Moemoeā: Aroha, Mōhio, Manaaki, Pānga 
Our Vision: Love, Know, Serve, Impact

21 May 2026

Kia ora e te Whānau, 
 
On Wednesday 3 June, our school community will be involved in a number of events with Dan Paterson, hosted through Middleton Grange School, and the Christian Education Network. Please read the information below carefully. 

Dan is an Australian speaker, apologist, and founder of Questioning Christianity. After seven years as an ordained Baptist pastor, he went on to lecture in apologetics at Malyon College and has spent many years speaking to students and young adults about life, faith, and the big questions of Christianity. 

Parent Event (Evening) 

We warmly invite you to attend an evening with Dan Paterson (Questioning Christianity), held from 7:00–9:00pm at the La Vida Centre. This session will focus on ‘Answering Tough Questions in the Home’ and is designed to support parents in conversations of faith. Please refer to the attached flyer for registration details or contact the school office for further information. 
Click here to register for this event. 

Staff Event – Early Finish 

Staff will be joining teachers from Christian schools around Christchurch for a time of worship, fellowship and to hear from Dan Paterson. As a result, the school day will conclude early at 2:00pm. Limited supervision will be available at school until 2:55pm. If your child cannot be picked up at the earlier time, please notify both the school office and your child’s homeroom teacher. 

Student Event (Years 11–13) 

All Year 11–13 students will attend Middleton Grange School for a leadership development programme, which includes joining senior college students at Middleton for a session with Dan Paterson. This is a valuable opportunity for students to engage with leadership and faith alongside peers from other Christian schools. Information will be emailed directly to families that are affected by this. 

Please watch the notices for more information about this fantastic opportunity we have for our school community. 
 
Ngā mihi nui, 
 
Simon Bisseker
Tumuaki
principal@acs.school.nz

20 May 2026

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Tomorrow we will have our next massed choir practice for the Mid Canterbury School Music Festival.  We will transport the students by bus to Ashburton Intermediate School, leaving at 12pm and returning to school at approximately 2.30pm.   Students will have an early lunch, and may take a drink bottle.

You do not need to do anything for this as you have already given permission.

Representative Choir (Jubilee, Sisi and Hellena) - these students need to be at Ashburton Intermediate by 9.30am.  Parents you will need to drop your children at the Intermediate, there is no requirement for them to come to school first.  They will return to school on the bus with the choir.

Performance - we have been allocated Tuesday June 16th as our performance date.  Please keep an eye out on Ashburton Event Centre website in order to purchase tickets (they are not currently advertised).  We will do our best to inform you when they are available but they do sell very quickly.

Ngā Mihi Nui,

Margaret Butler
Deputy Principal

15 May 2026

Kia ora whānau,

We hope you’re having a blessed week.

Here are this week’s notices - thank you for staying connected with our school community.

Ngā mihi nui,

Admin / Tari

Week-4.pdf

15 May 2026

This Week’s Focus:  

We continued working through learning new songs and scenes. The highlight of the week was learning sword play and how to use parries and cuts. Thank you to Mr. Butler and the props teams for creating amazing swords for our performance. 

Next week: 

See the highlighted rehearsal schedule here:  Rehearsal Schedule

Things to note: 

WORKING BEE: 

·         We have several large stage sets still to build, along with many props that need painting. If you can help, please consider joining us on Monday evenings - starting next week, from 6:00–8:00pm (during rehearsal time), in Room 21 with Mr. Butler. 

Any support would be greatly appreciated. 

·         Please let us know if your child cannot attend. We don’t always know if they are away or sick, so it helps us to keep records of attendance. 

·         Remember, Room 22 is available for students who would like to warm up any food or top up their water bottles after school on Thursday while they wait for rehearsals to start. 

How You Can Support at Home: 

Please continue supporting your child with learning their lines at home.  All the backing tracks have been uploaded to Google Classroom, so students have access to all the songs they are learning. 

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Ngā mihi, 

Delia Fox & Lynn Wigram
Production Team 

8 May 2026

Kia ora Whānau,

We’re pleased to introduce Our People, Our Stories - a refreshed digital newsletter that will be shared 2–3 times each term via email and available on our school website.

You can read the first edition via the link below.

Our People, Our Stories - Term 2, Issue 1, 2026

We hope you enjoy this first issue.

Ngā mihi nui

ACS