St Philip's Christian College, Waratah, a co-educational K-12 independent school, established in 1982 with 25 students, currently has a student population of 1,433.
The College is ideally located in the heart of Newcastle and in close proximity to Newcastle University. The mission of the College is to continue to provide quality education in a caring, secure and challenging learning environment based on Christian beliefs, values and practice.
The five cultural distinctives of the College; Believing in God, Connecting to Others, Thinking for Life, Creating for Good and Taking Responsibility are an outworking of the Core Values of the College: Christ First, Serve One Another, Strive for Excellence, Do What is Right and Build Community. The College seeks to acknowledge the potential and uniqueness of each student and aims to provide opportunities for intellectual, social, cultural, moral, spiritual and physical development which will stand our students in good stead for the whole of their life. At SPCC, we are intent on encouraging our students to seek and to question, so that their Christian faith becomes real and personal. Our school provides an environment where respect and excellence are encouraged, along with a desire to see students enjoying the learning process and school life. The College is passionate about the pursuit of excellence in all areas, particularly academic achievement, performing arts, sport and Christian lifestyle.
To facilitate this, the College is divided into 3 sub-schools; Junior School, which supports children in their foundation years of schooling by providing a creative and nurturing environment, Middle School, which focuses on meeting the needs of emerging adolescents by developing confident and resilient young people who enjoy life's journey and achieve their unique God-given potential in all areas, and Senior School, which assists students in finishing strong, and stepping into the future with the passion, motivation and the ability to make a difference in the world.
Curriculum strengths include high academic standards in all KLAs, an effective learning support program, dynamic gifted and talented programs, a world class STEM program, a broad scope of vocational education opportunities, including HSC SmartTrack, which enables students to receive an HSC with industry qualification and experience, but no HSC Examinations, and innovation in ICT, including the establishment of an effective learning management platform, iLearn. Our IgnitED Academy Program engages students in Years 7 - 9 with a different approach to learning that is project-based and opens the door to self-directed learning. We aim to develop a culture of thinking, which means that thinking is valued, visible, promoted and experienced by all in our learning community.
A wide and varied range of extra-curricular activities are offered, including sport gala days and representative team sports, musicals, dance eisteddfods, choral groups, vocal ensembles and choirs, concert and stage bands, private music instruction, drama performances, academic competitions, inter-school debating, camps and serviced-learning trips.
“High Street Productions” is an after-school Performing Arts program providing tuition in drama, dance and musical theatre.
The Centre for Innovation and Learning, which has a K-6 Hub and a 7-12 Hub, accommodates a range of services including Library Services, iSupport Services, dynamic and innovative teaching and learning experiences.
Adjacent to the College is our Narnia Christian Preschool and Early Childhood Centre (0-5 years), which provides a dynamic and creative environment, and offers a transition program to Kindergarten at SPCC Newcastle.
Throughout the College we have created flexible learning spaces, which facilitate effective team teaching, and increase student engagement and enthusiasm for learning. To strengthen our culture of learning, we have introduced 'The SPCC Whole of Life Framework', which empowers students to become independent, motivated, confident and resilient learners.
We have continued to strengthen student-centred, interdisciplinary learning throughout the College, which reinforces our cultural distinctives by empowering students to engage in the learning process through discovery, curiosity, creativity and self-motivation, while taking responsibility for their own learning. The PBL pedagogy continues to empower our students to see the relevance of their learning to real life situations, while increasing their communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills.