Explore 100 acres of school grounds, chat to staff and experience everything Chev has to offer.
It’s not easy running a school, teaching in a school or being a student in a school at the moment, but the Chevalier College community has been getting on with it with good humour, positivity, resilience and some savvy safety processes.
Now, Chev’s school tours are super popular with local families making the all-important decision about which high school to select for their child – it’s such a huge decision, isn’t it? And you want to get it right. Breathe….you can do this!
So, we were keen to hear from the team at Chev about how they’re going to run COVID safe tours in 2020. No surprises here – they are allllll over it. The tours will be family friendly, super safe and they sound pretty awesome too.
Here’s what you need to know about the Family Safe Private Tours at Chevalier College.
They will be held in the school holidays
Block out the 29th and 30th of September in your diaries! The tours will be held in the school holidays. Such a great idea because it means the kids can come along too and get a fantastic feel for all that Chev has to offer. Tours will run in small groups and be led by the staff at 9am, 10:30am, 1pm and 2:30pm. Bookings are absolutely essential with limited availability based on the numbers the school can have on campus – so don’t dilly dally! Register here.
Keeping everyone safe and healthy is the priority
When this whole global pandemic reared it’s ugly head, Chev got on the front foot and appointed an Assistant Principal responsible for implementing COVID Safe measures and procedures across the entire school community, including the private tours.
So that means when you book your spot online, you will be asked to fill in a registration form – this helps the school track all visitors in the unlikely situation of an active case and it also means they can manage how many families are on campus at any one time.
When you arrive, you will have your temperature checked, be asked to wear a face mask and of course will have to hand sanitise.
“We take protecting our teachers and students and visitors to our school very seriously,” says Principal Chris McDermott.
“It’s a two-way thing. We’ll take care of our visitors and they can help keep us safe too.”
You will still experience and see loads of awesome things
The private tours are set up for social distancing and to minimise anyone touching doors and equipment, but that doesn’t mean the experience will be watered down in any way. You can;
- Watch videos of super-talented students on the big screen in the Performing Arts Centre.
- View thought-provoking Year 12 Visual Arts major works.
- Wander through STEM classrooms and watch 3D Printers at work or check out science experiment set-ups and watch the experiment on video.
- Head into the Multi-Purpose Hall to learn more about Wilderness, a fabulous program that gets the kids outdoors and into nature – we love it!
- Meet the furrier members of the school community at the working farm. Say hi to alpacas, cattle, sheep, chickens and check out the veggie gardens.
- Visit the ground-breaking Trade Skills Centre and learn about the awesome VET (Vocational Education and Training) learning pathways this fantastic facility can offer your child. Such a great idea!
- Swing by Jules Café, where students are trained in hospitality (another VET initiative – so good!)
Staff will be onsite to answer all your super-important questions
“Normally, our students run the school tours but this year it will be staff,” Principal McDermott says.
“It’s a bit sad for us that visitors won’t be able to meet the kids. They’re such an engaging part of our school tours, but we have fantastic staff guiding each group around the campus.”
You can also meet and speak to key members of the Chevalier College team, from the Principal and Wellbeing staff through to the Assistant Principal of Learning & Teaching, there will be plenty of opportunity for both you and your children to ask questions.
It’s a great way to get a feel for the importance of student wellbeing at Chevalier College
These guys take the wellbeing of their students super seriously. There are two Assistant Principals of Wellbeing, supported by two full time counsellors (both trained psychologists), an Academic Care Co-ordinator and wellbeing co-ordinators.
“What is really special about how we support our students wellbeing is our vertical home room structure,” says Principal McDermott.
“Students from Years 7 – 12 will be in the same home room throughout their school career. This creates a sense of family and sets up opportunities for leadership as the older ones connect with the younger ones,” he says.
“I’m a home room teacher and it’s the most glorious part of my day. It’s such a good way to engage with our students. I know when they’re celebrating, when they’re sad, when something is going on at home….I treat them like my own kids. And I would go to the ends of the earth for them.”
You’ll get a taste for the ginormous extra-curricular program Chev has got going on
“School shouldn’t just be about 9am-3:30pm,” says Principal McDermott.
“School should support life outside of the classroom and that’s why all the staff at Chevalier College is involved in and so proud of our extra-curricular program.”
Let’s see, we’ll have a go at listing some of the awesome options available for students to get involved in, but you will definitely have to get along to the school tours to hear about all of them.
Okay, here we go. There’s debating and public speaking, the dance ensemble, the agricultural Show Team, joining the choir or any sort of music group you can imagine really – from strings to jazz to the concert band – and more, mock trials, drama, musical theatre, stacks of individual and team sports from more traditional sports like rugby union through to adrenaline charged sports like mountain-biking.
See? We told you there was a big extra-curricular program. We might need to take a nap now!
Discover the huge amount of learning pathways and choices available to students at Chev
Hands up who has more than one child. (Our hands are up!). And how different are each of your kids? (Our hands are still up!) One is creative, one is sporty, one may be all about science, another may shine when building something with their hands, another is a whiz in the kitchen….all our kids are different, right?
“Because of the breadth of offering we have here – from academia through to agriculture to hospitality and the Trade Skills Centre – each student at Chevalier College can build their own learning pathway,” Principal McDermott points out.
“The choices we offer at Chev creates choices for the students once they leave school. They might go to university, or move into a trade, run a farm, play a professional sport or start their own business – anything is possible for them because of the breadth of curriculum and opportunities here.”
And we loved this point!
“If you’ve got children who are all so different, you don’t have to send them to different schools. They will find what they need to do at Chev,” Principal McDermott says.
Sounds pretty good, right? So, what do you need to do to see what Chevalier College has to offer for yourself? Just register online, get your questions ready and roll up to Chev’s Family Safe Personal Tours in the school holidays. Awesome!
Chevalier College in the Southern Highlands is widely recognised for its high standard of teaching and excellent care of students. Find out more about Chevalier College and register to book your spot at the upcoming private tours.
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