Case Study: Carey Baptist Grammar School

Overview

Carey Baptist Grammar School is an independent co-educational school in Kew, Melbourne, founded in 1923. With approximately 2,564 students across five campuses and an ICSEA of 1177, Carey is one of the largest and most resourced independent schools in Victoria (My School, 2025). Its academic performance is consistently strong, with recent cohorts achieving high proportions of ATARs above 90 alongside robust IB results.

Unlike schools in this report that have eliminated age-based progression, Carey retains year levels and credential pathways. Its innovation occurs within existing architecture, incorporating student agency, experiential learning and wellbeing-centred pedagogy through redesigned transitions, mentoring systems, expanded elective access and a new Year 10 model. It is included because it suggests what is possible within conventional structures at scale, rather than requiring wholesale structural redesign.

What Carey Does Differently

As an independent school, Carey delivers both the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program.

The Middle School (Years 7–9) operates within a dedicated precinct at the Kew campus. Year 7 students begin primarily in home rooms rather than immediately rotating through subject-based timetables, moderating the transition from primary to secondary schooling. Students are placed in cross-age Mentor Groups, with the same House Mentor remaining with the group across all three middle school years. This continuity allows mentors to develop longitudinal knowledge of students across the three years of middle schooling within a large institutional setting.

Across Years 8 and 9, students select from more than 50 elective subjects in addition to core academic studies. While year levels and subject requirements remain intact, the breadth of elective access operationalises the school’s “Challenge and Choice” philosophy, positioning student interest as a legitimate driver of engagement.

The most significant recent reform is Carey Zero for Year 10, piloted in 2022 and fully implemented from 2024. Classes are capped at 15 students, and each group is assigned a dedicated Zero Mentor who remains with them for the full year. The program includes a three-week interstate expedition, the Zero Journey, incorporating marine research, conservation fieldwork and Indigenous-led learning. Year 10 is repositioned as a developmental bridge between middle exploration and senior credential focus.

Carey reports that the shared experience of the Zero program has strengthened students’ sense of connection and belonging. The combination of small groups, sustained mentoring, extended time together and shared challenge appears to create a strong relational foundation at a point in schooling when students are preparing to move into more credential-focused senior pathways.

The program also exposes students to a broader range of career pathways and post-school possibilities. Through fieldwork, community engagement and encounters with people working across different sectors, students are invited to see future pathways as broader than conventional academic progression alone.

The Robinson River partnership is embedded within the Year 9 Indigenous Studies program. Through reciprocal visits and sustained relationships, the partnership aims to move beyond classroom study of First Nations histories toward lived encounter, relational learning and civic responsibility, particularly for students educated within a high-advantage urban context.

Carey has also participated in the University of Melbourne’s New Metrics partnership, which seeks to broaden the assessment of student learning beyond traditional academic indicators through a framework of “complex competencies” such as collaboration, agency and ethical action (Carey Baptist Grammar School, 2024).

Evidence of Impact

Carey’s academic outcomes are strong by conventional measures. In 2024, 54 VCE study scores of 40+ were recorded across diverse subjects, and an ATAR of 99.90 was achieved in 2025. The distribution of high scores across sciences, humanities, arts and vocational subjects reflects a comprehensive rather than narrowly selective cohort.

While school publications report strong academic results and participation across co-curricular programs, publicly available data does not isolate the specific effects of middle-years reforms such as Carey Zero. School-reported Mission Australia wellbeing data suggests that students involved in Carey Zero are feeling more resilient and less anxious than previous cohorts. The school also reports that the program has strengthened students’ sense of connection and belonging. These data provide useful early evidence of wellbeing and relational impact, although longitudinal research would be needed to understand whether these gains are sustained into Years 11 and 12.

Enablers

• Large enrolment base and substantial fee revenue enabling program diversification and staffing flexibility.
• High staffing ratios, including capped Year 10 class sizes and a dedicated wellbeing team, supporting relational continuity at scale.
• Multi-campus infrastructure, including specialist facilities and interstate program sites, enabling immersive experiential learning.
• Dual credential pathways (IB and VCE) providing academic flexibility while maintaining strong university entrance outcomes.
• Institutional scale allowing middle-years precinct design and structured transition models within a large school context.

Key considerations

Academic performance remains highly visible within the school’s public identity. While Carey articulates a commitment to a broader definition of success, including wellbeing, service and character development, published communications continue to foreground ATAR and IB outcomes. This creates an ongoing tension between a widened educational philosophy and the external signalling expectations of a competitive independent school sector.

The resource intensity of Carey Zero raises questions of transferability. Small Year 10 class caps, interstate expeditions and sustained community partnerships depend on substantial staffing and financial capacity. Replication in less advantaged settings would require significant structural investment.

The transition from the relationally intensive Year 10 model to the credential-driven demands of Years 11 and 12 presents a potential discontinuity. A longitudinal study would be valuable to understand how the wellbeing, belonging, resilience and pathway-awareness gains associated with Carey Zero are sustained as students move into the credential-focused senior years.

Carey operates within a high-ICSEA context. While this enables program breadth and stability, it situates the model within conditions of structural advantage. Comparisons with schools serving more socio-economically diverse communities should be made with attention to contextual difference.