Chapter 15: Mental Fitness at Knox Grammar School

Knox Grammar School (KGS) is an independent day and boarding school of the Uniting Church located in Wahroonga, an upper North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1924 by the Presbyterian Church of Australia as an all-boys school named after John Knox. John Knox was a church reformist who produced visionary ideals for change in education. The First Book of Discipline is a kind of manifesto for a Christian commonwealth; it is informative about the importance of a holistic education and the benefits of quality learning for society. Since opening, the School has grown and now is one of the largest schools in the southern hemisphere, with over 2,700 students and 360 staff. The school also caters to approximately 160 boarding students from 7 to 12 years of age. Like most in the education sector, Knox Grammar School has highly passionate staff, yet in 2008, it found itself not performing academically, and in 2009, dealing with negative media coverage. During this time there was little interaction between departments and very little collaborative learning between teachers.