Supporting Students with Dyslexia and Significant Reading Difficulties
20/08/2019
Cairns is the only diocese in the state offering Catholic school teachers an evidence-based, tutor-led learning course: Dyslexia and Difficulties in Reading. The Dyslexia and Significant Difficulties in Reading course, which includes online and face-to-face elements, aims to assist teachers and schools to identify and respond to the personalised learning and support needs of students with dyslexia and reading difficulties. The engaging course is the first of its kind for the diocese and has been ...
Read more2019 Docemus Awards
05/08/2019
The 2019 Docemus Award recipients were presented at a special function to culminate the end of Catholic Education Week. The Docemus Awards were founded by former Cairns Catholic Education Director Tom Doolan in 2002. Meaning ‘to teach’, the awards acknowledge and celebrate the exceptional commitment, achievement and contribution to Catholic Education by staff, volunteers and supporters of Catholic Education. L-R: Cairns Catholic Education Executive Deputy Director Ian Davis with this year’s Docemus Award recipients Breye Buckland, Christine Edwards, Rita Peterson, ...
Read more2019 SOCE Awards
31/07/2019
Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all Catholic education communities around Queensland to celebrate and promote the distinctive mission of Catholic schooling: to make a difference in the lives of students and in the wider community by challenging young people to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the unsung heroes through The Spirit of Catholic Education Awards (SOCE Awards). The SOCE Awards are ...
Read moreStudents Celebrate Creativity and Sense of Sacred this CEW
29/07/2019
Cairns Catholic Education is celebrating Catholic Education Week’s 2019 theme ‘Many Voices. One Spirit’ with the launch of The Creative Arts Collective. Catholic Education Week: ‘Many Voices. One Spirit’ The theme for 2019 is ‘Many Voices. One Spirit’ with the ‘Many Voices’ representing students, teachers, families and communities from all backgrounds and walks of life, while the ‘One Spirit’ can be interpreted as faith, the Holy Spirit, charisms, school spirit, team spirit, parish spirit or family spirit. The theme brings feelings of ...
Read moreMother of Good Counsel Students Making Grounds Greener
26/07/2019
Students from Mother of Good Counsel Primary School, North Cairns (MoGC) rolled up their sleeves to make the school grounds greener on National Tree Day. MoGC students Shreya, Lachlan and Oscar planting trees with Ben Vallely from Russgo’s Wholesale Plants. National Tree Day Students from the MoGC Environment Committee planted 14 new native trees to make the school grounds greener. “Our school is very lucky to have such wonderful huge green trees lining our school oval and ...
Read moreWe Are More Engaged Than We Think
22/07/2019The P&F meetings, the fete days, the cake stalls, the calls for volunteers for school excursions, discos and athletic carnivals. Some weeks, it seems the extra pressures on parents never end. But if you can’t make it to every call out (or don’t really feel up to baking cupcakes at midnight for the cake stall), is it negatively impacting your children? According to the experts, definitely not! Cairns Catholic Education Manager – Governance and Engagement, ...
Read moreHow to Raise Resilient Children in a Chaotic World
08/07/2019
How often have you watched your child give up on something? Or mutter the phrase, “I can’t do it!”? Or break down in tears due to frustration and fear of failure? It’s a hard thing to experience when you’re a parent. But it’s also a completely normal reaction for a child. We find out more in the latest issue of Raise. All children feel vulnerable from time to time. They feel as though they are not good enough, ...
Read moreStudents’ assessments bring joy
25/06/2019
It’s rare for students to smile so much and enjoy their assessments, but earlier this month, Mount St Bernard College’s (MSB) Art and Music students did just that. The twenty Year 10 to 12 students shared their artistic talents and stories with residents at the Carinya Home for the Aged in Atherton, where they explained the meaning and techniques behind their art pieces and performed some songs to a packed room. Full marks Assessments are rolling out ...
Read moreJCU and Cairns Catholic Education announce plans for new Catholic College at Smithfield
07/06/2019
James Cook University and Catholic Education in Cairns have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to plan a new secondary college, to be located at the University’s Cairns Campus at Smithfield. The college would function as an autonomous and separate school, located on JCU land under a long-term lease. “This collaboration offers valuable opportunities for staff and students at both institutions, and would complement the ongoing growth of the campus, where construction has just begun on ...
Read more#Better Together for Brighter Futures
28/05/2019
Education sectors and Child Safety came together for the first time with a focus on improving educational outcomes for students in care, and developing practices and relationships that support the child’s present and future. Cairns Catholic Education, Department of Education and the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women will collaboratively present #Better Together for Brighter Futures – a conference held May 24 at Brothers Leagues Club.The 130 attendees comprised of team leaders and managers from ...
Read moreNational Reconciliation Week 2019
27/05/2019
Yarning Circles at CES Cairns Our staff have respectfully kicked off their shoes and opened their hearts and minds to participate in Yarning Circles as part of National Reconciliation Week. The Yarning Circles are a traditional cultural activity that has been carried out by the first Australians for 60,000 years. This week, staff at CES Cairns are having honest conversations through Yarning Circles to discuss issues in an inclusive and collaborative manner. Each ...
Read moreDevelyn’s Domestic Violence Voice
12/04/2019
Develyn Wong recently had success in the Lions Youth of the Year competition when she spoke about Domestic Violence with passion and commitment. Being a survivor herself, The Year 12 St Monica’s student is not ashamed of what happened to her. She said, “It is such a relevant topic in Australian society as the statistics are disgustingly high.” She recently spoke about the topic and a range of others at a debating competition in Mossman, progressing through ...
Read moreIt’s Virtually Year 11 Business
12/04/2019
Our young people are moving with the times where the presence of technology is ever so strong and continues to change. Classroom teachers are finding new and innovative ways to use technology to engage their students in a progressive way. Mr Breck Nielsen is the Trade Training Centre Director at St Mary’s Catholic College in Woree, and he has introduced the use of virtual reality to the school’s year 11 students studying the Diploma of Business. ...
Read moreSaints boys seeing smiles
09/04/2019
The junior and senior students at St Augustine’s gain perspective and a sense of joy by regularly giving food and friendship to people sleeping rough in Cairns. Every other week, Saints supports a team at Rosies – Friends on the Street (Cairns), alternating Saturday and Sunday nights. The Year 7 boarders make sandwiches and the Year 12 boys take the food out to Rosies, help the team pack the van, and go out to the streets to offer ...
Read moreLife insights gained from Iconic Dance Theatre
04/04/2019
Bangarra Dance Theatre recently treated twenty Mount St Bernard (MSB) College students to an exclusive performing arts workshop on the main stage at the new Cairns Performing Arts Centre. The professional dance troupe made time for the students while they were in Cairns performing their last show of the Bennelong Regional Tour in March. Students not only learnt some fantastic dance moves, but also some essential life lessons. A teacher with connections MSB’s School Officer for the ...
Read moreChange for Charity
18/03/2019
Catholic Education Services Cairns is giving change to charity with the help of the Queensland Government’s Containers for Change scheme. Catholic Education’s Karla Adam-Jones and Priscilla O’Brien, who helped launch the fundraising initiative. When the opportunity to support both the environment and a local youth charity came about, Administration Officer – Identity & Outreach, Priscilla O’Brien was eager to be involved. “As a state, Queensland has the lowest rate of recycling and as a Catholic organisation ...
Read more2019 Safeguarding Children Conference
28/02/2019
Catholic Education’s annual Safeguarding Children Conference will be held on Saturday, 27 April, from 8am to 3pm, at Pullman Cairns International. The event is organised by the Professional Standards Office as part of the Cairns Diocese’s ongoing commitment to protecting all children. The 2019 conference theme is “Stronger Communities, Safer Children” and all leadership, staff and parents of Catholic Education, other school systems, and agencies of the Catholic Diocese of Cairns, including Centacare and Catholic Early Learning and ...
Read moreNew Senior Religious Education Program for Cairns Diocese
12/02/2019The start of the 2019 academic year has brought with it a new and exciting religious education program, ‘Catholic Faith in Action’ (CFiA), in the senior secondary years of education across all schools in the Cairns Diocese. Hear from staff and students about the new Catholic Faith in Action program Dcn Michael Lindsay – CES Education Officer Identity and Outreach Jack Jenkins – Year 11 student, St Augustine’s College Cairns Molly Stager – Year 11 student, Good Counsel College ...
Read moreSafer Internet Day
04/02/2019
With our kids connected with the outside world via their devices every day, it’s important to understand how you can educate and protect them from any potential threats online. The internet is undoubtedly an incredible resource for education, connection and innovation and in our modern world children are accessing the web from a young age. Along with all the advantages this technology brings come risks such as cyberbullying, online predators, scams, inappropriate content and security breaches. Safer ...
Read moreCES Reach Out to Rough Sleepers in Cairns
13/12/2018CES staff making sandwiches for Rosies. L-R Gloria West, Jessica Skinner, Andrew McKenzie and Donna Moore. A production line of dedicated Catholic Education Cairns (CES) staff regularly team up to make sandwiches and pack personal items for homeless people sleeping rough at night in the local area. CES’ Manager of Governance and Engagement, Andrew McKenzie mobilised the organisation’s contribution to the charity ‘Rosies’ almost five years ago. “There are more than 70 people living and sleeping on the streets in the Cairns area, ...
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