Stirring Up the Flame: April 2026 Communiqué

April 2026 Communiqué: Stirring Up the Flame

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Welcome to the April 2026 Communiqué. In his letter to Timothy, Paul offers a powerful challenge that resonates with every educator today. He writes, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6). While we have all been gifted in unique ways, the stewardship of those gifts rests with us. Therefore, Paul tells Timothy to “stir up” the gift—or as other versions say, “fan into flame.”

Tending the Spiritual Fire in this April 2026 Communiqué

Think of a cooking fire. When not in use, it smolders to conserve fuel. However, when it’s time to work, those embers must be fanned with fresh gusts of air to spring back to life. Because the Greek tense used here implies continuous action, we must keep fanning that flame!

Consequently, my question for you today is: Are you tending the fire, or are your embers just smoldering? As educators, we simply cannot give what we do not have. If your fire isn’t hot, you cannot pass that passion on to your students. Let’s commit to tending our fires so we can light the way for the next generation.

Webstore Updates in the April 2026 Communiqué

Some customers recently received automated webstore login emails in error. This occurred during a data import into our testing environment. Please ignore these emails.

  • System Status: This was not the live store. Consequently, you cannot place orders there.

  • Data Security: Rest assured, there is no impact on your actual customer accounts.

  • Next Steps: We are getting very close to the official launch! Furthermore, we will send out correct login details once the live store is ready.

Warehouse Closing: Stocktake Notice

Please note that the Warehouse will be closed from 29th June – 3rd July 2026 for our end-of-financial-year stocktake.

  • Processing: No orders or accounts will be processed during this week.

  • Planning: Please make sure you place any urgent orders early to avoid disappointment.

April 2026 Communiqué: 2026 Date Claimers

Don’t miss out! Mark your school calendars for these upcoming events. For inquiries, please email events@scee.edu.au.

Educators’ Conferences

  • New Zealand: 1–2 April

  • Papua New Guinea: 27 April – 8 May (Various locations)

  • Solomon Islands: 15–16 June

Student Conventions (Theme: Righteous Ones)

  • International: 30 May – 4 June

  • Fiji: 5–10 July

  • New Zealand: 7–11 September

Moderation Deadlines for the April 2026 Communiqué

To ensure your students remain eligible for certificates, please submit Moderation by the following dates:

  1. Moderation 1: 27th March 2026

  2. Moderation 2: 19th June 2026

  3. Moderation 3: 18th September 2026

  4. Moderation 4: 11th December 2026

Important Note: Late fees and eligibility rules will be strictly enforced this year.

Curriculum & Errata Updates

We have several important curriculum updates to share in this April 2026 Communiqué:

  • College Mathematics II: This course now requires both the Answer Key and Solution Key for scoring.

  • Social Studies: New PACEs and Score Keys for Fiji and Indonesia are now available.

  • Australian Government: This new 5-unit course replaces the old History 1092–1095. Note that students will need online access for research.

  • Computer Studies: New tutorial links are live at learnfree.org. Students must create a free account and will require YouTube access.

Mastery Learning in the April 2026 Communiqué

Why does the PACE system work so well? Recent research from AERO confirms that Mastery Learning is one of the most effective ways to move knowledge into long-term memory.

By sequencing tasks, we prevent “cognitive overload.” This approach allows students to build on existing “chunks” of knowledge. As a result, learning becomes more permanent and less stressful. Whether in science, math, or language, mastery learning remains the gold standard for student achievement.

Keep fanning the flame of excellence in your classrooms!

Blessings,
Kathy

Life After School

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Imagine yourself standing in front of a signpost. There are signs pointing in nearly every direction and as you stand there, you have to make a choice about which direction you are going to take. When you are faced with this immediate and seemingly overwhelming challenge, it feels like a wrong choice can ruin your life.

This is what leaving school can feel like for a number of our students. Some of our students know exactly what they want to do when they leave school – they are going on to full-time work, tertiary study, or vocational study. They’ve stood at the signpost and made a decision. Just over half of these students will go on to do exactly as they had planned – the others will encounter setbacks, such as not being accepted into their chosen course of study, or will try their chosen pathway for a while before deciding that it really isn’t what they want to do with their lives.

Change can be wonderful. It can also be terrifying. Leaving school would have to rank as one of the biggest life changes that our students will experience. So how do we prepare them for a successful transition from the ordered world of school to the busy-bustling world of making decisions that is life after school?

One of the ways that we can help our students make a successful transition from school to life after school is to prepare them. Students can become so fixated on finishing their last test that they cannot see the bigger picture. They need us to help them see the bigger picture – leaving school is another step forward in the journey of life. By encouraging our students to think and dream about life after they have finished school and by engaging them in discussions about their fears, thoughts and dreams, we can help prepare our students for what happens next. The support and discussion is invaluable but intangible – students can’t produce the discussion they had with you to support their job application.

About two thirds of graduating students do not have a CV or resume prepared when they leave school. The one third that does have a CV or resume has one they prepared to get a part-time job in their senior years of schooling and haven’t updated it for quite some time. One of the simplest ways we can prepare our students for life after school is to equip them with the necessary paperwork for surviving the adult world. They need to know what a CV is, what a resume is but more than that, they need to have their own CV or resume prepared, ready to be used to help them achieve their goals of further study or employment.

I went searching for tools to help students prepare their CV and resumes. There was a lot of advice – much of it contradictory and often aimed at someone who has at least a little bit of work experience. I could find very few resources that helped a student fresh out of school put together their CV. I could find no resources that helped a student fresh out of school create their CV and incorporate a Biblical worldview. So we created one. We have developed a Biblical worldview resource that will help your student or child to prepare and write a CV, resume, cover letter and references. The unit covers subject matter such as online presence in social media and networking, integrity, mentoring, work experience, achievements, volunteering and extracurricular activities.

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