Motto	Trust in the Lord
Address	McIver Rd, MAREEBA QLD 4880
Postal Address	PO Box 624, MAREEBA QLD 4880
Phone Number	(07) 4086 2500
Fax Number	(07) 4092 4333
Email Address	office@sscc.qld.edu.au
Web Site	http://www.sscc.qld.edu.au
Total Enrolments	542
Year Levels Offered	7-12
Student Population	Co-Educational
Principal	Mrs Ida Pinese
Parish Priest	Father John Sullivan
Parish Number	(07) 4092 1077

About our School

Stephen's Catholic College is administered by the Catholic Diocese of Cairns and provides a quality Catholic secondary education for students in the Tablelands, Kuranda and Mossman areas. The college has a stable staff who reside predominantly in the Tablelands area. With the relocation of a historic chapel to the college site in 2015, there is now a sacred space for staff and students to further develop their faith formation. With the opening of the Music Block in 2018, our students now enjoy a special space for music lessons based on the years 7 to 12 curriculum, as well as a place for the college choir and liturgy band.

Situated on 28 hectares on the outskirts of Mareeba, St Stephen's Catholic College focuses on providing opportunities for young men and women to achieve their personal best. The college provides a holistic curriculum to enable students to grow academically, socially, emotionally, spiritually and physically. Students are viewed as life-long learners who will be given opportunities to utilise their talents by being a presence of Christ in our world.

Our parents value the firm boundaries, excellent learning environment, quality teaching and the modern facilities which our college offers. Fostering a sense of family has been an integral part of St Stephen's since the foundation years. This connectedness with families and the wider community is based on shared values and translates to forming a school culture that enhances student achievement in a holistic manner. In 2015, the college also formed a sister school agreement with Sano Nihon Daigaku Secondary College in Sano City, Japan. This has strengthened cultural ties between students in both schools with annual visits on a rotation basis to each school.

With St Stephen as the patron saint of the college, St Stephen's has pinned its charism to serving others. As a result, social justice is a strong focus for the college, with the Social Justice Committee planning activities to support the following organisations: Caritas (Project Compassion), Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation (St Stephen's Great Wheelbarrow Race team), St Vincent de Paul (Christmas hampers), Rosies (St Stephen's Day fete) as well as other local and national projects which form part of the committee's goals for the year. An immersion visit to the Philippines is in the planning process for 2020 to provide an enrichening experience for our students.

In its fourteenth year (in 2019), the college is in the process of  developing a second master plan which will accommodate the needs of its students and their families. With the completion of the Holy Spirit Centre (auditorium and hall) at the end of 2019, the college's facilities will be greatly enhanced, thus enabling signature events to be held onsite.

Characteristics of Student Body

St Stephen's has an extensive catchment area as outlined in the introduction, with approximately twelve buses transporting students to and from school each day. Our students undertake both academic and vocational courses of study in their senior years, with certificate courses provided by the college as an RTO, while also allowing students to undertake TAFE courses offsite. The college has an excellent reputation for outstanding results at the senior level for both academic and vocational courses of study. In addition, students are very willing to participate in extra-curricular activities such as chess, Optiminds, futsal, Lions Youth of the Year, Rostrum, Plain English Speaking Competition, to name but a few, with outstanding results at a state level. In keeping with the Mareeba Shire, our students also come from diverse cultural, social and economic backgrounds. The culture of the college embraces this diversity and caters for students who are gifted as well as those requiring support.

School Annual Improvement

The School Annual Improvement Plan for 2019 focused on three areas: Analysis and discussion of data; expert teaching team; celebrated and lived Catholic Identity. There have been improvements continued to occur in the writing aspect of Naplan 2019 and other areas maintained a positive outcome. Spelling has been identified as an area for improvement with incoming year seven students. In terms of an expert teaching team, the goal of 75% of staff being profiled was surpassed, with all teachers being profiled. The Catholic Identity of the college has been promoted with the Catholic Faith in Action Program for year eleven students and this will continue in 2020.  In 2019, 34.4% of OP eligible students achieved between a score of 1 to 5 (30% being the KPI) and 100% of students gained a QCE / QCIA or Vocational Qualification. Measures have been implemented into 2020 to continue monitoring and mentoring of students to enable them to achieve their personal best.

Distinctive Curriculum Offerings

Stephen's seeks to build on its reputation, established in its foundation years, of providing a curriculum structure which supports the diverse needs of students. With the integration of the Australian Curriculum, the college continues to modify teaching and learning programs to meet mandatory requirements. A broadening of the curriculum has occurred as larger cohorts progress to senior years. With an enrolment of 540 students in 2019, the college provides students with both academic and vocational pathways. These vocational pathways are enhanced by the provision of certificate courses in the college's Trade Training Centre and the introduction of two new Certificate III courses in the Health and Physical Education department. An emphasis on STEM, through the offering of Robotics as a subject, has also provided more learning opportunities for students. With the roll-out of a one to one device programme for to all students by 2020, there has been much progress made in incorporating technology in the classroom. (The introduction of a learning management system, Canvas, has provided students with the ability to access class work offline when not at school.)

In addition, the new subjects introduced in 2019 with the introduction of the new QCE system, such as the general subject of Psychology, the applied subject of Social and Community Studies and certificate courses in fitness and health services assistance, have proved to be very popular with students. In 2019, all year eleven and twelve students participated in a retreat, year seven students in a "getting to know you camp", year ten in team building in readiness for year eleven and community days for years eight, nine and eleven. Students have the capacity to enrol in university subjects, while others receive extra support through Wednesday afternoon Mathematics tutorials and lunch time assistance in all subjects. In 2019, the college has undertaken the development of a Learning Framework based on Marzano, in alignment with senior syllabus documents.  

Extra Curricular Activities

Social Climate

The culture of our College is based on the following:

• An emphasis on being a part of the college family and community
• A welcoming culture that promotes positive relationships
• A co-educational school which affirms the equality of persons.
• An acknowledgment of achievement in all aspects of college life
• The college focuses on developing partnerships between students, teachers and carers
• Students are encouraged to build successful relationships, communicate effectively and achieve their personal best
• Development of respect for others, responsibility for one's learning and the development of confident, young people who are morally autonomous and have an awareness of God's presence
• PRIDE: perseverance, respect, integrity, dignity and excellence: values which are promoted and fostered
• The college's pastoral care policy is based on restorative justice.
• Each year level has a Middle Leader Pastoral Care as well as Home form teachers who monitor the well-being of students
• Bullying is not tolerated; incidences are dealt with effectively in a timely manner with appropriate consequences; well-being of students is a priority and is managed by the College Leader, Pastoral Care in a proactive manner to enhance positive experiences for all students. Whole school participation in national day of action against bullying and violence occurred in 2019.

Parent Engagement

Parents are strongly encouraged and invited to all signature events and informal displays of student work

• "Meet and Greet" BBQ in early term one to welcome families to the college
• Information evenings in early term one for year 11 and 12 students and their families
• Parents welcomed at fortnightly assemblies and whole school masses, in particular, on St Stephen's Day, in term three
• Invitations to view student work and morning tea in the college library
• Arts Evening where student work is showcased
• Invitation to sporting events (swimming, cross country and athletics)
• Parent/teacher interviews
• Open evening for potential enrolments
• Subject selection evening and BBQ in term three
• Awards Night
• Year 12 Graduation assembly
• Year 12 Graduation mass
• Senior Formal Committee
• Parents and Friends Meetings
• Effective communication on a regular basis by staff through the School Record Book, emails and phone calls is an expectation 

Parent Satisfaction

MYP Corporation conducted a School Results Survey with parents of St Stephen's Catholic College (Mareeba) commencing 22 July 2019 and concluding 5 August 2019.

St Stephen's Catholic College (Mareeba) provides educational services to students from 450 families. Survey responses were received from 36 out of a total of 134 eligible respondents. This equates to a response rate of 26.9%. St Stephen's Catholic College (Mareeba) recorded an overall satisfaction score of 78% (3.92 out of 5).

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

Data Last Updated Wed 29 Apr 2020