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School Boards

Problems we solve for Christian School Boards

Are you facing Governance challenges?

As a sector, Christian schools have been gaining market share in recent decades, but as regulatory pressure increases, many face governance challenges.

These challenges can include conflict between church interests and school interests, particularly as the church and school are often on the same site. The constitutions of many schools mandate that board members have to come from their parent church, thus making it difficult to secure qualified and willing board members.

Christian Education Ministries can help address these issues directly.

Are you lacking the capital to expand?

It can be hard to finance the growth plans of an independent Christian school, particularly when they are approaching that critical mass of 300 to 500 students.

Attracting enrolments has become competitive with various school groups expanding and the Catholic sector investing heavily. Without good facilities and support services, a school is less appealing to the public.

Christian Education Ministries has the marketing experience and financial means to grow enrolments and compete strongly against other schooling offers.

Are you losing senior secondary students?

Small-to-medium-sized Christian schools struggle to offer the breadth of subject choices necessary to maintain students through to Year 12 graduation. Post COVID-19, many schools are struggling to find qualified teachers for senior subjects as well.

Not having a strong senior offer makes the whole secondary school less appealing. Families are less likely to join in Year 7 if the school isn’t offering the subjects they want for senior secondary.

Christian Education Ministries has a full suite of online subjects available to help schools in NSW, WA and Queensland. Schools can just access the content and provide their own teachers, or they can be taught online by our registered teachers. Our learning program is based on the Australian Curriculum and the Year 11-12 content is unique to each state.

Are you concerned about financial sustainability?

Maintaining the enrolments of a Christian school can be difficult when the original visionaries who started the school have moved on, the demographics of the area change or other local schools significantly upgrade their facilities.

You may feel like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders when it comes to your school's financial responsibilities.

Christian Education Ministries offers solutions that can help your school maintain its fiscal responsibility. This stability and our other services can help schools set up for a new phase of growth.

Are your intake enrolments inconsistent?

Securing a consistent intake of new enrolments in the early years of an independent Christian school can be challenging. One year there's almost enough enrolments to create an extra class, but the next year there are lots of places to fill.

Opening an onsite long day care centre is the answer to ensuring a more consistent flow of Kindy or Prep enrolments from one year to the next. But long day care centres operate under a completely different set of legislative requirements to schools.

Christian Education Ministries offers a turnkey solution for starting your own long day care centre. We'll help you every step of the way, from designing your curriculum to getting your licence approved. Plus, our experienced team will help you get enrolments right from the start.

Are your enrolments stagnant or declining?

It can be difficult to maintain enrolment numbers when there are threats from within the school community or from without. There are many marketing agencies ready to help you, but few that really understand the nuances of local area marketing for schools.

Christian Education Ministries can help you overcome these challenges with our marketing services. We have a team of experts who can help you attract more families to your school and increase your enrolment numbers.

School Board Challenges

The complexity of running an independent Christian school has increased significantly over the last 20 years. The Christian schooling movement really took off in the 1970s when it was easier to start a school and maintain registration. A lot has changed since those times and Boards now face the serious responsibilities of managing the strategic, financial, audit, risk and legal aspects of schools.

Many School Boards spend their meetings wrestling with how to achieve outcomes such as:

Finding skilled Board members who have the experience to guide decisions
Separating Church and School Governance
Keeping fees low and reducing administration costs
Expanding subject choice in the secondary years to retain students
Stressing about debt issues

If your Board is struggling with a combination of these issues, we can help. Why not just invite us in for a chat?

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Let’s have a coffee (or an informal zoom)

If you’re interested in chatting governance or other ways CEM’s capabilities might benefit your school, please contact us at [email protected].