Christ Church Grammar School

Established in 1898, Christ Church Grammar School is a leading, inner city, independent, coeducational school that provides an outstanding education for children from 3 years old to Year 6. We aspire to be the leading coeducational school for children through to Year 6 by embracing explicit, evidence-based learning; enabling every child to be their best ensuring our children learn in an environment grounded by love and faith and by fostering caring, supportive and enduring relationships with children, families and the community.

We welcome families, not just students. Diversity is celebrated and children, their families and staff are cherished and valued. We develop and nurture trusting relationships based on respect and honesty.We are an inclusive community and treasure the unique spirit of each and every child. Quality teaching and learning, high expectations and supportive relationships encourage our young children to develop in character and to aspire to be their very best.Our high-quality curriculum ensures that our teaching and learning program is both rigorous and enjoyable. We challenge our students to achieve their very best and have small class sizes to maximise student/teacher engagement.

From Prep onwards, specialist teachers work with our children in a range of areas including the arts, music, languages and physical education.We also offer a comprehensive cocurricular program that caters for diverse interests such as Latin, French, chess, computer coding, homework club, karate, gymnastics and drama.We are proud of our connection with Christ Church South Yarra and are the only coeducational Anglican parish Kindergarten - Year 6 school in Victoria. We embed the Anglican faith and ethos into our daily practice, welcoming those of all faiths and none.

At Christ Church Grammar School we know that children learn best when their individual needs are identified and addressed in a nurturing, supportive and encouraging environment with positive role models. We understand the importance of connections within the broader community and value our partnerships with the 2/14th Australian Field Regiment, the Shrine of Remembrance. We also partner with Red Dust Role Models and the Areyonga School, in a remote indigenous community in the Northern Territory. What we aspire to be The leading coeducational school for children through to Year 6. Our Mission What we do every day:

• We embrace explicit, evidence-based learning
• We enable every child to be their best
• We ensure our children learn in an environment grounded by love and faith
• We foster caring, supportive and enduring relationships with children, families and the community

Values The environment we create and foster We cherish individuality, inspire excellence, think globally, show respect and have faith. What you will see Everything we do is embedded in respect, integrity, empathy and courage. We follow the Early Years Learning Framework and are inspired by current research. We work to enhance children’s intrinsic motivation, encourage them to welcome challenge and develop thinking and lifelong learning skills. We seek to provide a strong foundation of dispositions, values and skills across a range of areas including numeracy and literacy which will allow for a seamless transition into the first years of school.

We believe in best practice and evidence-based research. Our teaching team communicates with each child in purposeful and intentional ways. We embrace explicit instruction as an approach to the teaching and learning of fundamental skills and knowledge The quality of their daily interactions enables each child to learn and develop effective language, problem solving, creativity and self-regulation skills across key learning areas. Our teaching team forms part of a professional learning community which is engaged in research and committed to best practise. Planning and assessment is a team effort that follows a cycle of data collection, analysis and goal setting for each child.

At Christ Church Grammar School we believe the best education evolves within a context of rich relationships, where students feel safe and secure and have a strong sense of belonging. It is an environment where each child’s contribution is valued and where he or she can develop a sustained enthusiasm for learning.  Our tailored curriculum provides the challenges and encouragement that children need to thrive and develop at their own pace, thus honouring the individual. We foster a climate of intellectual rigour and creative thinking,

Learning focuses on establishing strong literacy and numeracy skills. Opportunities include STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), social sciences, health, physical, personal and social development and the Arts. Our specialist programs include French and Chinese, Art, Library, Religious Education, Music, Outdoor Education, Drama and Dance, and Physical Education.

Teaching and Learning is the core business of what we do. The essential components of this are teaching, pedagogy, assessment andreporting. We embrace the Australian Curriculum across all learning areas - English, Mathematics, Science and Humanities (History and Geography, Civics & Citizenship, and Economics), Technologies, Healthy and Physical Education, The Arts and LOTE.

Our school embraces an explicit instruction methodology as an approach to the teaching and learning of fundamental skills and knowledge. Explicit instruction is a structured, systematic, and effective methodology for teaching academic skills. It is characterised by a series of supports or scaffolds, whereby students are guided through the learning process with clear statements about the purpose and rationale for learning the new skill, clear explanations and demonstrations of the instructional target, and supported practice with feedback until independent mastery has been achieved.