Vision

The purpose of Pacific Coast Christian School is to provide a Christian educational community as a centre of teaching and learning excellence founded on biblically based beliefs, values and behaviour.

Our Values

In Personal Christian Life

• To start and end with knowing God in all endeavours
• To staff the school with people committed to live worshipfully under God.
• To live under the authority of God’s Word, and to interpret it thoroughly and reasonably with the guidance of His Holy Spirit.
• To nurture and encourage students into a reconciled relationship with God through Christ.
• To work in partnership with the Body of Christ as represented by those of faith in the school community.

In the process of Christian Education

• To encourage and train students into a love of learning.
• To equip students’ minds to understand God’s perspective in all areas of learning.
• To help each child achieve his or her God given potential, by providing appropriate educational opportunities according to each one’s abilities. This includes those with intellectual deficits, the learning disabled and the gifted and talented, and those from varying ethnic backgrounds.
• To fulfil all government requirements to enable us to be an accredited educational institution.

In Christian Community Life

• To create safe relationships through being just and fair according to Biblical principles.
• To be compassionate and merciful as God is to us.
• To nurture and train students to accept personal responsibility for themselves (self discipline); to act within an ethos of service towards others; and to demonstrate an attitude of care for the environment.
• To encourage the involvement of those supportive of the school ethos who can assist in the teaching and learning at PCCS.
• To develop curriculum that explicitly addresses relational issues.
• To develop community life across all activities of PCCS.
• To maintain and promote Pre-school –Year 12 unity throughout the school.

In striving for Excellence

• To have the students accept the Biblical principle of stewardship in relation to their gifts.
• To encourage and train students in work habits which can produce outstanding results in all school programs – spiritual, academic, cultural, physical.
• To encourage staff in their own development in all areas.
• To provide resources necessary for the above.

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Statement of Faith

We believe:

The Bible is God’s Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original writings. It is our sole authority and absolutely binding in all matters of faith and conduct.

There is one holy God, existing eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the Creator of all things visible and invisible. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who became man through conception by the Holy Spirit and virgin birth and was without sin.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgement.

Satan is the originator of all evil and through him sin was introduced into the world after the Fall of Adam and Eve. Man is, by nature and practice, a sinful creature and is unable, by any personal merit or works, to meet the standards of a holy God.

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Discipline

The school maintains a strong but fair discipline code which takes into account the principles of procedural fairness which encompasses the right of a child to be heard and the right for them to receive an impartial decision.

Principles of Discipline

Discipline is a God-given responsibility of parents and carers and is an essential part of developing the whole child. It is understood to encapsulate all that acts to train a child in what is acceptable and preferable behaviour. It will involve both commendation and censure.

Commendation is the formal recognition of behaviour that is exemplary in terms of the values of the community and that constructively builds the relationships within and the effectiveness of that community.

Censure is focused upon dealing with behaviour that is harmful to self or to others or that is unhelpful to the development of Christian community. However, in dealing with such behaviour the relationship with individuals, encompassed by the Pastoral Care Principles of Communion in Christ, Reflection of His will for us and Service to others, should never be broken or withdrawn.

Discipline of children at School is implemented under the delegated authority of parents.

The basic code of conduct at PCCS for all members of the community is that each will respect the other; that each will act kindly and courteously towards others; that each will not force themselves or anything that they own physically, verbally or emotionally on others; that each will do as asked; and that each has the privilege, if done respectfully, to ask questions of another. This code can be summarized by the five key words of respect, kindness, non-abuse, obedience and understanding.

Discipline is directed towards the goal of self-discipline with the development of mutual respect, consideration of others and compassion.

Discipline by censure as practiced at PCCS, is based upon the two tenets of respect for authority and proper use of authority. Thus, discipline will be administered with justice and fairness and should involve obvious due process under the responsibility of the Principal.

Discipline by censure may involve exhortation, guidance, instruction, training and the implementation of consequences. All parties need to be committed to listening to each other in order to achieve repentance, restitution, resolution and reconciliation.

In conformity with the requirements of the Education Reform (School Discipline) Act 1995, corporal punishment is not used at PCCS.

Procedural Guidelines

· Positive reinforcement and encouragement are not neglected at PCCS.
· Discipline at PCCS is administered through a series of levels:
· Level 1: Classroom teacher
· Level 2: Use of a buddy; here a child may be sent to a neighbouring class for ‘time out.’
· Level 3: Primary or secondary coordinator
· Level 4: Principal
· In the case of serious offences students may bypass discipline levels.

The school reserves the right to place students on ‘in school’ or full school suspension if such discipline is required. If student fails to respond to repeated warnings to improve behaviour they may be placed on a suspension of indefinite duration.

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