Regents School of Austin
CORAM DEO
WELCOME TO REGENTS Dear Prospective Family, Regents School of Austin is a Christian community committed to providing a nurturing, challenging educational environment for your child and your family. Our teachers seek to cultivate students by encouraging academic and spiritual development in every activity. Our curriculum is richly influenced by the classical tradition of learning. Students learn to build upon civilization’s great ideas by reading important literature, studying the history and languages of our common past, and by engaging the modern scientific and mathematical world around us. Fine arts and athletics are a vital component of each student’s learning experience. Students are involved in a wide variety of co-curricular activities, beginning in the Grammar School and extending through their Upper School careers. We look forward to helping you explore what a Regents education can offer your child. As you go through this journey, please let us know if you have any questions. Blessings,
Rod Gilbert Head of School
History and Mission
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ince Regents inception in 1992, the founders’ vision is one of fostering Christian character and academic excellence. We integrate God’s word into every area of the student’s experience. The Regents classical program expands each student’s academic potential by blending traditional, structured forms of study with opportunities for independent and creative thought. Our desire is for students to become highly skilled problem solvers who can apply classical thinking to the great challenges of our time.
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he mission of Regents is to provide a classical and Christian education founded upon and informed by a Christian worldview, which equips students to know, love, and practice that which is true, good, and beautiful, and which challenges them to strive for excellence as they they live purposefully and intelligently in the service of God and man.
Walking the Garden at the Science and Nature Center
Character Development
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he goal of Regents is to train students to fully engage both their hearts and their minds to know God. We want our students to have a relationship with God through Christ and we prepare them for this lifelong pursuit by educating them within a thoroughly Christian worldview. Combining Christian faith and the classical tools of learning uniquely equips our students with wisdom and eloquence, two necessary qualities of successful leaders.
Parental Involvement
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egents recognizes that parents are the primary educators of their children and seeks a close, productive partnership to help each student reach their highest educational, spiritual, and social potential. Teachers and staff are vital partners with parents in their child’s education. The basis of this partnership is a mutual understanding of each other’s complementary roles and develops through conversation, joint work, and friendship. The Regents Parent Council is an integral part of facilitating active parental involvement in many aspects of school life. Beyond the classroom and the events, parents form relationships that turn our campus into a warm and cohesive community.
“We came to Regents to protect our child from the world; now we know we are here to prepare him for the world.” - Judy Grigsby, a Regents parent
Challenge the Mind
“I am so grateful for the Harkness-style learning and emphasis on Rhetoric at Regents. It forced me to critically think and persuasively argue my opinion more than any experience I have ever had.� - Nancy Page Lowenfield, Class of 2005
The Classical Approach
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egents academic guiding principles are two-fold: to integrate God’s word into the curriculum and instruction and to capitalize on the Western liberal arts tradition. Regents students are immersed with Christian wisdom and training in classical eloquence, uniquely equipping them for leadership in the contemporary world. To create this environment, our students learn in ways that best fit their cognitive and developmental stages. The classical structure provides a sequence of content and skills in keeping with a student’s natural ability to absorb facts, to analyze concepts, and to express themselves as they synthesize their accumulated knowledge and understanding.
Grammar School: Memorize
Students in grades K-6 benefit from a building-block approach to each subject based on their vast capacity to absorb information. Facts, rules, and discoveries in every field are learned through memorization, chants, songs, drama, poetry, and games – a wide spectrum of enjoyable methods to engage auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. The caring and loving atmosphere provides consistent training in essential Christian values.
School of Logic: Analyze
Regents 7th and 8th graders’ budding critical thinking skills are sharpened by the rules of logic. Their newfound desire for independent thought is stimulated and challenged as they learn the basis for sound and true arguments. They are trained for the future by learning to test an idea’s internal integrity as well as its consistency with God’s word. Teachers and coaches mentor each student toward emotional, spiritual, physical, and academic independence. The low student to teacher ratio provides for personal accountability between teachers and students and helps to prepare students for the challenges of the future. The core curriculum of math, logic, composition, Latin, history, Bible, literature, and science is enhanced by the many opportunities in athletics, drama, music, speech, and visual arts.
School of Rhetoric: Synthesize
Grades 9-12 prepare students for leadership through rigorous academics and a broad range of cultureshaping experiences. The School of Rhetoric program hones eloquence, poise, leadership, and academic initiative. Much of a rhetoric student’s classroom experience is conducted around oval Harkness tables that encourage conversation and meaningful interaction between the teacher and classmates. Here students explore the humanities in an integrated, four-year sequence of study, chronologically examining the Western traditions of art, literature, history, theology, and philosophy. Students who excel in math and sciences have the opportunity to engage in accelerated study. A state-of-the-art laser optics lab lends a unique opportunity for students interested in extending the learning and application of science outside of the classroom. Each spring, Regents seniors present and defend their senior theses before a panel of judges and their peers. This annual exercise demonstrates that our seniors have gained the ability to think independently on topics of public importance and to promote their ideas in a public setting. The School of Rhetoric curriculum positions students for selective college and university admissions. Regents graduates have gone on to distinguish themselves at some of the nation’s top institutions of higher learning.
Tend the Garden Science and Nature Center
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he Regents Science and Nature Center provides a living forum for students and families to learn about God’s creation through interactive, hands-on experiences. This enchanted sanctuary includes vegetable and flower gardens tended by the Grammar School, a horticulture training center, the Chimney Rock Amphitheater, butterfly gardens, a teaching pond, and stables and pens for livestock. As students plant and harvest, they gain valuable lessons in the wonders of work and God’s creative order. Caring for animals provides a tangible education in life cycles, while connecting students to our agricultural heritage.
Live the History
Curriculum Integration
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pecial programs include reenactments, period entertainment, costumes, speeches, music, food, games, plays, and dances. Medieval feasts, mystery meals, colonial fairs, and role plays are fun ways to reinforce the important lessons learned in each classroom. Regents allows experiential learning and theoretical knowledge to connect as a match to a fuse, sparking an even greater understanding of the world around us.
Field Trips
Travel the World
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o further enhance our unique curriculum, students embark on annual travel. These trips are included in the cost of tuition in order to ensure that every student receives the benefit of our “traveling classrooms.� Kindergartners through third graders experience caverns, gardens, the zoo and museums to bring their study of history and science to life. Overnight field trips begin in fourth grade as students explore conservation, space flight, and the Civil War. Seventh and eighth grade curriculum is enriched by field trips that further explore biology, civil rights issues, geology, and poverty through a biblical worldview.
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leventh graders cap off three years of Western civilization studies by traveling to Rome, Florence, London, and Paris. Seniors visit the East Coast to complete their year of American studies.
Ministerium or service projects are an integral part of off-campus experiences from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Grammar school students serve at the local food bank, work on a ranch for handicapped children, and aid local churches and community organizations. Seventh through twelfth grade students minister based on need in our city, state, and beyond.
Hear the Harmony
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he Regents mission statement issues the charge “to know, love, and practice that which is true, good, and beautiful.� This challenge is the heartbeat of the Regents Fine Arts Department. Students share their God-given abilities through recitals and TMEA, TPSMEA, TAPPS and PSIA competitions. Music training begins in kindergarten with a musical journey that continues through grade twelve. Students in fifth through twelfth grade are offered electives in choir, band, jazz band, and orchestra, where they perform various genres ranging from classical to contemporary scores.
Portray the Passion
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ance and drama instruction begins in the Grammar School and extends through the Schools of Logic and Rhetoric. Grammar School students sharpen their skills through performances of abridged versions of classical works, while students in the Schools of Logic and Rhetoric perform in recitals and full-scale plays.
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See the Beauty
n the art studio, students study tone and texture, symbolism, and expression in the works of ancient masters and modern artists alike. Classical training provides a solid platform which allows the students to develop their unique artistic expressions.
“...Just as we teach our students to speak well, we also teach our students to create well.� - Lea Whatley, Art Instructor
Commit to the Team
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egents Athletics, rightly understood as an integral part of education, complements our greater mission at Regents. Lessons of commitment, teamwork, tenacity, and overcoming adversity are advanced on our courts and fields. It is in the midst of “running to win the prize” that our student-athletes experience great life lessons. These lessons go beyond the x’s and o’s and into the heart of each one as they develop a love for Christ and service to those around them.
Exceed the Challenge
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ore than 80% of the students in grades 6-12 compete in football, volleyball, baseball, basketball, cheerleading, golf, tennis, soccer, swimming, lacrosse, cross country, or track in the AIPL and TAPPS leagues. Regents commitment to excellence in these team sports is reflected in multiple state championship wins and perennial district and state playoff berths in virtually every sport. Along the way, our programs also provide wonderful opportunities to strengthen the larger community of Regents. Relationships built on the sidelines provide cohesiveness among our parents as they support their children. Enthusiastic participation is important as we continue to seek to honor God through our athletic program.Â
Compete to Win
The Regents Name
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he definition of a ‘regent’ is “one who rules or administers during the absence of a sovereign.” In the biblical creation record (Genesis 1:26-28), God made man in his image to have dominion over the earth. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we understand that we are not the sovereign ones, but we are waiting and in active service until our Sovereign returns. We are the Lord’s regents and as such we are to be responsible caretakers and rulers over all that he has placed in our hands, including our intellectual and spiritual gifts and responsibilities. Thus, the school is for regents, and it is our prayer that the education provided by Regents School of Austin will help prepare our children for this undertaking.
Our Motto
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he motto for Regents is the Latin phrase Coram Deo, which means “before the face of God” or “in the presence of God.” This short, profound phrase, coined during the Reformation, conveys the essence of what it means to follow Christ the Lord in the totality of our lives. We are to live “before the face of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” We desire to match every aspect of Regents to this all-encompassing principle.
Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory
- Psalm 115:1a