Fitzroy Community School

FCS is an independent, alternative primary school. It has its own unique style of operation. Our school has a relaxed atmosphere and good outcomes at the same time. Children are keen on learning and keen on coming to school. The most common comment that visitors make is that it feels like an extended family.

At FCS, the roll is kept to the size of a large, extended family. This is deliberate. Everybody knows everybody, and the individual feels valued. It's not just another institution. FCS aims for three outcomes in terms of its students and graduates: happiness, viability and academic excellence. We feel that these qualities offer the best chance of a happy, fulfilling and engaging life. The culture of the school supports the achievement of these qualities, and we are overjoyed that our students and graduates demonstrate them. A big part of this is our emphasis on confidence and effective communication skills. These are not so much taught as learned through the daily lifestyle of the school.

FCS was founded in 1976 by Philip O'Carroll and Faye Berryman in their home at 597 Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy and still operates there, and is blessed to still have their commitment and experience four decades later. FCS has a second campus in Normanby Avenue, Thornbury.

People who are responsible for children, whether parents or educators, regularly face situations and decisions that stir fear in us. We can reinforce our belief in our children and their abilities or conversely convey to then that we do not consider them able to navigate certain challenges. Can my child walk over to a friend’s house unaccompanied by an adult? Or go to the shops alone? Or is playing in the park alone, or with siblings or friends an activity that requires an adult presence? Do we allow our children to ride or tram or bus or scoot to school without us? Or do we, through the restrictions we place on our children’s freedoms, convey to them that we consider them less able than their peers, or less able than we were as children?

When responding to a child’s request to expand their world, I think it can be helpful to be aware of the different time frames within which the different costs and benefits arrive. In most situations when we allow our children to expand their world – to do things on their own or figure things out for themselves – there is no immediate growth or burst of empowerment. The benefits emerge over weeks, months and years. When weighed up against our fears of immediate risks, it can be tempting to devalue the potential benefits. We don’t need to reflect for long to consider all the disasters that could befall our children in the park, travelling to school, or going to the shops. However, my observation is that overtime, if we are aware of the cost of going with this fear, and instead keep it in check, we will help to nurture a more empowered child, laying the ground for a more empowered adult. This awareness has helped me to be brave. I find that when I remember to shift my focus to the adult I wish to raise, I gain greater confidence in putting my short term fears aside, aware that if fear governs my parenting (or principalship) I’ll be contributing to raising a more fearful and disempowered child.

The people we surround ourselves by can also help – the braver the better. I love watching so many of our children getting themselves to school or to their friends’ homes or to cricket training or to the shops, travelling on scooters, bikes and public transport. I appreciate it that so many of you set this example with your own children – it helps me to be brave too. The fact that I had witnessed a seven year old getting themselves to school by tram and adult free meant that my decision to allow my eight year old daughter to get a tram to school was so much easier. The path had already been trodden.

In our civilisation, compulsory schooling - for better or for worse - dominates the timetable of childhood. From the tender age of around 5, right through to young adulthood, most of the day for most of the year is taken up with schooling. If you include kindergarten and childcare, you can start the count at age 4, 3, 2, or even 1.

Whatever children need during all this time away from home is what FCS aims to provide. Schools today, by default, for most children, replace both the village community and the extended family. Officially, a school exists to teach children the necessary skills to be employable - reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. This is the curriculum. But the official curriculum is only the tip of the learning iceberg. Because of the molding power of this second home, the child will inevitably acquire other learning too – attitudes, behaviours, and a particular view of the world. This deeper conditioning is brought about by the daily lifestyle of school and the interpersonal regime that prevails amongst the people who occupy the school environment. This is the hidden curriculum