In lieu of many being able to attend our AGM on Wednesday night, I thought I would share my thoughts from the meeting in addition to my report.

Thank you so much to those who could attend, it is exciting to see our families invest in our school’s future and we are humbled and thankful for the support we receive and the position we are in to provide for our community.

BCEA AGM 2026 Principal’s Address:

Author, pastor and theologian, Paul Tripp writes this about God’s grace in his devotional series, New Morning Mercies…

The expansiveness of God’s initiative of grace is so beautiful and transformational that it is the reason John Newton chose the best qualifying word, amazing, when he penned his famous hymn about that grace.

Think about it. No human being ever kept God’s law (except Jesus). No one has ever given God the honour due his name. No one has lived the life of worship that is the duty and calling of everyone who has ever taken a breath. All people have not only rebelled against God, but they have written their own sets of self-oriented rules. Everyone not only has failed to worship God, but also has worshiped false gods. Every human being not only has failed to recognize the centrality of God in all things, but also has inserted himself or herself in God’s position. Everyone not only occasionally breaks one or another of God’s laws, but we all, in some way, have broken all of his laws. Not only do we misuse God’s creation, but we put it in God’s place and give it the worship that belongs to him.

So in the face of the depth and heinous character of all of our rebellion against God and his glory… it would be an act of wondrous grace for God to recognize that we exist. But he has done so much, much more than this. By means of the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, he has made a way for us to be welcomed into an intimate familial relationship with him. He literally adopts us into his family so that, quite apart from anything we could have ever deserved, we are given the full range of rights and privileges of his children. And not only are we granted those things in the here and now, but we are blessed with them forever and ever. Along with this, he has promised us the final end of all the sin, sickness, sorrow, and suffering that our rebellion brought down on this world. So grace lets you have it all—everything, that is, that you need. Grace makes the King of kings your Father and his Savior Son your brother. Now, that really is beyond amazing…

…

I believe that the humbling truth is that God has given us the opportunity and the privilege to be an extension of this here in this moment.

I was deeply impacted by last year’s musical. Not just the wonderful execution, but the truths we were blessed to be able to share with our community through story and play. As parent of one of the actors, a line I heard over and over again was, ‘a person’s a person no matter how small’.

As a staff this year we all continue to strive toward creating a place of education in our community that not just celebrates this truth but lives it out and in light of God’s grace; we are all doing what we can to make a way for as many kids as we are allowed to have to walk this journey with us. We want each kid to be celebrated and valued no matter how small, just how Paul Tripp articulates so wonderfully God does for us.

It is not easy though and I want to thank our staff for their relentless and tireless efforts to make this a place that allows people to be who God made them to be, even in the difficult circumstances, thank you for partnering with parents in the good and the uncomfortable, thank you so much for adapting and operating outside of comfortable zones, time and time again, thank you for all the planning and marking, for all the hours on hours of praying and thinking.

I am so thankful for the team God has assembled in this place and I pray that you know how much God loves you and has purposes for you in this place not just to be a blessing but to be blessed.

So, let’s keep going, let’s keep trusting God for what we need. He is faithful and gracious and for that I am thankful.

Good Tidings,

Jonno