Sound of Music

The other night we decided to sing in the church and record it this time! It really sounds awful (I think!), but I decided to put it on here anyway. I'm the squeally soprano, and Alex is the guy you can hear (he sounds fine, and I'm impressed by his Dutch pronunciation) and Janine plays the organ, as well as singing the alto! In order to listen to these songs, click on the tiny print next to the link. This will open a new window, there are two Psalms there for you to listen to!

boomp3.com

I hope you can hear these songs... I'm quite new to all this....

boomp3.com

Anyway, I hope to be able to write a bit more soon... Enjoy!

OFSTED Inspection!!

Today we had our first official OFSTED Inspection... We had a great day! The man was really nice, and seemed very happy to help us. He gave us some good advise on different things. We passed the inspection more or less with flying colours. I just hope the final report will be just as positive!
I wasn't too nervous, as I had tried my best all these months, and as a school we try to stay up to date with everything, so that when the inspection comes none of us needs to loose sleep over it... It is hard to evaluate yourself though, as you may think you are doing a great job, where as compared to other places it might be way below standards! It is nice to then see a happy inspector who commends you for your job! According to the inspector our school is definately worth growing..so I hope other people will agree...! We could desperately do with some growth!!

I hope to be able to publish the link for the report soon, I think within two weeks... Please do have a look on our webiste, www.gohosch.com or www.goodhopeschool.org.uk (same thing).
We have an OPEN DAY on Thursday the 15th. Please do come and visit, even if you are just curious, or you'd like a cupper!!

Official website

We finally have started the official school website! Please do come and have a look! Good Hope School!!

Next week will be Half Term which is great. I'm convinced that holidays are designed for teachers, not for students...:-)

Tonight is the United Prayer meeting in Cheltenham. I hope that a lot of people will actually come. The numbers have been going down, so has the state of this country!
Yesterday my mum rang to tell me that my uncle had died that morning. I was very upset, as I knew them well, and he was a Christian, and I have greatly benefitted from his advice and letters! I still cannot believe I will never see him in this life again! His wife, who is also a Christian, has already been a great witness to others because of her calmness etc! Other relatives have wondered how she can be so strong and calm...! She knows that it is not like her at all, and she has told others so as well! I value our prayers for her and my family.

Good news is that we have now developed the leaflets for the school, and will be sending them out very soon!

At Last!!

Praise God! At last we are registered! After all that time of waiting and working, and praying! We are overjoyed that finally everything is accepted!
The next few weeks will be busy, as we need to find a way of advertising the school, contacting churches and telling them that now there is a local alternative to state school education!

We hope that a lot of younger children will join, as we have found that not only are Secondary School children's attitudes formed, but also academically they are so far behind that it makes it quite difficult for them to start later! It often means that they finish their GCSE equivalent by the time their friends finish their A-levels! It is great that the Certificate we issue is accepted and recognised by the government and universities, even though I found that they have to do a huge amount of more work to get the same amount of recognition! But I suppose that this is a good thing, especially seeing the paper about the performance of schools, and how A-levels etc have been dummed down even more this year! I am sure that universities, companies and even the government will soon start asking for another certificate, maybe one that is absolute, like ours, rather that relative..?

I'm looking forward to the next term, as usual! Their are lessons to plan, outings to arrange etc! And now of course the added excitement of organising Open Days! Please pray the Lord will bless the school, and help it t grow, so that more families can be impacted for the Lord! Pray that children will know the Lord, and that they will be able to serve Him wholeheartedly, aided by the school, and things they study!

Exchange

Tonight I'm off to Holland! We're off on a school's exchange visit! Last year the school came to 'us', that is School of the Lion, although we joined for the week, and now we are all off to Holland! There are about 23 children going, from School of the Lion, Maranatha (school near Swindon) and there is us...!

I'm really looking forward to it! It does mean leaving early, but who cares...! I have choir tonight, and then some sleep, and after that I'm off! It is great to go and stay at the school in Holland. They are a 'branch', the main building is in a nearby town, we are staying in a village. There are 600 pupils on this site, so it is quite a small Christian school, but it will be nice. The main building has 1800 pupils, and it is easy to feel a bit crwode. As I went to school in the main building I wouldn't get lost, but I would feel lost, I think...

We seem to have almost finished with the registration papers. Just a few to go, and hopefully Richard will be able to send them all on their way near the end of this week! I just hope and pray that it will be the final thing!

Isn't Spring beautiful!? I love driving to school and back! It's so glorious! Wherever you look, it speaks of a loving, caring and faithful Creator, who is also my Saviour! It is beyond words, that He Who made this wonderful creation looked down and saved me! I love Spring, but this year seems to be better than ever! The blossom, and the wonderful bluebells! They are already out! I hope they are still here by Saturday, so I can take some pictures...

Anyway, I better go and pack...

Waiting...waiting...

After the the last blog, this one seems almost negative! But there is a lot to thank God for!
We are still not through with the registration... (Did I really think it would be that quick and easy...?) We just had a letter this week. Some small details have to be put straight. The only one that will take some time, and is important, is the CRB check of everyone involved... But we are working on that one! We hope to finish the other papers next week.

Sometimes it is hard to be patient, and to trust God for the timing and all other details! But we need to trust Him, and His timing!
There have been many positives as well, one of them being the visit of 4 Dutch teachers. It was great to have them around for two days, and to speak about Education! They are very supportive, and we are grateful for their prayers, as that is the most important need we have! We can do without many of the material needs, we can make-do, we can be inventive and creative. But we cannot do without people's prayers!

I am just re-reading (I think for the 5th time...) the book: But If Not, by F.M. Knight. It is such a challenging book! I don't normally re-read books, as I remember usually what is in there, but when I find a book very practical, challenging and helpful I do read it again after a while. This book I have read several times, and I have just ordered another copy through Abe books... It's worth every penny they charge you...!
It is so easy for things to slip, to charge ahaed, to plan your own things, to trust that God will sign your decisions, but that books keeps reminding me that Christianity is about Following the Master, serving Him, trusting Him. The title is from Daniel, where the Three Friends say: know that God is mighty to deliver us, but if not, we will still serve and worship Him only...To them, the outcome was up to God, it didn't matter to their view of God, they didn't pressure God into actions in order to keep faithful, if you know what I mean...This sounds a bit rambly, but anyway, it is a very good book, and I am just re-reading it as I said.

Tim Steele is joining the staff at Good Hope School, and I'm very grateful for that! He will be such an encouragement and blessing to everyone!

A few weeks ago we had our conference at Eastcombe Baptist Church. It went really well. Dr Oliver was preaching on the Doctrines of Grace. It was a day of real blessing, and it was a shame that not more than 30 people came! But the cd's are available, if anyone is interested! Dr Oliver was so clear in his messages, and they were practical and helpful. It was nice to meet oter people and to have fellowship over lunch. For those of you who didn't make it: you have missed out on a lot! But there is another chance for you in September, the 29th, when we have a another one-day conference... I don't know the details yet, but when I do know I will put them on my anual blog...:-)

Registration visit last Thursday...

"This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes"

Well, we had our visit... The lady came on Thursday, and stayed for a couple of hours in the morning, left just before lunch and came back after lunch for about half an hour...
We had a very good time! It went wonderfully well! She looked at all our paperwork, the building and at the end of the morning she said that she was impressed! We were so well prepared and organised...
She came back in the afternoon to sit in for the music lesson. We started looking at Handel's Messiah, and did some singing ourselves. It's quite a long time ago that I had someone sitting in in my lessons... But I think we did quite well, because when she had to leave, she said that she had thoroughly enjoyed herself AND that she wished that all the schools she inspected were as nice as ours!!! Now, I don't know is those remarks were a typical English thing, like : oh my dear, how woooonderfullll (not). You know what I mean... But she said that she was definately recommending us for registration! We were thrilled!
We know that without God's help we could do nothing. We know that we ourselves could never have prepared the documents and started all this. We actually thought we would have plenty of time... But yesterday in a Bible study group we discussed that there is a time for everything, and that God is in control, and He is the One that sets the times! So Thursday's visit was planned by God, even though we thought we would have another couple of weeks to get ready...

Thank you for your prayers, and please pray that the papers will come through soon. Help us to know the next step, in contacting the churches in Cheltenham to let them know we are open to pupils. Pray for wisdom in planning and organising the first Open Day! This is all very exciting, but we want to do what God wants us to do, in His perfct timing.