"What an amazing Christmas season we have had so far, Presley had her school program this morning and it was beautiful, thank you DCS for being such a loving and amazing school!"
-Kimberly David, as posted on Facebook
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Eight years ago my wife and I were contemplating where to send our first son to school: private, public or charter school. I’m sure this was a decision that many of you had to make for the first time. We had to ask ourselves, If we choose to go the way of private school, how were we going to be able to afford it? My wife, Kristi, had gone through Christian education all of her school years, and I had gone the way of public. Plus not to overlook the fact that I came from a family of public school educators. What to do?? As believers of God we did what we always do when dealing with difficult situations, we prayed for God’s guidance. God clearly was pushing us towards Christian education and to a little, unknown school to both of us called Dutton Christian. After choosing Dutton Christian, we still had the concern…How are we going to afford it?
Once again we prayed for God’s guidance. God kept speaking to me with one word, “choice”. If we choose this path of education then we would have to make other difficult choices - not to get a new car, not to go on elaborate vacations, and other personal sacrifices. God also answered our prayers by giving me a promotion within my company which was equal to the school tuition. God is amazing! Now I’m not going to lie, I myself still had a little apprehension as to whether we made the right choice. It didn’t take long for that apprehension to go away as I saw the love and education that my son was receiving through the Christian values of the school and teachers. Since then I’ve never looked back at our choice and have never asked how, instead I say it’s a must for both of my sons.
-Marcus Bradman, School Board Member
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"Today I'm am grateful for the teachers and staff at Dutton Christian School. My children no longer attend their but the staff was very instrumental in nurturing my children to be the Godly young men they have become. Thank you from the depths of my heart. All of you will hold a special place in my heart, thanks be to God."
-Mary Abbott, as posted on Facebook
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How are we "Intentionally Christian"?
Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."
Students at Dutton Christian have many opportunities to pray throughout the day. Each day we open with prayer, we pray before lunch and we close the day in prayer. These prayers are valuable, but risk becoming routine.
One opportunity offered in the middle school to stretch students in their prayer lives is through FM, or Friday Mornings. Each Friday before school, many students choose to join for a time of focused and purposeful prayer in a variety of styles. One week we will focus on building up our classmates, another week we’ll pray for a part of the world that has experienced disaster, and then other weeks we will pray in small groups and share individual concerns. The topic and type of prayer changes from week to week, but the goal is always the same: To join together in conversation with God. What a great way to start a day!
-Reuben Sportel and Alan Sloterbeek, Middle school teachers
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The decision to send our girls to Dutton Christian wasn’t one that Mike and I took lightly. We spent lots of time praying about our decision and weighing our options. Our area is surrounded with award-winning public and charter schools – both offering a high quality, morally based education. One of these schools is quite literally in our back yard – free and convenient! Another option was home schooling. I was a teacher, so I was definitely qualified to teach my own children. Finally, of course, we had the option of sending our children to a Christian school. Again, there are many in the area, but DCS was the closest AND it just happened to be where I had attended K-9th grades.
So, why did we ultimately pick Dutton Christian School? First of all, we felt strongly that we wanted our girls’ education to be administered through the lens of faith. We deeply desired for them to be part of a learning community where every single thing – from reading to science – would be taught from the “creation-fall-redemption” perspective of the Christian faith. We knew that each of our girls would be deeply valued and loved for whom they were created to be, and they would be encouraged to discover and develop their God-given gifts. We also knew that we, as parents, would be surrounded and supported by this same community of believers. These things alone are worth the money spent on tuition each year! But above and beyond all of that, DCS offers an excellent education.
Over the past two years I have been pursuing my Masters of Education in Literacy at Calvin College. Through my classes I have been studying the most current “best practices” in education. I’ve also had the distinct privilege of visiting several different schools in order to do classroom observations and case studies with elementary-aged students. As a result, I’ve been able to see award-winning public and charter schools in action. I also had the opportunity this past spring to observe in two DCS classrooms. There is no comparison in my opinion. In regard to “best practices”, Dutton Christian is doing a fantastic job. Not only does DCS hire amazingly talented teachers, but they also offer the highest quality, research-based curricula and programs available. I was truly amazed as I sat in the DCS classrooms and saw “best practices” come to life! Just the phrase “best practices” implies that there is some sort of holy grail or ideal, and so often that ideal just isn’t attainable in today’s education world where state-mandated standards need to be met and tests need to be administered. DCS, however, isn’t bound by those things but has the freedom to bring the most recent, up-to-date practices to their classrooms and the ability to do it with integrity and fidelity.
Mike and I are confident that we have made a wise choice for our girls. Through DCS, our girls get to experience the best of both worlds: a Christ-centered and an excellent education!
by Sonny Huisman Parent
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Boston's (3rd grade) description of his teachers: "They are very, very kind and they love Jesus a lot!"
as posted on Facebook after first full day of school.
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"Pretty amazing to go to a Kindergarten orientation and have the teacher tell us that she prays for each child by name every morning before school. Those teachers are amazing!"
- Rebecca Helmus, parent
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My son and daughter attended the pre-school "Noah's Ark". It was fantastic, out kids loved it. The facilities are unbeatable and the teachers are great. At parent teacher conferences, I was amazed at how well the teacher knew each one of our children. —Submitted by a parent
at GreatSchools.org
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Dutton Christian School is an amazing place! The teachers are fantastic and the Administration and School Board work hard to support them. Our children have not only been challenged acedemically, but have also been challenged to make a difference in this world. Our family has been so blessed by this school community- DCS offers QUALITY Christian education. -Jennifer Gontjes, parent
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Not only will you find community with other parents at the school, but also teachers and support staff will make every effort to care for your child's emotional, physical, spiritual, and academic needs.
--Submitted by a parent
at GreatSchools.org
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When we moved into the area several years ago, my husband and I chose Dutton Christian School because it was close to where we lived and we wanted a Christian education for our children. Our family has been in the system for 10 years now and we have been SO BLESSED by DCS. The teachers are phenomenal - each one of them is outstanding at what they do. The administration and School Board work hard to support them. My children have not only been challenged acedemically, but they have also been challenged to make a difference in this world. Our entire family has been blessed by this community of believersl If you are looking for quality Christain education in action- DCS is where it's at!!!
—Submitted by a parent
Review submitted at GreatSchools.org.
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Results are in! Our students in third through eighth grades took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) in March. We are pleased to report that the average percentile rank of all the grade levels' composite scores is 89%. Also each grade level demonstrated very good growth in the core areas of reading, language and math and averaged a full year and a half of growth in their overall composite scores. Students should be commended for their excellent work.
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A note in the teachers' lounge:
To the staff and supporters of Dutton Christian School - Thank you very much for the wonderful Grandparents' Day events! It was such a privilege to meet Mrs. Wells, to visit my grandson't classroom, and to tour the school. The students' program was a beautiful part of Good Friday. Your hospitality was more than wonderful, and the luncheon was delicious. May God continue to bless you in doing His work, and I count it a privilege to see my grandson continue as a student. -M. Benson, Grandmother of Penn
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Our youngest daughter, Olivia, has Down syndrome. We struggled with a decision. Do we have her follow in her sisters’ footsteps and attend Dutton Christian School or attend a public school, believing resources there would better serve her needs. How incredibly wrong we were! We enrolled her at Dutton Christian in Developmental Kindergarten, because we felt she wasn’t ready for regular kindergarten – an option that was not available to us through public school. In DK, all our expectations were met and even exceeded. We believe DCS offers the most inclusive environment possible for our daughter. She has many friends (in all grades) who know her and help her when she needs it. Best of all, she has the opportunity to help others, too. The very first time she was asked to pray aloud, she did for several minutes. No one understood what she was saying, but not one child commented on it. After she finished her prayer, the class all said “Amen,” fully accepting her as she is – another child of God made in His image.
-Rick and Shamra Baez
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Our theme this year is 'Let Your Light Shine'. Mrs. Woltjer's 3rd graders took on a project to reflect our theme at Kids Food Basket. Over four months, they decorated 3,800+ bags to be used for sack suppers. The students twice had the opportunity to volunteer at Kids Food Basket. In January, their first time there, they helped pack over 1,400 suppers in three assembly lines. On their second visit in April, they unpacked larger boxes of PopTarts and crackers to make ready to pack into sack suppers later on. During that visit, they also helped pack suppers for three new schools Kids Food Basket started servicing. "What I learned," Aly Tanis stated after their first visit, "is that it's a lot of fun helping other people."
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"Remembering why we go to DCS..... bc of our love for Jesus and what he did for us!"
Photo taken on vacation by the Hoekwaters.
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I have two children at Dutton Christian school and everything from Noah's Ark preschool to the gradeschool teachers and curriculum is amazing. The teachers truly love God and serve him. The community is warm and caring. I am grateful for the teachers' influence in my childrens' lives--from learning Spanish, Science and Writing to learning to pray to our heavenly Father--truly a great Christian school. —Submitted by a parent
What a great day! This morning we attended Grandparents Day at Dutton Chr. What a joy to hear Chloe tell us the Easter story! Thanking the Lord for Christian parents, schools and teachers!!
-Carol De Vries, grandparent
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‘My faith in God is something very important to me. I try to make my relationship stronger and stronger with each new day that he blesses me with. The way I see it, we have to make a daily choice to live for him, to make a difference in this world, and to choose to love rather than hate. I try my hardest to make these choices each day.
...Mr. Teune, my accountability leader, also influenced me. Throughout accountability group sessions, he taught me that the Bible is a book of God’s love for us. God loves us because of who God is, not because of anything we did or didn’t do...”
-Excerpt from 8th grader, Connor D.’s Faith Reflection Paper
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From a recent Facebook posting:
I arrive at the middle school today and the lockers are covered with post-it notes. This is a bit odd. Then I find out in FM (Friday Mornings), Mr. Sloterbeek and the students talked about goodness they all have within themselves and how to let that out. They practiced this by writing down encouraging words or affirming messages to someone else. So, these are all encouraging notes to each other! How awesome!
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From a recent newsletter:
In Matthew 24, Jesus warns us not to be deceived (vs. 4). One important way to fight deception is to understand and know the Bible.Did you know that a student goes through the Bible three times between Kindergarten and 8th grade in our Bible curriculum?This knowledge of the Bible and learning how God directs all things to accomplish his purposes helps us to stand strong to the end.
Thank you for all your support that allows DCS to teach the Truth. -Dan Netz, Principal
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Sophia is now an official 1st grader. We are so proud of her. This past school year, David and I decided that we were going to put the three younger ones in the Christian schools.
Sophia was the first to attend Dutton Christian Elementary and it was the best decision David and I could make. She blossomed right before our eyes and the knowledge that she has about God, Jesus and the scriptures is amazing. She constantly asks questions about all these things and she has shared all the things she has learned with her brothers.
Her prayer requests are so heartfelt for a 5-year-old and she became even more compassionate about others than she already was. She asks about heaven and will openly look up into the sky and have a 'conversation' with the Lord. It is pure innocence and a genuine love that she is trying to understand as best as a 5-year-old can. She told me the other day that she has Jesus in her heart and that she can't wait to go back to school in the fall. For me, as her mother, knowing the precious gift that she is, openly cries at every little thing she does. She melts my heart.
-Steffie Beckering
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We had a plan. We would send our children to Noah’s Ark Pre-Kindergarten and then proceed to be “Christians in a public school”. After attending Noah’s Ark, our daughter, Zoie, began kindergarten at the public school. Immediately, something did not feel right. We missed the Christian teaching. We recognized that even in our short time at Noah’s Ark, we were part of a special community. We enrolled our daughter back in Dutton Christian for first grade. We were unable, however, to shake the conviction to be “Christians in a public school”. We then decided to switch her back to the public school for second grade. Life seemed fine. Approximately halfway through the second grade and still struggling to find peace with our decision, we asked our daughter who her favorite teachers were? Surprisingly, her two favorite teachers were her Dutton Christian teachers even though she wasn’t currently attending there! At this point, we felt convicted that Dutton Christian was where God wanted our children to be. There was a different plan.
When asked about the differences we experienced between the schools, we mention the obvious Christian teaching. Yet, there is more. For us, it seemed our daughter had a closer and more personal connection with her teachers at Dutton Christian. It became obvious; the teachers at Dutton Christian have a broader mission than just teaching the basics.
-Tom and Kellie Hulst
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From a recent newsletter:
Luke 6:40A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
I believe Jesus is saying here that one better have the right teacher because that's whom you are going to be like. If your child's teacher knows God, looks at all of life in light of God's Word and is walking a faith-filled life, your child will be fully trained. Teachers at DCS are trained to reveal God's Truth in each subject and to help students comprehend the greatness of God.
Parents are called to teach children about God and the way to eternal life. DCS exists because Christian parents have joined together to establish a school that is run by parents, not by the state. DCS provides a learning environment in which learning is Bible-based, the teachers are committed Christians and role models, and peer relationships are influenced by biblical guidelines.
-Dan Netz, Principal
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If you have a comment or story and would like to add it here, contact Vicki Heetderks.
