Why Senior Secondary

The many benefits of Senior Secondary include;

• Belong to an inclusive, nurturing Christian community committed to academic excellence with distinctive school values aimed at growing students who are full of hope and who act as agents of change that matters.
• The inclusion of Year 10 on the Senior Campus allows students to explore elective and compulsory subjects before they choose their HSC subjects.
• Transitions can be difficult. Calrossy Senior Secondary gives your son or daughter access to proven and established wellbeing and academic pathways designed to promote their success in the Senior years regardless of their focus, whether it is further tertiary study, employment or a vocational career.
• Designated Senior Campus. Our Brisbane Street Campus offers our Year 10-12 students plenty of space to learn and grow into young adults, including a special Year 12 study centre and Resource Centre for the other years.
• Real commitment and ownership by academic staff for the success of their students. Calrossy’s academic team remains on at the forefront of teaching with a dedicated Director of Teaching and Learning.
• Calrossy's teaching staff have diverse expertise including HSC marking and inclusion on NESA committees.
• The coeducational environment in Senior Secondary prepares students for the real world and allows for a focus on positive personal relationships.
• Students receive timetabled after school assistance, with teachers often running holiday study sessions for the Year 12 students prior to the HSC.
• Proven academic success. Calrossy has consistently been the best performing school in the HSC in the New England and North West based on top band results as a percentage of the cohort. This includes Top 10 in the State placings in recent years in Biology, Music, Physics, Investigating Science, Agriculture and Primary Industries, including a 1st in Primary Industries in 2023.
• Diverse co-curricular and academic pathways and opportunities to extend learning and explore interests and discover new ones, including Cattle, Chess, Equestrian, Science & Engineering, Music ensembles, Inter-School debating, HRIS sporting pathways and much more.
• Access to proven established Wellbeing programs and staff, including school psychologists and Leaders of Wellbeing for each year.

In our unique structure Calrossy returns to coeducational classrooms in the Senior years recognising the growth, maturity and increased accountability of our students. It is our belief that mixed gender learning in the Senior years allows for greater social emotional and academic growth and prepares them to make a difference in the world after school.

The senior years of schooling are a critical transition point for young people – emotionally, socially, and educationally. These final years see great possibilities for students as they learn, grow and serve. These years should provide all students with the high-quality, relevant and engaging education that choosing academic subjects afford and the support necessary to complete their secondary school education.

By the time students reach the Senior Years, in particular Years 11 and 12, they have sufficiently matured and established themselves academically. Students can cope with a mixed gender classroom environment and become better prepared for their life at university or in the world of work.

The reality is a few elective subjects in Year 9 and 10 are already coeducational and we believe this enables a smooth transition to senior coeducation classes.

At Calrossy Anglican School there are a plethora of benefits that emerge from coeducation and not the least are enhanced relationships with the other gender.

Students in the coeducational setting grow in their learning. Their greater maturity levels allow students to be intelligently engaged in learning for longer. Coeducation promotes an increase in perspective taking as boys and girls can greater appreciate each other’s views, thereby increasing communication and collaboration. Coeducation allows young women to present their ideas confidently in a mixed context and understand the male perspective, whilst enabling young men to participate confidently and learn to understand and respect the female point of view.

A further benefit of coeducation is that the students experience a growth in subject choice enabling teachers to focus on their specialised subject area. Thus allowing for the maximum number of courses to be delivered to senior students.

Teaching and learning in a coeducational setting in these years, best equips students in their final years of learning for the HSC, future study, employment beyond school and successful adult lives.