First Class Facilities

Learning to be at SCHOOL Junior School

The Junior School is a busy learning environment dedicated to providing a high quality education, considering the unique needs of each student. We are also committed to the pastoral needs of the entire student community, and to fostering an environment where all students feel supported and encouraged in working towards their personal potential.

The Knox School Early Learning Centre

The Early Learning Centre (ELC) establishes vital foundations to ensure every child receives the best possible start. Every day, ELC students experience a sense of community and wonder through a range of engaging and purposeful activities. Many of these opportunities are play-based, allowing students to learn through discovery, experimentation, improvisation, and imagination. During these formative years, the ELC provides children with the building blocks that ready them for transition into the more formal Prep environment, with a focus on Literacy and Numeracy concepts, as well as developing skills around critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity.

Specialist teachers and facilities are designed to allow children to explore different opportunities and experiences. The weekly program includes:

• Literacy • Numeracy • Art • Technology • Performing Arts • Perceptual Motor Program (PMP)

Prep to Year 6

The Junior School strives to ensure every child reaches their full potential by providing a personalised approach to learning that promotes a positive, challenging and affirming experience. Children are encouraged to seek meaning, be curious, collaborate, take risks, and challenge themselves. This is achieved by building strong foundations in learning across all subject areas, while also providing a holistic learning environment that promotes inquiry, creativity, questioning and exploration. Throughout the journey, we encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and build independence.

In addition to a strong pastoral and classroom program focused on building strong foundations in Literacy, Numeracy, Humanities and Sciences, students are also immersed in a rich Specialist Program. Specialist teachers work closely with classroom teachers to develop a curriculum that links concepts and skills across a range of topics.

Specialist programs include:

• Art • Physical Education and Health • Chinese • Music • Library

Within the Junior School, we place significant importance on building an active learning community and fostering a sense of belonging and connectedness that nurtures the social, emotional, and personal growth of children, through a focus on wellbeing and resilience. We value respectful, caring, and supportive relationships between children, teachers and families. We work closely with families to support children’s learning and development at home and in the community.

Teachers at The Knox School value how well they know their students and how each learns. As a small school, students are known by all the teachers. The one-campus environment allows students to transition from one year level to another confidently and comfortably. We strive to create a learning environment with seamless transition points, particularly for students moving from ELC into Prep, and from Year 6 into 7.

Middle School

The Middle School comprises Years 7 to 9 and provides a seamless transition from the Junior School, building on the wonderful values-based programs established during the younger years.

Year 7 has a dedicated learning and transition centre catering for the needs of developing students by encompassing both individual year level classrooms and an open learning space. The centre space allows for innovative collaboration and the use of technology and electronic media.

The school day is structured to provide five periods of 65 minutes duration allowing for the inclusion of in-depth learning and consolidation within each lesson. In Year 7 the program will allocate a team of dedicated Year 7 specialists to provide engaging units of study. At all three levels, specialist teachers will deliver a varied creative, artistic and technology-rich program.

In these important formative years, students’ needs evolve and specialist staff are available for Pastoral Care and mentorship.

To improve self-confidence and personal growth, students in Middle School are encouraged to further develop their public speaking and debating skills.

To facilitate the transition of the large number of students who will join the School at Year 7, The Knox School conducts Orientation Days for all incoming students to make them feel welcome and to allow them to experience the exciting times ahead.

The adolescent years offer a challenging time for many young people and our dynamic and unique Middle School has at its core a curriculum focus on adolescent health and wellbeing. We aim to develop in our Middle School students, greater social and personal development, confidence, resilience and self-esteem.

While a dedicated team of staff ensures that key learning areas are met, there are a number of self-discovery programs that students will participate in – all programs that are very important as they deal with the varied challenges of adolescence in the modern world.

The Middle School is sensitively staffed with a mixture of male and female teachers who are specifically trained to deal with young people.

Students experience programs such as the Tournament of Minds, the KEEP (Knox Educational Experience Program) city project, Outdoor Education and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

The Middle School allows students to enter the Senior School with confidence in the uniqueness of self, in their talents and with their relationships. At this important stage in their schooling, students have developed an independence and belief in the dream of what they can achieve.