Catholic Education, Diocese of Cairns

Queensland, Australia

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Newman Catholic College, Smithfield

  • Opening 2022, with approximately 100 Year 7
  • Co-located with James Cook University, Smithfield
  • The first Catholic school in Australia located within a university precinct
  • A co-educational, Catholic secondary college
  • The 30th Catholic school in the Diocese of Cairns
  • Growing a year level each year until Year 12 is reached in 2027
  • Master-planned to be built in four stages, over 10 years
  • Anticipated enrolments, when complete, of 750 – 800 students

Catholic Ethos

Newman Catholic College joins a system of 29 other Catholic schools and colleges in the Cairns Diocese. As such, the vision and values of Catholic education will underpin all that is done at Newman Catholic College, building on the fine traditions of Catholic education that already exist in the Cairns Diocese.

Students

Newman students will be young, enthusiastic members of Generation Alpha, students born from 2010 onwards. Newman Catholic College foundation students will experience a different world to the one in which many of us grew up. Generation Alpha young people will be global, digital, social, mobile and visual learners, used to multi modal ways of living and learning. The ‘why’, the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of teaching and learning need to be different to what we saw 100, 50 or even 20 years ago.  Across the globe there is growing consensus that education demands radical transformation if we want students to become future ready, in the face of a more digitally enabled, uncertain and fast changing world.

Co-location and Relationship with JCU

As the first Catholic college in Australia to be co-located on a university site, the opportunities for interaction are endless. Newman Catholic College will work collaboratively with James Cook University so that learning and teaching is enhanced at all year levels, but particularly in the senior phase of learning. The College will function separately from the university as a fully functional Catholic college in the Diocese of Cairns, with the College mindful of its responsibility to provide a safe educational environment for its students.

JCU Cairns houses state of the art teaching and research facilities which include an impressive library and innovation centre, health sciences and science facilities. The faculties of Education, Marine Science, Dentistry, Business and Creative Arts present wonderful opportunities to connect Newman Catholic College students with higher order thinking and new horizons and opportunities, not to mention access to world standard educational facilities.

Cairns Catholic Education is working closely with JCU to develop programs and partnerships which will benefit students at all levels in all Cairns Diocese Catholic colleges, but especially Newman Catholic College because of its co-location.

This partnership will provide exciting extension opportunities and transition programs for students, with the possibilities for staff interchange to foster mutual mentoring opportunities, under discussion. The benefits of the partnership will have implications for the recruitment of graduate teachers, staff professional development, and education research.

All this will be achieved by creating high-quality complementary education and training opportunities through student placements, internships and research opportunities for JCU academics and students at a multi-disciplinary level.

The professional working relationship established with JCU may see tertiary courses commenced in Years 11 and 12 and continually evolving opportunities for collaboration and support.

Educational Focus

Curriculum at Newman Catholic College will centre on design, digital and inquiry-based learning.  It will be strategic in its intent to promote the development of skills such as problem solving, critical analysis, and creative thinking; a curriculum that is innovative, digital and design focused and forward thinking.Middle school learning programs have been designed around specialist learning labs, (collaboratories), each located within an environment of interconnected spaces of varying function and scale – all aimed to facilitate easy and quick adaptation to different teaching and learning modes, to suit the middle school cohort with its varied abilities and developmental stages

Senior school learning programs will seek to provide multiple pathways for students – Newman Catholic College is not designed as an exclusive, academic school only. It will not seek to reproduce options available at other Catholic colleges, such as a Trade Training Centre, but will focus on options not currently available, for example, aviatronics, aviation and drones, and blurring the boundaries between traditional secondary and tertiary pathways.

Design

Newman Catholic College’s design provides for state-of the art facilities, delivered over a four-stage, master-planned build. Its beautiful, yet compact site on the campus of James Cook University, surrounded by rainforest-covered mountains, Atika Creek and a sports oval, was one of the inspirations for college architects, TPG Architects, to design a multi-level school which will be an exemplar of world class, contemporary, twenty-first century education design. 

Spread across four levels, the design concepts prioritise the balances between indoor/outdoor and active/passive learning areas as well as the immediacy of open spaces.  The design concepts also blur traditional learning zones, creating open and collaborative learning environments to provide flexible teaching spaces that can be adapted to future needs and changes in teaching methods, and facilitate a myriad of new opportunities for both teachers and students.

The Master Plan envisages a double-storey entry colonnade, open ground floor plaza, cafeteria, general and specialist flexible learning labs/collaboratories, upper level concourse connecting the vertical common, global learning hub, tiered seating spaces and vertical circulation, and a second-floor enclosed and air-conditioned sports/assembly hall with fixed tiered seating … a lively and dynamic place! Sustainability is also an important consideration in the college design which includes solar panels and design features and orientation to reduce energy requirements.

Embedded health and wellbeing principles have also influenced the design response, with generous visually connected internal spaces, abundant natural light, access to landscape views, provision of quiet retreat and nook spaces and staff spaces all integrated into the learning environment.

Enrolments will open at the start of Term 4 this year, for Year 7 in 2022 and Years 7 and 8 in 2023. Expressions of interest can be submitted prior to enrolments opening, at the link at the top of this page.

For further information, please see the Information Sheets and Updates to the right, or email newman@cns.catholic.edu.au

Expression of Interest Form

Information Documents

30/7/2020

Community Information Evening PowerPoint

March 2020

Information Document No. 2
Naming and Charism

June 2019

Information Document No. 1

Updates