Sydney’s northwest has seen incredible changes over the past decade, with multiple suburbs established and thousands of families moving in and now calling the area home. With high demand for education options and established schools bursting at the seams, a new Anglican college is a welcome addition.
After operating as a campus of Richard Johnson Anglican School since 2017, Marsden Park Anglican College officially opened as an independent school this year. It already has a strong primary school foundation and is on its way to becoming a full-service Prep to Year 12 school.
The inaugural Year 7 cohort has 80 students, and more than 100 are enrolled to start Year 7 in 2025 – evidence that values-based education is in demand by local families.
“Our community is aspirational,” says principal Darren Cox. “They’re moving into new houses in a new area. When you move into something new, you want something new and fresh. ‘New’ says ‘opportunity’. People are moving to Marsden Park for a house, they’re wanting opportunities for their family, for their home, and that translates to their young people.
“We’re a really multicultural school as well. The families want these incredible opportunities to thrive and flourish and give success into life and opportunities through schooling.”
Our pillars are to live with passion and purpose, love Christ and others, and lead with excellence and integrity
Marsden Park Anglican College (MPAC) will eventually be a four-stream primary and six-stream secondary school catering for 1750 students. Mr Cox is no stranger to growing a school, having previously led a new Christian high school in the Hunter Valley region for nine years. “It was a small, little school that had only just started high school, and my job was to grow the high school and grow the college,” Mr Cox says. “It is an incredible blessing to get the opportunity to do this again. I’m living the dream.”
As MPAC establishes itself, staff are excited to ingrain the college mission and pillars into the culture of the school.
“What do we want to be known as?” Mr Cox asks. “Our pillars are to live with passion and purpose, love Christ and others, and lead with excellence and integrity. We want to raise leaders now and into the future. Our motto is “Impacting the world”, and the cross is central. These are my own personal pillars as well. We’re raising our young people with the notion that they will be a positive influence in their families and in their community.”
Although Mr Cox is ambitious for his school and students, he insists that there must be room for joy and delight and he hopes to foster a culture where people can be authentically themselves.
“Schools should be engaging, fun places,” he says. “Laugh, enjoy life, but don’t mistake that for not being strategic or excellent. When starting a new school, you need energy to create momentum and bring new things in. People want to connect with people. That creates a sense of authenticity. When people are confident to be themselves, then you get the best of people. We can see joy in our teachers – it’s great to hear parents say that the staff look so happy, and it’s flowing through the school.
“I want every young person to feel validated for who they are and be the best person they can be. There are quieter students thinking they need to be louder, and louder students feeling they need to be quieter. You need to be who God created you to be. So we want to create a learning environment where every individual is celebrated, whether they are artistic or academic, sporty or scientific. I’m passionate about individuals being the fullness of who God has created them to be.”
Please pray
- for the leadership and staff as they shape and maintain a Christian culture in a fast-growing school
- for the practicalities of building a school, from development plans and construction to establishing a solid staff team
- for a sense of joyful optimism, hope and peace through a rapid season of growth and change
This story is part of our Choices: Anglican Education feature in the June-July edition of Southern Cross magazine
