Biblical Character Formation at CGCS
At CGCS, partnership with families has always been one of our greatest strengths. We are grateful for the trust you place in us and for the open, honest conversations that help us grow stronger together. Transparency, communication, and a shared commitment to developing children in a Christ-centered environment remain central to who we are.
Over the past several months, we have listened to feedback on a variety of topics important to student growth, including how we teach character, relationships, emotional awareness, and personal responsibility. We appreciate the thoughtful questions, concerns, and conversations many of you have shared. Your engagement reflects deep care for your children and for the mission of CGCS.
As we have listened to families, staff, and supporters, one thing has become clear: while the concepts we have been teaching are not new, we have not always communicated our approach as clearly as we could have. If that created confusion or concern for some families, we sincerely apologize. The feedback we have received has helped us better articulate who we are, what we teach, and why we teach it.
After prayerful discussion and review, we want to reaffirm that our mission, vision, and core values have not changed. Since our founding, CGCS has been committed to developing the whole child—heart, soul, mind, and body—through a Christ-centered approach rooted in Scripture and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Moving forward, we will use the term Biblical Character Formation (BCF) to describe this area of student development. We will continue teaching lessons related to character, relationships, emotional awareness, wisdom, and personal responsibility through a distinctly Biblical framework, using God's Word as our source of truth and the life of Jesus as our example for daily living.
As part of this transition, we will no longer use Second Step as a curriculum provider. We are grateful for the structure and helpful topics it provided, and for the thoughtful work our staff invested in adapting lessons for our students. That work has helped clarify important areas of focus and has prepared us well for this next step. However, we believe BCF more clearly reflects who we are as a Christian school and allows us to teach these concepts directly from Scripture and within our mission.
Linked below you will find a document that explains our approach in greater detail. This information will also be available on our website so current and prospective families can better understand what we teach and why we teach it. In the coming months, we also plan to provide sample lessons for families who would like a closer look at how Biblical Character Formation is taught at CGCS.
We are excited about this direction and confident it will strengthen our school community as we continue helping students grow as confident, compassionate, resilient, and faith-filled leaders. If you have questions or would like to discuss Biblical Character Formation further, please reach out to a teacher, administrator, or member of our leadership team. We welcome the conversation.
Thank you for your partnership, your prayers, and your continued support of Community of Grace Christian School.
