About Us
The impetus to begin this school is drawn from a deep concern about the direction of our society.
In June 2023, literacy and numeracy test results, taken from 41,000 secondary school students showed that just over half of them passed writing and numeracy… 65% of participants passing their reading assessment.
Add to that the fact that by year 5, a full third of children in public schools are bullied badly enough to report it.
We live in an environment where more and more parents are crying out for an alternative for their children.
In the establishment of a private Cambridge Christian school, it is our desire to serve our community and to help parents parent their children. Our Christian faith is the motivation we have to love God and love our neighbor… to seek the best for each other. The establishment of this school is an expression of our desire to build up this community we love.
At the same time, Christianity is the basis for our pursuit of excellence. We believe our children are made for more than mediocrity. They are made in the image of God… to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
We want the best for our children.
John F. Kennedy was right: “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” We need to invest in them.
43.7%
44.1%
35.6%
43.7%
of NZ students fail their secondary school writing assessment
of NZ students fail their secondary school numeracy assessment
of NZ students fail their secondary school reading assessment
of Year 5 students are bullied badly enough to report it
Our Vision
We agree with our current Prime Minister that our education system is failing our children. Over the years numerous governments have sought to create better citizens by redesigning teaching and learning. In more recent years, the Labor government even went so far as to defend our falling literacy and numeracy rates by moving the goal posts — arguing that we were actually the best in the world when the measure is not academia but ideology.
To add to the dilemma, our teachers colleges have not given their trainees anywhere close to a passable instruction in behaviour management. No matter how good a teacher you are, if you are unable to manage a classroom, the children will not learn… nor will their learning environment be a safe one. Bullying, sexual pressures, drug use, adolescent depression and teen abortions are a regular fixture in many schools in this country.
As if teaching isn’t hard enough, you add to this the growing requirements in paperwork, the low expectation for a child’s responsibility over their own learning, and the constant pressure in curriculum areas to add more politically charged messages, and it is no surprise that our schools are failing to equip our children for their futures.
We will work to lay a solid biblical worldview foundation so that children are soundly equipped to develop into mature Christian men and women.
We are committed to excellence through our foundation of a Christian Worldview, with the resulting onflow of academic success, strong relationships and developing a character of virtue.
Our teaching will be responsive to each child’s calling, gifting and ability.
We will be a family-orientated, friendly school where children and teenagers respect and support each other.
Our Christian ethos allows for children to feel safe both within and outside of the classroom. We will not tolerate bullying or swearing.
Our classrooms will be set-up in the primary school using flexible processes which enhance and maximise learning time. This will strengthen respectful teacher-student relationships.
We will encourage your child to be self-motivated – a vital ingredient for future success.
We highly value parental involvement and will seek to generate community involvement.
Our Curriculum
Each child is unique and the courses designed by Cambridge are responsive to each child’s individual needs. The individual focus upon each child, however, takes place within the context of a comprehensive integrated curriculum. Each new content builds upon the knowledge gained in the preceding year. It is therefore important that children start early to get a good foundation.
The curriculum is well-structured and focuses on core subjects that provide essential tools for learning across disciplines. Our belief is that we are responsible to impart a foundation and framework to children that will enable them to keep growing and learning for the rest of their lives. Therefore, we focus particularly upon the core subject areas which are essential to all other learning. The most important core areas of learning are subjects related to language and numbers.
In order to do well at Cambridge exams in later school years it is essential that a robust educational and academic foundation is laid in the early years. By harnessing the Cambridge curriculum and by using the Cambridge Checkpoint system at primary levels, we are able to offer a comprehensive preparatory education for students to excel at Cambridge Assessment International Examinations.
There is strong and growing interest for students at senior levels to qualify under the internationally recognised Cambridge Assessment International Examination system. These qualifications are recognised throughout the world.
Cambridge International Examinations have been adopted by an increasing number of schools in New Zealand, providing an internationally recognised benchmark at Primary, Middle and Senior levels. The Cambridge curriculum is adapted to our New Zealand context and content. This means that your child will be well equipped to excel at all levels and in particular gain excellent preparation for tertiary education. A leaflet for parents and students explaining the benefits of a Cambridge education is available here.
As an independent school, our special character enables us to run a Christian curriculum in conjunction with Cambridge Assessment International Education.
Cambridge Qualifications
Years 1 to 6: Cambridge Primary Checkpoint
Course work through primary years culminates in the Cambridge Primary Checkpoint exams at the end of Year 6 in Maths and English. The results of these exams enable our teachers to pinpoint students’ strengths and weaknesses for the next year levels.
Years 7 to 9: Cambridge Secondary 1 Checkpoint
At the end of Year 9, students may sit the Cambridge Secondary 1 Checkpoint examination in Maths, Science and English.
Years 10 and 11: Cambridge IGCSE
These examinations and qualifications are well known and recognised in the international education arena. This is a two year programme spanning Years 10 and 11. Students are given a broad based foundation from which they can specialise in Year 12 and Year 13.
Years 12 and 13: Cambridge International A Levels
Entrance into university is attainable through achievement of Cambridge International A levels. A full A level qualification takes two years and is comprised of AS and A2 level courses. AS courses are generally studied in Year 12 and A2 courses are generally studied in Year 13.
Why CCA?
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
~Proverbs 22:6
As Christians, our motivation to establish a school is drawn from a desire to understand God, his creation, and our place in it. Our desire is to train all those entrusted into our care to love the God who made us and love our neighbor as ourselves. As Christians, our primary calling is not firstly to motivate young people with the allure of bigger cars or larger houses or an early retirement. Instead, we are to think of the needs of others before ourselves, and to use the gifts God has given us to build up and encourage one another. To this end, children must be taught respect for those in authority over them (including their parents), politeness, self-control, kindness, and how to work alongside others productively.
It should also be recognized that this in no way undermines the pursuit of excellence. Instead, we are driven to progress in our work explicitly because we are made in God’s image and seek to make use of His gifts for His glory: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Col 3:23). This provides the basis for students to recognize that God equips each of us so that we can be of service to others and care for our neighbor (Phil 2:4).
At the same time, the Bible gives us reason to be content even when we aren’t naturally good at something. God loves us despite our weaknesses, and so children who struggle to learn must be constantly reminded that they are still precious to Him… that they can continue to persevere in joy because their hope isn’t placed ultimately in their grades.
In summary, our mission is to establish a school where children can learn in a safe environment about the God who loves them and the creation he has entrusted to them. We will endeavor to disciple children to be successful both academically and behaviorally as we prepare them for a productive and fulfilling future as they serve their King.
“Isolating the student from large sections of human knowledge is not the basis of a Christian education. Rather it is giving him or her the framework for total truth, rooted in the Creator’s existence and in the Bible’s teaching, so that in each step of the formal learning process the student will understand what is true and what is false and why it is true or false.”
~ Francis Shaeffer
What this looks like practically
Students will learn a Christian worldview through Bible classes. This will help set the foundation for every curriculum area being studied through a Christian lens.
Students will be exposed to a range of material in their classes to not just learn content but understand how to discern truth from error.
Students will be given a range of homework to ensure they become fluent in what was taught in class and to apply what they have learnt at school in other environments.
Students will be encouraged to pursue a high standard of behavior. Bullying, lying and swearing will not be tolerated. This serves to establish a much safer learning environment for all our students.
We are committed to remaining a private school in order to be able to teach a wholistic and academically rigorous curriculum. Cambridge has a proven record of excellence over many years.