A New Schedule: Better Suited to You
Front Range Christian School constantly seeks to improve the way we educate your children, from curriculum and educational processes to fully exploring our partnership with the Christian home, ensuring that school and home life compliment, not compete, with each other. To that end, there are some big changes coming to the schedule next school year, most notably at the secondary campus.
No schedule is perfect, but these changes help address some issues that we have identified and others that were highlighted by students and parents through year-end surveys.
While the changes are primarily at the secondary campus, some will impact elementary families, so this email is going out to all parents, staff, and students grades 7-12.
We are committed to using everything at our disposal to increase the efficacy of our efforts to achieve our mission and vision. We believe this schedule change helps us do just that. Please continue reading to learn more about the changes and why they were made.
If, after reading this email, you have questions, we’ve compiled a Q&A on our website, or you can reach out to us.
In His Service,
Eli Spector, Jr/Sr High Principal
Jill Hart, Elementary Principal
David Cooper, Head of School
Download Jr High Schedule Download Sr High Schedule
BACKGROUND
Over the past 18 months, we have assessed the effectiveness of the Jr/Sr High schedule and explored potential improvements. After extensive research and practical work, we have come to the conclusion that a change to our present schedule is required.
As we delved into this process, there were a couple guideposts we kept at the forefront of our minds:
- Front Range Christian School partners with the Christian home and the church in training children for life and equipping them to impact the world for Christ.
- Front Range Christian School offers a Christian liberal arts, discipleship-based education which produces graduates who are culture makers for Christ.
VALUES
If these are our guideposts, then any schedule we create must reflect the values inherent in those statements:
- Family time is sacred: We must create a schedule which does not unnecessarily remove time from the families with whom we partner. This is why we found a way to start later while keeping our end time the same.
- Collaboration is a critical part of successful teaching: We must preserve a dedicated space for faculty and departmental meetings. To this end we held on to a late start day and departmental nexus meeting times.
- Discipleship is essential to who we are: We must preserve and intentionally locate dGroups, Chapel, GO!, and discipleship courses within the schedule. In the new schedule, the Becoming Like Christ course (discipleship training for upperclassmen) moved to a time more accessible to our students, Chapel now starts the day on Wednesdays along with the addition of a homeroom period for all students. These changes create a more intentional time of community development. The homeroom time adjacent to Chapel invites an atmosphere of community and school spirit while increasing the focus on Chapel.
- A Christian liberal arts education inherently requires balance: We must find a way to balance core classes, fine and practical art classes, and specialized opportunities within the schedule.
THE CHALLENGES
Holding those values firmly in mind, we set out to solve some practical problems inherent to our present schedule:
- The current schedule does not allow for a drop-off time in-sync with the Elementary: This creates a problem for families with students at both campuses. It also creates a conflict for faculty at the secondary campus who have elementary students.
- The current schedule does not match our educational philosophy: Because of the way that current rotating schedule works, we are often forced to “squeeze” our most valued classes into a system that does not prioritize them. Our present schedule causes student leadership opportunities, junior high dGroups, and many of our fine arts courses to be in conflict. This conflict forces hard choices regarding staffing, student opportunities, and facility use.
- The current schedule does not allow for balance between core classes, electives, and athletics: Students are largely unable to take elective courses because it conflicts with other aspects of the rotating schedule, and students are unable to make full use of facilities like the performance training center due to schedule constraints. This inhibits our ability to offer opportunities in specialization and balance within the liberal arts.
- The current schedule does not allow part-time teachers and part-time students to realistically work or study at FRCS: Because the rotating schedule locates classes at various times throughout the week, it is very difficult for part-time teachers and students to make the schedule work for them.
SOLUTIONS
While no schedule is perfect, we do believe the changes in this new schedule will better serve our families and students while allowing us to pursue our educational mission and vision more effectively. Here is a summary of changes:
- The new schedule changes the start time for Jr/Sr High time to 8am (except on the late-start day). This aligns with Elementary and eliminates the start time conflict for families and employees.
- The new schedule places Chapel at a better time for meaningful worship. Instead of situating it between core classes (during which students are often distracted by exams or classes), Chapel kicks off Wednesdays with an intentional focus on Christ and worship.
- The new schedule, which still has some flex in class meeting times and days, keeps class meeting times largely consistent throughout the week. This makes it easier for part-time students and staff to participate in our programming while still allowing for some weekly schedule variation.
- The new schedule provides opportunities for more unique and optimal elective offerings. Fine, performing, and practical arts courses are now able to operate during dedicated times with no conflict from core classes; there is time dedicated to physical education and fitness electives; and there is now an extended block (2 hours) that is available to all students.
- A “Morning Session” has been added which allows time for clubs, advanced specialization, and other optional learning opportunities for students.
- Late start has been moved to Wednesday. This, along with the addition of homeroom, allows for a more intentional community focus on Chapel while keeping it as the centerpiece of our week.
- Due to the change in the late start day, Elementary chapel is moving to Thursdays at the same time. This allows for those parents who enjoy attending chapel to continue to do so following the drop off of their student(s).
Have questions? Check out the Q&A about the schedule or send us an email.
Download Jr High Schedule Download Sr High Schedule
