Our Distinctives
Covenant Christian School offers a unique educational experience that draws from the rich heritage of Christian schooling that stretches back even before the 16th century Reformation. We favour a pedagogy that has proven itself over time as being able to meet our mission of challenging and encouraging both students and staff “to love learning and pursue excellence to the glory of God”.
We emphasise the Lordship of Christ over all things, including knowledge and human life. A robust biblical world and life view underlies all our instruction.
Covenant’s program is characterised by the following distinctives:
Christ-centred education comprehensive throughout the curriculum
Our staff are personally committed to serving Christ – they share a love for God’s Word and are encouraged to bring their Christian beliefs into every aspect of their teaching. Our staff are very much aware that they model what faithful Christian living looks like to our young people.
A strong moral framework
Covenant seeks to develop the moral character of our students through upholding the Bible’s teaching about morals. This includes promoting godly character traits such as kindness, gentleness, respect for authority, self-control, integrity, diligence, tenacity, and so on as well as teaching God’s design for marriage as between one man and one woman for life and that male and female is a created reality and norm, not a choice.
Emphasis on developing wise and eloquent students
We aim to teach more than just academics – we also aim to develop students in a holistic way (personal character and so on) who are familiar with the rich wisdom we have inherited from previous generations.
A major aspect of this is the role model provided by our staff who are all professing, committed Christians who are encouraged to share the teachings of Scripture with students throughout the instructional program.
We also aim to develop students who are able to articulate their own thinking in a confident and eloquent manner. To this end we use a world class reading, writing and spelling program in our Primary years (LEM phonics) and combine this with annual debates in both upper Primary and Secondary. Students are also taught composition through the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) Structure and Style approach which aims to help students develop their reasoning skills through writing across the curriculum.
Small school, family oriented
Covenant aims to provide an intimate environment where individual students are known by most staff, where we welcome families to be part of our community. Our staff retention is very high and this helps develop long-term relationships with families over the years.
Direct instruction
Direct or explicit instruction is very much teacher-directed learning. The teacher breaks down the material into smaller instructional tasks and models to the students through worked examples how to do the tasks. Students then practice under the guidance of the teacher and encouraged as they move to competence.
Instruction that is explicit involves fully explaining and effectively demonstrating what students need to learn. This form of instruction accords with what we know about how the human brain works (that is, that learning happens most efficiently when teaching is clear, systematic and does not leave students to construct or discover information without any guidance).
Cursive writing
We intentionally instruct primary students in cursive handwriting from Year 3. We do this so students can develop a competent script of their own with all the advantages of cursive (much faster writing speed, attractive font). Students trained in cursive are also literate in it.
Scripture memorisation
We intentionally require students in every grade level to memorise selected portions of the Bible. This provides students with a resource of sound words to draw on for their own spiritual development as well as training the memory, an essential faculty needed for all academic study.
No Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Unlike many schools, we do not require families to provide their children with an electronic device for use in the classroom. Our staff are encouraged to use technology when there is a clear educational benefit for students. We have adopted Chrome OS as our base for student computing. Two computer rooms are available for Digital Technology learning, as a well as several portable sets of Chromebooks for in-class use.
Read more about our policy on devices here.
Reasonable levels of homework
Covenant expects students to do some homework to supplement and reinforce learning in the classroom. We aim for a reasonable amount and expect students to do the required work.
.
.
Emphasis on Western civilisation
Covenant believes education is all about passing on our cultural heritage of wisdom and knowledge, the best that has been thought and done. As Australia has significant cultural roots in Great Britain as a member of the British Commonwealth, and Christianity has been active in the West for over 2000 years, we intentionally emphasise the art, music, poetry, literature and history of Western civilisation.
We acknowledge the flaws and shortcoming of the West, always comparing them to the standards of the Bible.
Other cultures are studied, including Aboriginal and Indigenous culture, as well as other parts of the world such as Asia and the United States.
Structured and calm learning environment
We believe students learn best when they are in a well-ordered and structured learning environment directed by the teacher. Part of a well-ordered classroom is a calm space with minimal disruption. Our teachers seek to maintain their classrooms to be the best learning environment possible for students to thrive.
Low fee private school
Covenant is a relatively low–fee private school. We have minimal additional charges to our base tuition fee (which includes stationery and textbook use and most excursion costs).
Our tuition fee schedule includes a sibling discount provision in the Kindergarten to Year 10 grades where multiple children from one family attend Covenant. In addition we have made provision to support families where the parent has significant financial limitations – this can be seen in our discount calculator for low or single income families.