The school's Christian beliefs are set out in the first 20 chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith. The school believes that these chapters faithfully reflect what the Bible teaches about God and His plan for salvation through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Because the Bible is God's word, it forms the basis for thinking and understanding in every curriculum area. Because the Bible speaks about all of life, so does the school. Therefore, at Carinya, children are not sheltered inappropriately from what is ugly or unpleasant in the world. Instead, at an appropriate age, they are taught about the world they will need to confront for Christ as they grow to maturity.
The school takes this approach because Carinya is not a school where religious activities are an additional part of the academic curriculum. On the contrary, the school seeks to acknowledge Jesus Christ in every area of school life. He is integral to everything we do. Subjects in the curriculum are taught to reflect how God sees the world He has created and how the world examined in the curriculum reflects His character and mind. Christian values are taught in the school with intent, even passion, but always within a framework where firstly, the Creator of those values is loved and honored by those who teach our students. Our first aim for every child is to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ and serve Him in their learning and life.
The essential elements of the educational process the home, the learner, the curriculum, and the teacher are interpreted in a framework based on an understanding of the person and authority of Jesus Christ. At Carinya, we believe every child has been personally and individually created by Jesus Christ to know Him and follow Him. Therefore,
- each child is to be taught and valued as an individual, made in the image of God
- each child receives all their talents and abilities from Jesus
- each child is to develop, use and enjoy their talents and abilities for Jesus
- Each child's talents and abilities are to be valued equally in the classroom and the school community.
Jesus is, therefore, central to the way Carinya understands the child as a learner in the educational process. The curriculum of the school examines the world that Jesus has made and our place in it. As children experience the curriculum, they also learn what Jesus thinks about His world and how He wants us to respond to it. That is why we can say that the curriculum is "centered" on Christ. He created what we learn about, and He helps us understand how to live obediently in that world. Carinya is a school where, like the case, the curriculum is centered on Jesus Christ.
Teachers at Carinya are obliged to:
- To treat a child as an individual because Jesus makes them in His image, a teacher must believe that to be true about the child and himself.
- To teach a child that everything they learn about in the curriculum has come from the mind and hand of Jesus, a teacher must believe that to be true
- To respond to a child's learning in a way that points them to Jesus as the source of all their opportunities and abilities, a teacher must believe that to be true.
Teaching children honestly and effectively is not just about giving them information or "values" or leading them to conclusions. These all matter, but the context and personal conviction matter much more. A teacher cannot point children to Jesus Christ in their learning if they are not personally committed to Jesus Christ in their teaching. At Carinya, our teaching methods are based on understanding the learner, the curriculum, and the teaching process, informed by what we know about Jesus Christ.
Therefore students are encouraged:
- to appreciate themselves as an individual, created on purpose and for a purpose
- to think of themselves as learners, studying and enjoying the world created by Jesus
- to see all of their abilities as gifts from Jesus to them
- to seek delight in the abilities they have been given and enjoy what they can achieve with those abilities (to "seek the reward in the task")
- to always do their best in whatever they do (to "be faithful")
At Carinya, students are encouraged to thankfully enjoy and use their skills and abilities to bring glory to the Lord Jesus, and not seek that glory for themselves. Students are taught in an atmosphere of community and co-operation, not rivalry and competition. Students are taught that "coming first" and "beating" classmates is not their learning goal. Instead, the joy and reward of learning and the privilege of sharing their gifts as they help others are encouraged. We believe that rivalry in the classroom, established by artificial methods of "rewards", is counterproductive both to the child's learning and to the school's broader aims.
Because we reject rivalry and competition in the classroom, students are encouraged to "seek the reward in the task". That means students are to look for any "reward" in faithfully completing all tasks to the best of their abilities. In other words, the "reward" for learning mathematics is that they now know more mathematics. The "reward" for learning to read is that they can read. In educational terms, students are taught to seek "intrinsic" rather than "extrinsic" rewards.
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