Motto	One Spirit in Christ
Address	66 Owen Street, INNISFAIL QLD 4860
Postal Address	PO Box 839, INNISFAIL QLD 4860
Phone Number	(07) 4063 5300
Fax Number	(07) 4061 4659
Email Address	gcounsel@gcc.qld.edu.au
Web Site	http://www.gcc.qld.edu.au
Total Enrolments	357
Year Levels Offered	7-12
Student Population	Co-Educational
Principal	Ms Catherine Barrett
Parish Priest	Fr Kerry Crowley PP
Parish Number	(07) 4061 6633

About our School

Good Counsel College is a Catholic co-educational school situated on Mamu country in the heart of the township of Innisfail approximately 90 kilometres from Cairns. Local industry in Innisfail and surrounds is characterised by sugar cane, banana and tropical fruit farming and tourist attractions such as the Art deco architecture, Paronella Park, Snapping Tours and the Mamu Skywalk, not to mention the two beautiful rivers a short walk from the College, the North and South Johnstone Rivers. Innisfail is part of the Cassowary Coast and boasts significant populations of the beautiful Cassowary birds as well as crocodiles hence the Snapping tour! Good Counsel College is a Reef Guardian school. Good Counsel College is one of only two 7-12 schools in the town. It draws from schools as far north as Babinda and as far south as Tully.

Many changes characterised 2019 including the leadership team, the timetable, lesson lengths and staff. Throughout the year, the College actively sought to rebuild connections with the Innisfail community. Highlights of the year included: The Opening Mass at Mother of Good Counsel church, Industry Breakfast/ Good Counsel on Show, Feast Day celebrations,  Fiver for a Farmer and Vinnies fundraisers, Awards Night, Year 12 Graduation and the Final mass and Assembly. NAPLAN results showed good improvement particularly for reading in year 9 and over 80% of OP eligible Year 12s received an OP 1-15.

Good Counsel College was formed in 1975 after the merge of the Sacred Heart School for girls conducted by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan since 1903 and, the Mother of Good Counsel School for boys conducted by the Marist Brothers since 1938. The College officially became a Systemic school with Cairns Educational Services in 2015 and re-joined Marist Schools Australia in the same year.  Good Counsel College continued to develop its Catholic Identity in the Marist Way and to link with the rich Marist tradition established by St Marcellin Champagnat. It maintains a strong connection to Mother of Good Counsel Parish Church, integral also to its Catholic identity.

The College Mission Statement espouses the basic values of the College.

Faithful to the Mission of the Church, Good Counsel College educates students to develop attitudes, skills and knowledge to live as free and moral people in a complex world. Within our community we encourage, by word and example, sensitivity to diversity, the growth of spirituality, a sense of self worth and respect for others, and the striving to give of one's best. 

Characteristics of Student Body

Good Counsel College finished the year with 351 students. The Catholic feeder schools that send students to Good Counsel are St Clare's Tully, St John's Silkwood, St Rita's South Johnstone, Good Counsel Primary School, Innisfail and St Rita's Babinda. It also attracted students from the local state schools. In 2019 the percentage of Catholic students enrolled was 53%. Students that identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander was 9.1%. Cultural diversity is relatively low at Good Counsel with the majority of students born in Australia and whose parents were also born in Australia. However, there were small numbers of students with Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese or Thai background. Mostly English is the language spoken at home. Italian heritage is still a common cultural background for many students.

Attendance levels in 2019 were again noticeably poor.  68.9% of students attended 90% or more days. This was identified as an area of concern last year and attention to attendance was given to the goals for 2019. Of particular concern, was the attendance rate for year 9 and 12 students and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The retention rate dropped in 2019 with the main reason given as leaving the area. A focus on community engagement to continue has been identified as key to improving enrolments and will continue in 2019 as well as targeting new families to the Innisfail area and increasing the school's profile in the community.

School Annual Improvement

Priority 1: Whole school approach to positive relationships for learning
Smart Goals:

1. By the end of Term 1, 100% of teachers use the four basic rules- respect, responsibility, safety and preparedness as the foundation for their classroom expectations.
2. By the end of 2019, 100% of teaching staff have been profiled at least once.
3. By the end of 2019, the whole College has attendance figures >94%
4. The 2019 Satisfaction survey Category score for Catholic ethos will be >4 for all sectors.
5. By the end of Semester 1 100% of staff are using Mindfulness for 3-5 minutes at the start of lesson 3 and 5.

Priority 2: Developing expert teaching teams
Smart Goals:

1. By the end of Semester one 90% of year 7s report that they feel supported, engaged with learning and have a sense of belonging at GCC.
2. By the end of term 1 2019 the College will have a data plan in place.
3. By the end of 2019, 100% of staff are using Office 365 suite for curriculum file storage.
4. By the end of 2019, all unit plans specify how the different needs of students are addressed and how multiple opportunities to learn are provided.
5. By the end of 2019 100% of staff are using and making visible to students learning intentions and success criteria in every lesson.
6. NAPLAN results for 2019 will show an increase of 20% of students achieving at or above NMS+1 in both years 7 and 9 in Writing results.

Distinctive Curriculum Offerings

As for all secondary schools in the State of QLD, 2019 saw the introduction of the new QCE for year 11s. This impacted on subject offerings although most students could study the subjects they had chosen and curriculum offerings across the college catered for a broad range of study possibilities across all Learning Areas. The new subject of Psychology was a popular choice.

The new religion offering Catholic Faith in Action provided all year 11 students with multiple opportunities to connect with and serve the local community.

Vocational Education courses were a popular option for students with 44/55 students gaining a VET Qualification. Engineering, Manufacturing and Hospitality courses were popular choices for students. Applied Aquatic Practices has been added to the list of Applied subjects for year 11s in 2020.

Online opportunities in 2019 included Education Perfect, Typing Tournament and STILE in Science and Distance education was explored for Japanese and Chinese.

The College offered Japanese and Chinese in years 7-8 in 2019 with very small numbers in the senior school. Japanese is offered 7-12.

All year 10s spend a week on work experience and students in other year levels are offered other appropriate opportunities.

Our Indigenous liaison officer met with the local Elders every Tuesday and began implementing the IVAAR program with Year 11 and 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to study culture and connection. Next year this program will be implemented across other year levels.

The 1:1 laptop program in the College also supports Digital Technologies and other IT courses.

Further details about the College Curriculum can be found on the College website under 'Curriculum'.

Extra Curricular Activities

Good Counsel College offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities including:

• Students are provided with every opportunity for students to compete in a range of sports at district, regional and state levels
• Instrumental music was offered in 2019 and a group of dance students entered the Dance Eisteddfod. One of our Year 12s won the Innisfail's got Talent competition
• Good Counsel On Show provided an opportunity for students to perform on the stage through song and drama and show leadership as tour guides
• There were learning extension and enrichment activities with opportunities for competitions at state and national levels and specialised gifted and talented activities such as science, maths, history, geography, business, poetry, short story and essay competitions, Optiminds as well as Lions Youth, Constitutional Convention, Young Performers and Brain Bee.
• Opportunities for students to enter public speaking, debating, mock trials, hospitality and cooking competitions
• Camps and retreats for years 7.11 and 12 occurred in 2019 providing opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills and take opportunity for spiritual formation.
• Feast Day celebrations also promoted the Marist charism of the College and 6 Year 10 girls attended the 'Ignite' religious conference in 2019
• The school began a comprehensive plastics recycling program including 'lids for kids' and composting food waste. They also participated in Relay for Life in large numbers and the whole school participated in Clean up Australia by cleaning up Innisfail as they walked to the swimming pool for their swimming carnival.
  

Further opportunities to engage in community activities is an area of priority for 2020.
Photos and reports on a range of College extra curricular activities can be found on the Good Counsel College Facebook page.

Social Climate

The vertical House system did much to promote family spirit in 2019. It built relationships throughout the student body as students were united and given more opportunity to mix with different age groups within their houses. This also gave greater importance and depth to the leadership development of House Captains. SEL was taught across Years 7-12. The Middle Leader Well-being was reappointed as a Middle Leader Transition and SEL coordinator in 2019 and was responsible for the SEL program. The 7-12 allocation gave opportunities to schedule age appropriate activities including the Men of Honour Program, the anti- Ice Campaign as well as the usual driving and safety programs. This Middle Leader also had specific responsibility for Year 7 and year 6-7 transition issues and programs designed to improve a sense of belonging in 2019.

Anti bullying and anti cyber bullying were addressed in the SEL program. A new email address was provided to students gcc.safe@cns.catholic.edu.au in 2019 for students to confidentially report any issues of not feeling safe in the College and new Student Protection Posters were placed in all rooms. Parents report to Middle Leaders who act swiftly to reports of bullying and processes of restorative justice are used to rebuild relationships. There is a link to the Bullying Policy on the College website.

The SRC met regularly this year. This provided a great level of communication between the students so that student voice could be heard.

Relationship building is a priority for improving behaviour management and a new program was launched in 2019 called Positive Relationships for learning. The time table was altered in 2019 to extend Home room time to 20 minutes to build the profile of the Home room teacher in the pastoral care of students in 2019. This is a continuing priority for 2020.

A full time wellbeing counsellor is available for students. The Middle Leader Learning Support and a team of School Officers worked with students who experienced learning difficulties and have a need for more intensive support for their learning. A youth support worker also worked with disengaged students in 2019. This continues to be an area of focus. In 2020 the Indigenous Liaison officer will have a new gathering space to meet with students and the Elders.

Mental health is identified as a major issue at the College and was validated by the Student Wellbeing survey in 2019. Headspace psychologists were employed once a fortnight to add to the team of student support and opportunities were made available.

CES education officer Melissa Tressider also supported disengaged students and worked with the Vocations officer to support students and find appropriate career pathways.

The Diverse Learners team met weekly to identify 'at risk' students. This team will undergo changes in 2020 with a focus on Case Management and KPIs.

Parent Engagement

The College has a Parents and Friends Association and information can be found on the College web page. Parents are encouraged to attend P&F meetings and invitations and the dates and times of P&F meetings are published regularly in the College Newsletter each two weeks. Parents also comprise some members of the Good Counsel Parish Combined Schools Board. Parents are also encouraged and welcome to attend College events including assemblies, liturgies, and sports carnivals. Special opportunities for parent involvement include:

• Parent, Teacher and Student Interviews for oral reporting twice per year
• Parent Information Nights for students moving from: Primary School to Year 7 and Year 10 into Year 11
• Parent Information evenings at the commencement of each year
• Parent Subject Information nights and Subject Expo evenings;
• College Masses
• Year 7 Orientation
• Parent Paperwork is now sent online for all excursions camps etc
• The Parent Portal provides information about what is happening in the College
• The College Facebook page is updated regularly
• The College website is targeted as an area of improvement for 2020
  

Teachers were encouraged to email parents at the start of the year to introduce themselves.

The Principal joined the CES parent engagement group at the end of 2018.

Parent Satisfaction

MYP Corporation conducted a School Results Survey with parents of Good Counsel College (Innisfail) commencing 15 July 2019 and concluding 5 August 2019. Survey responses were received from 96 out of a total of 515 eligible respondents. This equates to a response rate of 18.6%. Good Counsel College (Innisfail) recorded an overall satisfaction score of 73% (3.64 out of 5).

• Fair to good areas include: Resources, Student Protection, General, Leadership, Bullying + Behaviour Management, Catholic Ethos, Improvement Processes,
  Learning + Teaching.

Data Last Updated Tue 28 Apr 2020