A recent media release from Tony Crehan of Independent Schools Tasmania (IST) highlighted the growth in enrolments in Tasmanian Independent Schools last year.
It is interesting that, at a time when the number of school aged children in Tasmania is declining, Independent School numbers are growing, 4.4% in 2021 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
As parents, you would be aware that over the course of the last couple of years, we too have been experiencing significant growth, both at Calvin Christian School and, excitingly, across our association of schools, Christian Schools Tasmania. We feel the benefit of these numbers in our ability to attract and retain great Christian teachers and staff and in our ability to provide broader educational opportunities for our students.
Carefully managed, growth has the potential to benefit our students and to increase our opportunity to connect and communicate with our community. I say ‘carefully managed’ because we need to be sure that, in a season of growth, we can maintain and grow the things that really matter in terms of our core faith and the values that it spring from it.
“ I say ‘carefully managed’ because we need to be sure that, in a season of growth, we can maintain and grow the things that really matter in terms of our core faith and the values that it spring from it. ”
As a faith-based, Christian school, we are very clear in our communication of who we are and the beliefs and values that underpin our School. We do this in our interviews, in our classrooms and curriculum, through our communication with the community, and by the ways that we seek to live as followers of Christ.
Common comments that I hear from parents as we interview and tour the school with them reflect their excitement at finding a school that shares and openly communicates their values. A school where their children have an opportunity to learn and to grow in their understanding of the Christian faith whilst pursuing excellence in their studies.
This desire to have their children educated in a faith-based, distinctively Christian learning environment is an attractive thing to many in our broader community. To be a school where this is done well and where young people are able to actively explore faith is part of the story of our growth, and I suspect, of other Christian and Independent Schools in our state. Part of our celebration of our 60 Year Anniversary this year is a chance to ‘rediscover’ and to ‘re-emphasise’ these distinctive aspects of our school community. Understanding why our school was established helps us to understand how we can operate now and to think about what our School could or should be into the future.
I look forward to continuing this conversation with you this year and welcome your reflections and insights as we seek to build, as our vision states, a truly ‘transformational Christian learning community’.
Scott Ambrose — Principal