Since its inception, KCS has been committed to being an academically excellent school. For some, the simplest measure of whether a school is 'academically excellent' is how it does on standardized tests - such as BC's annual provincial exams. By this measure, KCS has been and continues to be one of the strongest schools in the province, increasing year over year.

At KCS, we firmly believe that strong provincial exam scores are not the end goal, but a natural outcome of our core mission. Our purpose is to educate and inspire our students to become disciples of Jesus who make a difference.

Excellence is a core value of our school, but we don’t just mean high test scores. We mean students should strive to do well and, through encouragement and engagement, achieve their personal best in a process of continuous improvement. Excellence at KCS means we push ourselves and our students to keep getting better using our best efforts.

At KCS, we aren't seeking simply well educated students who try to live moral lives (although that sounds like a pretty admirable goal). We desire graduates who are truly different - who are peculiar. People who see and respond to the world differently. People who seek God's handiwork all around them and desire to accomplish His purposes. Ultimately, we believe in teaching and education that is transformational. In the classroom, through things like our Design Principles for Teaching and Learning we seek to make learning an opportunity for students to fully engage in their own growth.

One great piece of advice that Kristi Cooper, our KCS Director of Teaching and Learning, loves to give and that we love to see in the classroom is to introduce students to the word "yet." 

As a mom and a teacher I hear the words “I can’t” often. It deeply saddens me when I hear a young child saying things like “I can’t do math” or “I’m not good at reading.” Their belief statements often run so deeply that it defines what they are or are not willing to try. I have met children as early as five years old who already have a deeply embedded belief in their abilities. They believe that these skills are already formed and they either have them or they don’t. As an educator I know this simply isn’t true. Intelligence isn’t fixed, it’s learned and developed. One word can help your students move from the “I can’t” to the “I can”. When your child says “I can’t”, respond with, “I can’t yet”. For example, “I can’t do math... yet”, “I’m not good at basketball... yet.” The more our children hear this in their lives (and our own), the more they begin to see learning as a journey that we are all on. Helping your children understand that we are constantly growing and learning is one of the best gifts you can give them.