No, we are an open enrolment school that accepts enrolments from people of all faith positions. However, you need to know that in enrolling your child at Nepean Christian School, we will be infusing the message of Christian faith in all aspects of school.
Yes. All schools that are registered and accredited with the government must teach the NSW curriculum. However, at Nepean Christian School faith and learning go hand in hand. Therefore, we engage with discussions about Christianity throughout our learning.
We see that Christianity is central to the whole of life and this includes learning. Therefore, what we teach and how we teach are shaped by those beliefs. Faith is not an ‘added extra’ that is tacked onto learning but a natural and perfectly integrated way of seeing every part of life.
Yes. We only employ staff who are active in their church, excited about their faith, love working with children and are excellent teachers. We won’t compromise on any of these qualities.
No. We were established by a group of Christian parents, and Christian parents remain at the centre of our governance structure. Our Statement of Faith follows a Reformed Evangelical position, similar to that of the Reformed Church, Anglicans and Presbyterians. We are members of Christian Education National, an organisation that oversees 64 like-minded schools across Australia.
There are a number of external measures for the academic success of students at NCS, including NAPLAN and the HSC. Against all external testing NCS continues to show outstanding success, bearing in mind we are a non-selective school.
We value the worth of all children, including those who have special needs. We welcome all children with an intention of exploring what resources the school can offer for addressing individual needs.
We work hard to differentiate all of our curriculum for students whose learning is different to others. In primary, literacy and numeracy are clustered into small ability groups. In high school, we have a 3-leveled system that offers extension and more challenging activities for able students. We also have a range of co-curricular clubs and competitions that allow expression for particular gifts and interests.
School fees cover tuition, textbooks, most stationery, camps, excursions, sport and overseas travel. The only things that are not covered are the Chromebooks we issue to students in high school (for which there is a modest levy) and uniform. We do not add unexpected items to the published fee schedule.
No. Because we value all students and see each as uniquely made, it would be against our educational philosophy to award one child a fee reduction based on their ability.
Yes. The second child and third child receives a substantial discount; the fourth child and subsequent children are free.
Prizes, stickers, certificates and other rewards are traditionally given out to children who come first or in some way beat other children in their achievement. We believe that the message that says your learning is only important if you are coming first is contrary to everything we believe about education. We want students to be stretched, encouraged, engaged and enthusiastic about their learning whether they are the most or the least able in the class. It is not whether a child is coming first that matters but are they learning, are they encouraged to keep learning and are they engaged and enjoying learning. We believe that this happens best through relationships.
We believe that what happens in the classroom is our ‘head learning’. It is important but it’s when students do something with it that it becomes ‘hand learning’. Hand learning makes learning meaningful and exciting. It puts it into the context of their life experience. For this reason, we regularly undertake Slice of Life Adventures, where children engage with all sorts of opportunities to put their learning to use. Overlaid with all this, we want students to use their learning in ways that bless other people. We want to grow servant-hearted children. This is heart learning. We believe that real education engages head, hand and heart.
All students engage in the mandatory NSW curriculum subjects until Year 9 when they can choose subjects. For a small school NCS has an enormous range of elective subjects across the arts, technologies and humanities. For the HSC, we offer nearly all of the most popular subjects including English to Extension 2, Maths to Extension 2, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Ancient, Modern and Extension History, Legal and Business Studies, Music 1 & 2, Drama and Visual Arts, PDHPE, Community and Family Studies, Design and Technology and Industrial Technology.
The school has excellent sporting facilities including a full size playing field, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, all-weather netball courts and indoor and outdoor volleyball facilities. We offer a wide range of sports including an interschool competition against other local schools. We regularly participate in sporting gala days. In addition to these, there are recreational sports in high school including ice-skating, ten-pin bowling, golf, mountain biking and other sports.
Students begin specialist music lessons in Kindergarten. By Year 2 they begin on their first instrument and in Year 4 they are given a concert band instrument and a year’s free tuition in that instrument. Students who continue studying that instrument can become part of the school’s Concert Band ensemble, which regularly tours around the state.
Students begin learning French in Infants and carry through that language, year by year into the high school. We are committed to encouraging students to see language learning as part of their engagement with a rich and diverse world.
There are variety of clubs, camps and other programs that are presented to students. There are a range of additional caps including art, science, creative writing and ski camps. We have had a long engagement with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Other lunchtime activities include Christian fellowship groups, chess, debating and dance, band and choir, STEM club and craft groups.
