New Christian Schools 

Engaging new opportunities to impact Australia and its region for Christ

The Opportunity

The Challenge

Suitably for an advanced liberal democracy, Australia has one of the widest ranges of school choice in the world. Some 40% of Australian secondary students complete their K-12 education in a non-Government school, most of which are Christian affiliated. It is an essential part of the Australian 'common wealth' and definitional for our sense of the good society. ​ Over the next thirty years, there be significant planned under-provision of school places by state and federal governments, in the assumption that Independent Schooling will step into the gap.

Driven by ​grass roots community vision and concern, most Christian schools emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, and new low-fee Anglican Schools in the 1990s. However new School Planting has since declined, and in an increasingly costly, compliance driven environment, effective campus planting has become increasingly the domain of well-organized systems of schools, who have also often had to help 'rescue' smaller schools. The future lies with the networks.  If these should fail, there will be a significant 'Legitimacy Gap' between the claims of Christian schooling and what it actually delivers for the nation and its families. AC is at the centre of this emerging conversation.

A Sectoral Response

Commencing with an Invitational Roundtable in October 2019, key leaders of the Independent Schooling sector are convinced that better multi-disciplinary training (drawing on the expertise of planners, funders, regulators, and practitioners), mentoring, and resourcing for the next generation of aspirational school leaders and planters will assist significantly in lifting the rate of school planting in Australia. The New School Planting Initiative exists to leverage the talents of experienced school planters and leaders, producing research, resources, training and mentored projects to increase the effectiveness of school planting and growth strategies among Christian schools in Australia.

Summits and Seminars

Media

Members

A mentored experience for successful school planting.
Click here to view the curriculum.

Case Studies, Resources and Research