Academic Program

Melbourne has some great schools—schools that set the bar at a high level for academics, run some significant adventures, and play a fine role in nurturing young people. Our program aims to achieve all three—the physical challenges of bushcraft and sport, the social confidence gained through community services, and the academic and personal self-assurance achieved through a thorough literacy and numeracy offering. These combine to help build happy, confident young people.

We are creating a challenging and engaging curriculum which includes:
English, Maths, French, Humanities, Philosophy, Science and The Arts.

The academic program will include significant content and extending capacities. The adventures will not be weather-dependent as our commitment to character is not contingent upon blue skies and mild temperatures. We will embrace the joy of games in the rain and sweat at the top of the mountain with the extra sense of achievement that unexpected conditions bring.

Classes will be small and focused, allowing our students to progress quickly. Our students will be expected to be engaged readers in addition to completing a small amount of homework each night. Our program is offered to those young people who share this desire to experience the many varied opportunities that this world brings, to grasp them, and to grow.

Learn more about Academics

Sitting in class

Now accepting year 7 enrolments

Plans for our first group of Year 7s at FCS are progressing well. In conceptualising our Year 7 program, our goal is to create a course which is different to others on offer. We are designing exciting experiences for our Year 7s which will suit students who are keen to apply themselves academically, eager to set out on intrepid outdoor adventures and focussed on contributing positively to the life of the school and the broader community. It is this particular combination of academic rigour, outdoor education and community engagement, all within the context of FCS’s small, positive culture, which will set Year 7 apart.

We see these early teenage years as a time when daring adventures should be embraced.

A Game of Ball

Learning Beyond The Classroom

In keeping with the FCS ethos, we are also designing a range of exciting experiences outside of the classroom. 

Physical education and interschool sport will be an important part of Year 7.  There are planning a number of multi-day adventurous camps for this year level – Victoria has a range of places worthy of in-depth exploration. There will be performance opportunities in school concerts and soirees. Students will spend several hours a week contributing to a community project which interests and inspires them. This could be anything from helping an elderly neighbour with household chores or gardening to tutoring younger students. Students will be asked to propose their own ideas for community projects. Our Year 7s will also contribute to school life through tasks such as making lunch and cleaning the school.

So, if you want to grow in knowledge and expand your academic skills, aspire for an education that builds character, and are a young person who wants to help others, then our early secondary program may be for you. Please reflect on the following.

1. Are you ambitious, keen to push yourself and work hard?

2. Would you like to participate in challenging outdoor activities?

3. Do you help the group you are in to work well?


Life at FCS

FAQs

What is culture like at FCS Junior Secondary?

Our Junior students…

Take on challenges courageously

Give of themselves with generosity, are helpful, contribute pro-actively to the school community and the broader community

Love to learn

Enjoy time in nature

Are good people to spend time with because they are good to others

Work hard, make an effort, do their best

Are active adventurers

Are principled individuals who take responsibility for their actions


Where is the campus?

Our Junior Secondary School’s permanent home will be at our Normanby Avenue site in Thornbury once our primary students have relocated to the Canning Street campus.


How can we enroll?

We still have places available for Year 7 in 2025, so if our program seems like a good fit for your child, please contact us.


Notes from our Principal

Fitzroy Community School, a leading light in Melbourne schooling since its founding in 1976, will offer a year seven program. In keeping with the FCS mission, we aim for partnerships with parents in the raising of happy, able, and well-rounded citizens. Our graduates speak to the success of this endeavour through their abilities and character. This experience informs our next adventure, where we will utilise the knowledge and experience gained over the last four decades to add to the junior secondary years.

Our year seven (and future year eight) program will extend these young people, giving them the academic skills to be active citizens and building confidence and self-belief that they can make a difference. Our camps and sporting offerings, combined with our social activities and community service engagements are aimed at expanding the capacities of young teens. We believe that immersion in a program in which academics, physical confidence and interpersonal skills are learnt, encouraged and expanded will see these young people flourish.

Our experience to date has led us to the realisation that there are some young people who want more, who want to go further, who want to strive and grow and make a contribution. Our year seven and eight programs are offered to aspirational all-rounders. This program will not suit all students. Our offering is for those young people who are eager, who want to be challenged and challenge themselves, not just in the classroom, but in the wider world, and who have a sense that a full life involves helping the group you find yourself in work a little better.

The confidence to contribute, to be heard and believe in oneself comes from success. This comes not from spoon fed and neatly packaged achievements, but through effort, overcoming setbacks, facing challenges and the developing insights into how things could have gone differently.

My experience of young people is that many really do want things to go well, to help, to offer their energy and abilities to make things better. Many don’t know what to do or lack the confidence to contribute to the gaps that they identify. The mix of academic, social and physical challenges that inform our program is the vehicle through which skills and self-belief are made real. Our school believes that we have a duty to work for the common good and to make a positive difference. Students will expected to seek out neighbours and others in our local community experiencing loneliness and illness, and to offer support.

The children who have had the good fortune to attend Fitzroy Community School have flourished through having leaders of character, working with educators who live the qualities that we aspire to nurture in our children. In launching this new venture, Kate fits this mould of good people who through their attributes and personality inspire and cultivate goodness in our children. Kate has a keen insight into the path to character, has thought deeply about child-raising and is confident to listen to her heart in determining the best path forward. It is therefore my great pleasure to have Kate in the role of Head of Campus for this venture of Fitzroy Community School.

Yours,
Timothy Berryman (Principal)

Outside games
Listening before the game

Please contact us if you'd like to come for a visit