Beyond the Classroom
At Christchurch, the Great Journeys curriculum refuses to stay indoors. The river, the bay, and the people around us become the classroom, and learning engages all five senses.
The Great Journeys Curriculum
When the Whole World Is the Lesson
The Great Journeys curriculum introduces students to field research in the sciences and environmental stewardship, and it carries the river into subjects you would not expect. Rather than only going to the board to solve a calculus problem, students head to the riverbank and put those concepts to work measuring shoreline erosion. Hands-on research and real-world experience stir a sense of adventure and reach students far beyond what textbooks alone could ever do.
The geography, ecology, history, economy, and culture of the Chesapeake Bay area offer endless room to explore. Students visit local farms and fisheries and interview residents whose heritage, dialect, and livelihoods are tied to the land Christchurch calls home. It is the kind of analytical thinking and spirit of exploration that makes Christchurch the start of a lifetime of learning, not the end of one.
What It Looks Like
One River, Every Subject
A single morning on the water can turn up in four different classes.
MathematicsStudents measure shoreline erosion along the river, turning a calculus concept into something they can see and stand in. |
Visual & Performing ArtsThat same osprey becomes the subject of a painting or a short film. |
World LanguagesAn osprey soars overhead, and the assignment is to describe the arc of its flight in Spanish. |
ScienceField research and environmental stewardship begin right at the water's edge. |
Grades 11 & 12
Independent Projects
In their junior and senior years, students complete an interdisciplinary project of their own design. Every project draws on at least two academic disciplines and includes research, writing, documentation, and a spoken component, with the specific format set by each grade level. It is a chance to approach school from a position of interest, connection, depth, and meaning.
Ownership
Develop a genuine personal interest and take independent ownership of the work.
Core Skills
Build research, writing, speaking, and documentation skills that carry into college.
Connection
Demonstrate how skills and ideas from different disciplines work together.
Junior Year
Find the Question
Students identify an area of real interest and conduct meaningful, real-world research, learning enough about their topic to imagine how it could become action.
Senior Year
Turn It Into Action
Students carry that research forward, directing it into a project that puts what they have learned to work.
Grade-Level Immersion Trips
The Mid-Atlantic Is Our Field Site
Each grade spends three days off campus in a different part of the mid-Atlantic Tidewater region, conducting field research, exploring, and interviewing local residents to understand their history and the challenges they face today. The experience promotes environmental stewardship and often sparks a connection to nature that lasts long after students leave Christchurch.
See the Full Four-Year JourneyLearning in Action
It's all connected
Explore the Christchurch Experience
What happens beyond the classroom is woven into the journey, the laboratory, and the rigor of the program.