Parent Handbook for Reslife
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Parent Handbook for Residence Life Students Black Forest Academy BFA Office of Residence Life Revised/Approved April 2015 Black Forest Academy provides a quality, international Christian education that equips its students to influence their world through biblical thought, character, and action. BFA Parent Handbook for Residence Life Students Revised/Approved 04|2015 Parent Handbook for ResLife Students Page| 2 BFA Parent Handbook for Residence Life Students Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 4 A. Welcome to the BFA Family ................................................................. 4 B. Mission Statement ............................................................................. 4 C. Vision Statement ............................................................................... 4 D. Boarding Philosophy ........................................................................... 4 E. Christian Education at BFA .................................................................. 4 II. BE PREPARED .......................................................................... 5 A. Before Your Children Come to BFA ....................................................... 5 B. While Your Children are at BFA ............................................................ 5 C. Get To Know Your Children’s Dorm Parents and Residence Assistants ........ 6 D. When Your Children Come Home for Breaks .......................................... 6 E. When You Visit Your Children at BFA ..................................................... 7 F. When Your Child is having a Difficult Time in the Dorm ............................ 7 III. HEALTH CARE/COUNSELING .................................................. 8 A. Counseling ....................................................................................... 8 B. Health Care ...................................................................................... 8 IV. ACADEMICS ............................................................................. 8 V. SPECIAL EVENTS ...................................................................... 9 A. Banquets ......................................................................................... 9 B. Herbstmesse .................................................................................... 9 C. Dorm Outing ..................................................................................... 9 D. German Holidays/Weekends Home ....................................................... 9 E. School Breaks .................................................................................... 9 F. Recitals, Concerts, and Drama Productions .......................................... 10 G. Athletics ......................................................................................... 10 H. Graduation ..................................................................................... 10 VI. FINANCES ............................................................................. 10 A. Billing ............................................................................................. 10 B. Insurance ....................................................................................... 10 C. Other Fees/Costs ............................................................................. 11 VII. TRAVEL ................................................................................ 11 A. When Your Children Come to BFA ....................................................... 11 B. Travel Penalty Fee ........................................................................... 11 C. Transportation of Students for Personal Trips ....................................... 11 D. Liability Issues ................................................................................ 12 E. Getting to Kandern ........................................................................... 12 F. Car Rentals ..................................................................................... 12 G. Driving Directions to BFA .................................................................. 12 H. Driving directions from the airport (Swiss side) to Kandern .................... 12 I. Driving directions to the airport (Swiss side) from Kandern .................... 13 J. Public transportation to and from Kandern ........................................... 13 VIII. GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED AT BFA .................................... 14 IX. APPENDIX – IMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION ............... 15 Revised/Approved 04|2015 Parent Handbook for ResLife Students Page| 3 BFA Parent Handbook for Residence Life Students I. INTRODUCTION A. Welcome to the BFA Family Welcome to Black Forest Academy’s residence program. Here at BFA, we strive to give your children the best possible care. We want them to succeed academically, socially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Our dorm staff works hard to be well trained and in tune to the needs of your children. This manual is designed to help you understand what life at BFA will be like for your children. It will also help you learn how to interface with BFA’s faculty and staff. It is not easy to be apart from your children for any amount of time. Having them gone for eight and a half months of the year can be very daunting. We want to make that separation as positive an experience as possible. One of the biggest issues parents of boarding students face is the feeling that they are losing control of their children. Be encouraged! No matter how long or how short a time your children are at BFA, you are still the most important people in their lives. Your relationship with them and how you have reared them will have far more impact and significance in their lives than anything we can do in our residence program. Even though they are here, you are still their parents and we want to make sure that you are involved in their lives as much as you can be. B. Mission Statement Black Forest Academy provides a quality, international Christian education that equips its students to influence their world through biblical thought, character, and action. C. Vision Statement Black Forest Academy’s vision is globally-minded Christians changing their world for Christ. D. Boarding Philosophy Consistent with Black Forest Academy’s End of strengthening Christian field worker deployment and retention, BFA operates a Boarding program for the primary benefit of Christian families living and serving in different parts of the world. The Boarding Program operates within Student Life at Black Forest Academy, supporting the purpose, philosophy, goals, objectives, and values of Student Life, and those of Black Forest Academy. Furthermore, the Boarding Program partners with Student Learning in order to support the educational learning goals and objectives for BFA students. In doing so, the Boarding Program supports the mission to provide a quality, international Christian education that equips students to influence their world through biblical thought, character, and action. BFA’s Boarding Program partners with parents in the education and care of their children, affirming the need for continued parental involvement in the care and training of students in the boarding program. In addition to our Duty of Care, the Boarding Program has a responsibility to create a safe, caring, Christian community for living and learning. Boarding Program staff exercise flexibility and understanding in the individual care of each boarding student’s physical and emotional well-being within the context of a larger dorm community. Because of the expectation of parents who desire parental oversight of their minor children, the ministry of our staff will be a parental type of ministry. We define a parental type of ministry as responsible care for minors that adjusts appropriately as the child matures, is authoritative in nature involving both relationships and rules, and is intentional in creating a caring, homelike atmosphere. E. Christian Education at BFA Black Forest Academy is a Christian school. The focus of BFA student learning and student life has a distinct Christian predisposition. In addition to the normal academic curriculum, each student is required to take a Bible classes and attend a weekly chapel. There is a school wide, optional “small groups” program that takes place once a week in the evenings. Students are required to attend a weekly church service and a weekly dorm fellowship. Students are not required to adhere to the Christian faith in order to enter BFA, but they will certainly be made aware of and encouraged to respond to Jesus Christ as they live in the dorms, attend classes, and engage in student life. Revised/Approved 04|2015 Parent Handbook for ResLife Students Page| 4 BFA Parent Handbook for Residence Life Students II. BE PREPARED A successful boarding experience begins with you. Before your children attend boarding school there are some issues that you must settle as a family and as parents. You also need to be prepared for some other things that you have never had to face. What will it be like when my child comes home for a break? What will it be like to visit my child at BFA? What do we have to look forward to upon graduation? These and questions like these will be on your mind from the moment you decide to have your child board at BFA. We hope that this section will help answer them. A. Before Your Children Come to BFA Since you have chosen to send your children to boarding school we are assuming