Continued growth confirms families’ faith in Christian schooling

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of statistics has revealed a continuing trend of significant enrolment growth in the NSW Independent school sector.

The growth of the independent sector at 2.4 per cent is the fastest of the three school sectors with the NSW government sector growing by 1 per cent and the Catholic sector by just 0.2 per cent.

Christian schools, while a minority in the broader independent school sector, has been a significant contributor to this growth with a 4.4 per cent growth in enrolments over the last two years.

This has certainly been reflected in the enrolment growth across the St Philip’s group of schools, with a 4 per cent growth recorded over the past three years.

Interestingly, principals from across our SPCC schools have noticed that the growth is not necessarily coming from church-going families.

‘We are noticing an increase in families joining the SPCC community who aren’t regular church attenders but want the assurance of a school which provides a holistic education, where their child will develop good character and which embodies a value system which lines up with their world view,’ Mr Graeme Irwin, Executive Principal said.

‘At St Philip’s we are upfront about the fact that a Christian worldview is embedded in everything that we do and are clear on the expectations we place on student behaviour, and the parents appreciate that.’

Dr Geoff Newcombe, Chief Executive of AISNSW, commented that responses to surveys have revealed many reasons for families choosing the independent sector, with the most common responses being high quality teaching, classroom management and suitability for their child.

‘Because independent schools are autonomously run, they’re able to be more agile and more responsive to the needs of their communities than schools that belong to a much larger system,’ Dr Newcombe said.

Read more about the growth of the Independent Sector here