St Andrew's Cathedral School

Tucked behind Town Hall in Sydney’s CBD, St Andrew’s Cathedral School has been Sydney’s quintessential city school for more than 130 years, balancing the diversity inherent in its city location with an emphasis on community. Based on its Christian foundation, the school has essential convictions about the dignity of every student — each one unique, loved by God and gifted for a purpose. A focus on character development sets the foundation for academic excellence and pastoral care. Fifteen character strengths — such as courage, hope, persistence and open-mindedness — have been carefully chosen to signpost life at the school, and these qualities are regularly reinforced in classrooms, assemblies, in the outdoor education program and on the sporting field. St Andrew’s diverse community nurtures empathetic thinkers, equipped to thrive in the heart of the CBD and out into the world. Throughout the junior school, students benefit from a combination of cognitive science, inquiry-based learning and explicit teaching in a structured environment, all with a goal of promoting deep learning. This approach extends to Gawura, the award-winning Kindergarten to Year 6 school for First Nations children that was established by St Andrew’s Cathedral School in 2007. From Year 7 to Year 10, the NSW curriculum is taught through the lens of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) of the International Baccalaureate, an internationally recognised framework representing best practice methodology for middle schoolers that ensures they will be challenged at every stage of learning. In senior college, around one-third of students opt to continue with the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme with the remainder pursuing the HSC. Both graduate credentials offer an enormous breadth of subjects. The supportive learning environment and commitment from expert teachers ensure our students are equipped to reach their academic potential. Typically, more than 93 per cent of our HSC and IB Diploma graduates are offered their first or second choice of university course.