Live to be kind. Learn to be wise.

Established in 2009, Daylesford Dharma School is Australia’s pioneering independent primary school that integrates the Australian Curriculum with Buddhist philosophy.

As a not-for-profit institution, we blend academic learning with practices of kindness, compassion, and mindfulness, creating a heart-led and experiential environment for our students. Our community fosters a strong sense of belonging, crucial for early childhood development, helping children understand themselves and their place in the world.

This foundation of self-awareness and compassion supports our students and alumni as they transition to secondary education with resilience and moral character. Our education subcommittee has crafted the Australian Dharma Curriculum, a comprehensive approach to social-emotional learning that enables teachers to deliver the Australian Curriculum through Buddhist principles.

This program features daily lessons focused on core values and our Five Precepts, ensuring that creativity and the arts are integral to our holistic education, nurturing well-rounded individuals ready to embrace life’s challenges.

The Five Precepts – Our School Values

At our school, values and rules are expressed in a genuine and non-punitive way to instil self-reflection and growth in our students and our community. We provide students with a vocabulary to describe how they are feeling and set behavioural expectations that enable self-reflection and growth. In this way, language guides the child’s social intelligence to understand what the experience of others might be as they develop their intrinsic wisdom and character. The Precepts are a useful lens through which students can develop their inner resources and examine their community, and our staff practice and uphold these values through daily meditation and mindfulness practices.