What did Jesus do for us?

We finally came to the real meaning of the Cross this morning. The staff and children gathered in the cathedral, where we began by praising God.

The readings led into a short act from the third grade to explain the old testament reading.

Pastor Ronnie had been working with them. They certainly helped him with the explanation of Aaron "standing in the gap" for the people of Israel.

Later the sixth form performed an emotional, dramatic dance to modern music, showing how Jesus can rescue us from "darkness" and forgive us when we take the wrong pathway, into sin, if we call on him in repentence.

There are many things to corrupt us in our lives:- lies, alchohol, drugs, lust, etc. etc. 

Satan tries to ensnare us into his power when we are tempted.

Jesus will fight for us if we let him come into our lives.

He will rescue us and forgive us.

Jesus is conqueror over sin and darkness and he brings us into the Light and gives us liberty from Satan´s power. Jesus has the Victory.

Everybody came away from the service having received the very strong message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This afternoon the children went home and the staff had some in-service training.

Now we have a week of much-needed holiday!!!

English history

The last few days have been something of a nightmare for the English teachers in the Primary department as they tried to pull together a history project ready for a whole school presentation. The rehearsals yesterday were a disaster, but as the saying goes, "It will be alright on the night," and with some prayer it all went reasonably well today.

The Pre-school department presented a funny film about cavemen and the stone age, to the accompaniment of the Flintstones music.

4th, 5th and sixth grades presented some information about the Anglos-Saxons.

Then came the 3rd grade Vikings.....

 1st grade talked about them,

Second grade sailed in a longship,

The secondary department also contributed with a presentation about the Romans.

The sixth form ended the presentations with a well constructed film about British monarchy through the ages.

All in all, it was a lot of hard work but a worthwhile exercise, with more such events to come this year.

Hats Galore!

Yesterday afternoon, the children gathered in the school hall for the annual Easter hat parade. Last year the theme had been the Paraguayan bicentenary. This year, as the Olympics are being held in UK and it is the Queen's Jubilee, the theme was Great Britain.

The array of hats was amazing. There was no lack of imagination. There were hats from England,

Scotland,

Wales

and Ireland.

The children entered various categories,

The Queen,

Afternoon tea,

The guards,

The Beatles

etc. etc.

They were wonderful.

Not broken, fried, scrambled or boiled.

It is that time of year again when the children think of eggs and chocolate. (It is OK, they will get to the "real meaning" of Easter!)

Unfortunately the planned Easter egg hunt at our Sports Centre had to be replaced with a hunt in the school. We have had torrential rain this week, which left the Sports ground inaccessible.

Undeterred the P.E. staff organized a hunt around school. The children were lined up and given the rules, "No running, don't go here, don't go there....." Of course there was the usual stampede as excitement got the better of them.

Great fun was had by all.


The whistle blew and then the count-up began. You could hear a pin drop.

Finally the worst / best was known...... the Green Team had found the most eggs.

However, nobody was disappointed and they all received a chocolate egg.

Cooler climes at last!

Yesterday we had torrential rain all day.
"So what?" you may ask.
For us it was a real gift from Heaven after a very long, exceedingly hot summer. The weather is a pleasant 18C today. I even had to get my fleece out for the first time this year. Wonderful!
Here are some photos from our local press.

A busy time

The past couple of weeks have been very busy so I have only just got around to trying to update my blog.

Last week we saw the handing over of the flags of Paraguay and then St. Andrew's flag, from the seventh grade students (now in the secondary department) to the 6th grade students. This is always an important ceremony as far as the children are concerned. Speeches for the handover are learned by heart.

I have found myself rushing to grab my lunch this year so that I can be back in the library to oversee students. The weather has been so hot that the library has been very busy at lunchtimes. It is the coolest place in the school. The children all thought that they could treat it like a coffee and chat place to come, but we are enforcing the "Quiet" rule, so I need to be around. The children are enjoying playing chess and reading in the quiet and coolness.

In my classes the children have been listening to Bible stories about Forgiveness. They have really enjoyed the stories and the discussions afterwards have been enlightening. Several shared the pain that they have felt from family break-up and from maltreatment by others. Some shared how forgiving people has led them to peace in their heart. My classes have been quite emotional at times.

 

The children have been working on producing posters of verses about forgiveness, to put around the school in places where others cannot miss seeing them. It has been a valuable exercise.

Today the Primary elections were held for Team Captains. They were run as real elections, with a secret ballot in booths and everybody had to give a fingerprint to prove that they had not voted twice.

The count was overseen by everybody, so there was no "fiddling". Inevitably there was disappointment for some children and their parents and there were a few tears but a prayer and a few words of encouragement for some of them helped.

The latest

This week saw me in the surgeon's office again. This time I took Gwen Carlisle with me for backup!

I was duly examined and to my and Gwen's surprise the decision now is to operate in May. It will mean about a month off work and eight weeks with no lifting. I felt instant relief that I would not be going into hospital this week, but later realised that this just means longer to think about what lies ahead. May the Lord prevent me from thinking too much!

Otherwise it has been a good week, I am feeling a lot better and work has gone well. We even had a day off on Thursday for the Day of the Heroes.

Yesterday the seventh grade handed over the flags of Paraguay and St. Andrew (Scottish flag) to the sixth grade in assembly. It is a ceremony that takes place every year..... sorry, no photos this time as I left my camera at home.