Athena School

Athena School
Location
Newtown, New South Wales
Australia Australia
Coordinates 33°53′44.04″S 151°10′28.10″E / 33.8955667°S 151.1744722°E / -33.8955667; 151.1744722Coordinates: 33°53′44.04″S 151°10′28.10″E / 33.8955667°S 151.1744722°E / -33.8955667; 151.1744722
Information
School type Private Comprehensive Coeducational School
Motto Persistence - Integrity - Understanding
Grades K-10
Website www.athena.nsw.edu.au

The Athena School is an independent, co-educational school for Preschool to Year 10 students located in Newtown, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The teaching approaches of the school are based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. The school is registered by the NSW Board of Studies and is a member of the Association of Independent Schools.

The school is notable for being the only Study Tech school in the area that claims a 1:15 (or below) teacher-to-student ratio.[1]

Athena School and The Church of Scientology

The school is affiliated with the Church of Scientology[2][3] with teachings based on L. Ron Hubbard's philosophy of education, centered on overcoming the fundamental barriers that prevent one from fully comprehending one’s studies.[4] Per their website, the school states, "The Athena School is licensed under Applied Scholastics International to utilise the educational philosophy of author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. As he is also the founder of Scientology, there can be some assumption that The Athena School is a religious school when we are not. The Athena School does not promote any one religion. Our students learn tolerance and respect in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."[5]

Since 2007, all teachers are registered with the Institute of Teachers.[6]

The Athena School follows the guidelines set out by the NSW Board of Studies in its curriculum.[7]

In March 2010 the Greens New South Wales party lodged an official complaint about the school to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission due to an advertising leaflet which fails to reveal the school's link to Scientology. The Principal of the school said the Applied Scholastics study method did not teach the Scientology religion, "We follow the Board of Studies curriculum. We use the study method of L. Ron Hubbard. It is a method of study, it is not teaching Scientology."[8]

Green School program with Street Coolers

In 2015 the school started a "green school" program with Street Coolers, a community-focused organisation with a mission to cool our urban areas. This involved the school utilising several machines capable of creating several kilograms of compost per day, a reverse-vending machine open to the public, which allows individuals to recycle plastic bottles and aluminium cans for coupons, as well as energy and weather monitoring to assess power usage and how the weather affects this.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Archived 12 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Senate" (PDF). Official Hansard. Parliamentary Debates 39 (16) (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, published 2000-11-10). 2000. p. 19. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
  3. ↑ Burke, Kelly (2003-06-24). "Scientology class suits shy Hindu". Religion in Schools (The Sydney Morning Herald). Retrieved 2007-10-25.
  4. ↑ "The Barriers to Study". Athena.nsw.edu.au. 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  5. ↑ "Is The Athena School a Scientology School?". Athena.nsw.edu.au. 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
  6. ↑ "Welcome to The Athena School | Private School in Sydney | Primary School | High School | Independent School". Athena.nsw.edu.au. 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  7. ↑ http://www.athena.nsw.edu.au/curriculum/
  8. ↑ "Greens refer Scientology school to consumer watchdog - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 2010-03-09. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  9. ↑ "Paving The Way For Sustainable Schools | The Athena School". The Athena School. Retrieved 2015-12-16.

Further reading

External links


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