Student Protection T-Shirt Competition
24/03/2020
The Child Protection Week 2020 Student Protection T-Shirt Competition is an opportunity for students in the Cairns Diocese to promote awareness about safety for themselves and others. Students will have the opportunity to help design a new student protection contact shirt, which will help students identify who the nominated Student Protection Contacts are in each school. How to enter Download an entry form below, follow the terms and conditions found on the entry form, and submit your artwork ...
Read morePrincipal Profile: David Adams-Jones, St Therese’s School, Bentley Park
18/03/2020
We spend five minutes with St Therese’s School Principal, David Adams-Jones, to find out more about what he hopes to achieve at the Bentley Park primary, what motto he lives by and what makes him most proud to be the leader of his school community. What do you hope to achieve in your role as principal? My dream is our students have a strong sense of belonging, becoming and being part to our family at St Therese’s School and that they ...
Read moreRAISE News: School Seminars Offer Support
03/03/2020
Schools throughout the Cairns Diocese, along with their P&Fs, are creating parent engagement seminars with specialist guest speakers to help parents and carers navigate parenting in today’s world. Parenting doesn’t come with an instruction manual and parents often consciously and subconsciously parent in a similar way to their own parents’ style. But times have certainly changed, and today’s youth come with new challenges such as cyber safety concerns, social media, mobile phones, screen time and ...
Read moreCOVID-19 Self-Isolation Update
03/03/2020
Department of Health have upgraded their advice regarding COVID-19. Information for schools and early childhood centres, students and their parents Students and staff returning from, or transited through Iran are now also required to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return to Australia. The self-isolation period is still applicable to persons returned or transited from mainland China, but at this time it is not required for anyone return from any other country. When this advice changes, we ...
Read moreFourteen new learning support teachers for 2020
20/02/2020Catholic Education (CE) has welcomed fourteen new Learning Support Teachers (LSTs) to schools across the diocese this year. LSTs are a vital part of the school team as they ensure that students with diverse learning needs are supported so that they can access and be successful with the Australian curriculum. The new LSTs who are now working in Catholic primary and secondary schools throughout the Cairns diocese, were inducted in Cairns earlier this month. “The purpose of the induction ...
Read morePrincipal Profile: Paul Rayner, St Augustine’s School, Mossman
17/02/2020
Hailing from the South Coast of New South Wales, Paul Rayner left the seaside city of Wollongong in 2012 to relocate to the Far North after an exciting opportunity to work in the Cairns Diocese. In 2015, he commenced in the role of Principal of St Augustine’s School, Mossman, a school he is proud to lead due its strong sense of community. What do you hope to achieve in your role as principal? Building a positive ...
Read moreRAISE News: A Play-Based Approach to Early Childhood Education
12/02/2020
Children are naturally curious, inquisitive and engaged with their environment. When their surroundings are stimulating, they learn through experiment, trial and error and discovery. In other words, they learn through play. The Reggio Emilia Approach The concept of children learning by doing is part of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, a play-based, child-led early years and primary school approach that originated in Northern Italy after WWII when parents and teachers in the city of Reggio Emilia ...
Read moreSt Monica’s Student’s Summer Space School
06/02/2020
Over the summer holidays, St Monica’s College student Mary Blee and science teacher Wanda Metcalf represented the Far North as they travelled to the USA for a once in a lifetime opportunity at NASA Space School. ‘Space School’, officially known as the CASE Space School International Study Program, provides students with an opportunity to experience leading STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) learning environments, from in-class to out-of-class settings, and is a ‘once in a ...
Read morePrincipal Profile: Cathy Barrett, Good Counsel College, Innisfail
16/01/2020
Good Counsel College Principal Cathy Barrett began her career in teaching in 1987 as a PE teacher, before teaching science and maths and later entering the Catholic system in 1995 – and never looking back! Her mother was a refugee from Latvia, giving her Latvian citizenship and she describes her three adult daughters as “the light of my life”. We learn more about the community-focused Innisfail college and Cathy’s goals as principal. What do you hope to achieve in your role as principal? ...
Read moreName Announced for Northern Beaches Catholic College
08/01/2020
The new secondary college planned for the James Cook University campus at Smithfield has been named: Newman Catholic College. Cairns Bishop James Foley announced the name following community consultation and recommendations from the Catholic Northern Beaches Parish whose parishioners strongly endorsed the recognition of the recently canonised St John Henry Newman. St John Henry Newman “Having spent considerable time with the writings of John Henry Newman, I was delighted with the local recommendation,” Bishop James ...
Read morePrincipal Profile: Gavin Rick, St Joseph’s School, Parramatta Park
10/12/2019
With more than 30 years of experience in Catholic education, Gavin is both proud and honoured to be the principal of St Joseph’s School. The Parramatta Park primary school was recently transformed from the oldest school in the city to the most modern with innovative new learning spaces inside a state-of-the-art, three-storey building. We spoke to Gavin about the values a principal should uphold, opening day of the renovated school and his proudest moment as ...
Read moreAspire to Teach
05/12/2019
Two schools in the Cairns Diocese are encouraging students to consider a career in teaching through pilot-program Aspire to Teach. Cairns Catholic Education has partnered with the Department of Education Queensland and James Cook University to develop Aspire to Teach. The program is designed to encourage Year 10 students to consider teaching as a career and was trialled at St Andrew’s Catholic College, Redlynch and St Mary’s Catholic College, Woree in Term 4, with a plan to roll it out to ...
Read moreCatholic Education Cairns to Present at 2020 Positive Schools Conference
04/12/2019
Catholic Education’s Senior Student Protection Officer Ann Barr and Professional Standards Officer Jenny Pardilla are set to present at the Positive Schools 2020 Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference. We spoke to Ann about the presentation and the submission process. Senior Student Protection Officer Ann Barr and Professional Standards Officer Jenny Pardilla What is the 2020 Positive Schools Conference? The Positive Schools conferences support the development of positive schools and colleges through the ...
Read moreOLHOC Teacher First to Receive Highly Accomplished Teacher Certification
27/11/2019
Madonna Archibald is the first teacher in the Cairns Diocese to become certified as a Highly Accomplished Teacher (HAT). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rXLS8dgbYQ&feature=youtu.be The nationally-recognised certification, which is open to all teachers, took two years to complete and was not an easy process according to the Our Lady Help of Christians, Earlville teacher. “The process of compiling a HAT portfolio is definitely not easy, but most certainly worthwhile,” Madonna said. The evidence collection is based on the teacher’s practice, how they support their colleagues, ...
Read morePrincipal Profile: Sarah Hamilton, Holy Cross School, Trinity Park
20/11/2019
This month we caught up with Sarah Hamilton, proud principal of Holy Cross School, Trinity Park. Sarah’s passion is evident when she speaks about her school, the students and families and her role as the leader of the Holy Cross school community. We spent five minutes chatting about what she hopes to achieve at Holy Cross, the impact of introducing Walker Learning to the school and how her education shaped her to be the person she is ...
Read more30 Years of NATSICC in Australia
20/11/2019
To commemorate 30 years since the first conference of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC), principals, APREs and other Cairns Diocesan staff have spent time acknowledging the Spirit and work of the First Nation people throughout the Cairns Diocese. What is NATSICC? NATSICC was formed in Cairns in January 1989 and in 1992, it gained official recognition as the national representative and consultative body to the Catholic church on issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ...
Read moreProviding Personalised Learning & Support
13/11/2019
Teachers in the Cairns Diocese are providing students personalised learning and support through new student support system, Engage. Meg Grouhel is the Catholic Education Cairns Education Officer – Inclusive Education. Education Officer Meg Grouhel is part of the Cairns Catholic Education team training and supporting teachers across the Cairns Diocese. “My role involves working with schools to build their capacity and confidence with inclusive practices particularly personalised support to ensure we support all our students, including students with diverse needs,” ...
Read moreNew Bin on the Block at St Joseph’s
29/10/2019
There’s a new charity bin on the block thanks to the ingenuity and open heartedness of students at St Joseph’s School, Parramatta Park. Parent Emma Kilfoy (centre) says the new bin is so convenient, while students Jamie Kilfoy, Indyannah Jackonia and Lewana Woolcott are excited to be able to help support Vinnies. Students at St Joseph’s recently designed their own Vinnies donation bin, which was unveiled at the school earlier this month. Donations from the bin will ...
Read more‘Socking It’ to Poverty
24/10/2019Students across the Cairns Diocese are ‘socking it’ to poverty this Socktober. Students at St Augustine’s School, Mossman wearing crazy socks for Socktober. Students are pulling up their socks and digging deep for a good cause this October with 12 schools across the Cairns Diocese participating in Socktober, an initiative of Catholic Mission. “Socktober is Catholic Mission’s new school’s engagement platform and invites schools to engage with mission encouraging a learning mind, an open heart and hands for action,” ...
Read moreSaints Boys Reunite After 30 Years
23/10/2019
The St Augustine’s College class of ’89 gathered on the weekend for an emotional, all-boys school reunion. Despite the 30 years that have passed since graduation, it was the first reunion for the cohort and one of the biggest 30th school reunions ever held at St Augustine’s College, Cairns. The St Augustine’s College, Cairns class of ’89. “The class of ’89 were a very close bunch so it was a very special and emotional day,” tells former student Brett Goodman-Jones, who ...
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