourage as many students as possible to register for the Convention because it is a week-long experience that can impact a lifetime and they get to interact with SOT students from different nations.
This year’s Regional Student Convention will be held at All Saints’ Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from 9 to 13 September, 2013. We invite and encourage parents to sign up for the Convention as judges for numerous competitions in Photography, Academics, Athletics, Needle and thread, Music and Platform performances at the convention, or simply be an observer. We believe you will be blessed. Convention fees amount to approximately S$200 (includes accommodation and meals but excludes airfare).
Goals for Term 4
We appreciate your prayers for staff and students as they press on towards these goals:
High School – Jesus be enthroned as Lord in the students’ lives, Character building – integrity and honesty in PACE work, Respective students achieve graduation projection. All students set achievable goals and Team building with compassion for each other.
Junior High – Students promote school spirit. All students be champions in what they do best and be a blessing to champion one another in good character, PACE work, and house challenges.
Middle School – Students learn to relate well with one another. Increased enthusiasm amongst students during Bible devotions. Positive attitude towards PACE work and students learn to pray for one another.
Elementary – Every student learns and recites Bible passages. Every student runs for Honour Roll ‘A’ (18 PACE tests with scores >94%). Every student achieves neat and tidy PACE work.
Pre-Elementary – Enhanced reading and Maths skills. Train the character trait – purposeful.
Staff – Maintain HUGGS culture – H for Honour, U for Unity, G for Generosity, G for Gratitude and S for Service.
Announcements – Mrs Valluvan gave the following announcements:
Sports Day – Saturday, 27 April, 2013 from 7am to 12pm at Toa Payoh Stadium
We encourage parents to come and support the students and participate in the events for parents. More details will be given in the Principal’s monthly letter for April.
LSP Week – from 6 to 9 May and 17 May
During this week, Miss Rika together with student advocates for the Learning Support Program will raise awareness in the school cohort to understand, befriend and learn ways to bless children who need learning support.
Field Trip on 10 May – The student council will plan and organize this field trip.
Financial Matters
Thanksgiving
We give thanks to God and acknowledge that He is faithful to His word spoken to us in the days of small beginnings:
Psalms 1:1-3
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever he does prospers.
Many of our graduates who went overseas for tertiary education received substantial scholarships from universities including Houston University, Biola University and Kansas South-western University in US and Trinity Western University in Canada. In Singapore, by God’s grace, the name of our school is listed in NTU and SMU more than 3 years ago and currently, six of our graduates are pursuing tertiary studies in NTU.
To date, two of our graduates, Isaac and Medaline completed tertiary studies with greater distinctions. Isaac is now completing his masters in theology and Medaline is volunteering with Childcare, Canada in Uganda, Africa.
We thank God for the Parent Prayer Group who prayed fervently and we registered with the CPE and our 16 year old boys were granted deferment from National Service by Mindef to allow them to continue pursuing the American High School Diploma in VLCS.
Every Monday, an increasing number of students are honoured for being a blessing – caring, helping, serving, or doing kind deeds, for reciting bible passages, for achieving 100% in PACE tests and meeting requirements for Honour Roll A & B. We delight to see God’s transformation work in all the students. God is good all the time and to Him be the glory for the things He has done!
Vision and Mission
“Go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17
The above vision and mission given by the Lord for VLCS includes:
• Restoration of Christian Education in Singapore.
• Be bold to purchase own premise
A pastor at the recent conference in Penang felt led of the Lord to speak these words: Be bold and purchase a premise for the school. Our current premise can accommodate a maximum of 115 students and by next week, we will be having our 102nd student.
• Support for SOT homeschoolers. School of Tomorrow Asia has appointed our school to provide support for homeschoolers.
• Expand pre-elementary. SOT has a very good pre-elementary program and we believe more children can benefit from it when we expand.
• Edutrust licence
We had been receiving enquiries from parents of foreign students and other SOT schools in the region who would like to send their children to VLCS. We will be applying for Edutrust licence and move on to be an international school.
• Internship for all student graduates
All student graduates will be given the opportunity to serve in VLCS and possibly, SOT schools in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong and other nations. From the beginning, the Lord had shown that students will be the future staff and possibly birth schools in nations where they are called.
We believe the Lord is enlarging and empower VLCS to fulfil the vision and it can be achieved when parents partner with us as one body in building God’s school.
Parents Partnership
1. Parents Prayer Group meet on Tuesdays at 8am in school
We greatly appreciate mothers, Stancy, Caline, Winnie, Natali, Regina, Beth, and Laura who pioneered the Parent’s Prayer Group (PPG) and fathers, Pastor Yoon Kam Hon and Pastor William Teo who prayed with us last Tuesday. We are calling for more fathers to come and pray and see God lead VLCS to more victories!
2. Promote school spirit
These days, student’s language is “This is God’s school” and we hope all parents adopt this language and promote school spirit.
3. Impartation and training of life skills
We invite parents to give talks or train life skills to students, be market place professions, healing ministry, missions, F&B, tailoring, nutrition, social etiquette etc.
4. Voluntary work
Parents can volunteer as judges or helpers for house challenges and Sports Day and Regional Student convention mentioned above. We encourage parents to volunteer for mission work with students.
5. Fund raising
We know parents can give creative ideas and partner us in fund raising. Please keep Mrs. Valluvan informed of your ideas as we update you of the school’s financial needs.
Monthly Budget
With a monthly revenue of $68,800 and after deducting costs for PACEs/Resource/Uniforms of $5,000, Rent and Depreciation of $20,100, Staff costs (12 staff) $37,700 (incl. CPF, Levy and training costs) and Administrative costs of $5,700, the school makes a profit of $300 per month.
In view of the above, we will be increasing school fees by $40 per month with effect from 1 July, 2013. Please note revised total school fees (inclusive of resource fees) as follows:
- Junior High and High School from $760 per month to $800 per month / $1600 bi-monthly
- Elementary and Middle School from $660 per month to $700 per month / $1400 bi-monthly
- Pre-elementary from $560 per month to $600 per month / $1200 bi-monthly
- Learning Support Program from $350 per month to $400 per month / $ 800 bi-monthly
We thank you for your understanding for this increase. If you are financially challenged and meet the school’s criteria for subsidy, please complete an “Appeal for subsidy” form obtainable from Ms Laura Lim, our Financial Officer. We will give consideration of subsidies to the needy.
Financial needs for Term 4
• Renovation cost of current premises (Balestier Point) $52,000
• Subsidies for 13 students (Heartship fund) $12,000
• Upgrade of computers and offices $19,000
• Sports Day in April $ 3,000
• High School – Mission to Cambodia in May $ 7,000
Total funds needed for Term 4: $93,000
Please note that approximately $180,000 was incurred for renovation of current premises. The school received $100,000 from Lee Foundation, $20,000 from a friend of one of our staff, and $8,000 from a few parents who gave towards the renovation costs. Hence, we have a shortfall of $52,000.
We are currently subsidizing up to $12,000 per term to 13 students whose families are financially challenged.
We are praying that the Lord will prosper all parents to sow $1,000 or more to meet the needs listed above.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for:
- God’s Presence and favour for all parents, staff and students of VLCS.
- CPE renewal of license (3 years)
- Anointing, wisdom and strength for staff and students to achieve Term 4 goals.
- Revelation on purchase of own premises – where, when and how.
- Open heavens for needed funds.
The fellowship ended with prayers by Mrs Valluvan, Mr Boey, and Pastor Lee Hak Ming. We appreciate that parents will continue to seek God and pray daily the above petitions for VLCS, His school.
If you have already returned the Response Slip that was included with the printed letter, thank you. If not, we would appreciate your soon response (you may also reply via our Contact page). Thank you very much for your attention and contribution.
In His service,
Mrs Jan Boey
Senior Administrator