Catholic Education, Diocese of Cairns
Queensland, Australia
Motto | Trust in the Lord |
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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 Diverse Sporting Opportunities Public Speaking Liturgies Retreats and camps Combined Schools Band Tutorial Support Gifted and Talented (Readers Cup, Chess, Mathematics camp, Optiminds) Instrumental Music, School Choir and Liturgy Band Social Justice Committee Student Representative Council Overseas cultural experiences Work Experience Program
Social Climate The culture of our College is based on the following:
Parent Engagement
Parents are strongly encouraged and invited to all signature events and informal displays of student work
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).
Data Last Updated Wed 29 Apr 2020
Qualification Highest level of attainment | Doctoral / Post-doctoral | Masters | Bachelor degree | Diploma | Certificate |
Number of staff with this qualification | 0 | 9 | 56 | 28 | 12 |
Workforce composition |
Headcount | FTE (Full-time equivalent) |
Teaching Staff | 64 | 53.03334 |
Non-Teaching Staff | 26 | 19.65106 |
Indigenous | 0 | 0 |
Total funds expended on teacher professional development$19142
Teaching Staff Involved in Professional Development100%
Major Professional Development Initiatives
Average staff attendance rate for the school year, based on unplanned absences of sick and emergency leave for periods up to 5 days97%
Percentage of teaching staff retained from the previous school year91.00%
Staff Satisfaction MYP Corporation conducted a School Results Survey with staff 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 60 out of a total of 86 eligible respondents. This equates to a response rate of 69.8%. St Stephen's Catholic College (Mareeba) recorded an overall satisfaction score of 85% (4.24 out of 5). Best practice areas include: Student Protection, Resources, Leadership, Catholic Ethos, Bullying + Behaviour Management, Staff Engagement, Improvement
Processes.
Data Last Updated Wed Mar 18 2020
YR 7 | YR 8 | YR 9 | YR 10 | YR 11 | YR 12 |
94.36% | 93.65% | 92.47% | 90.48% | 92.03% | 91.93% |
This is a summary of the post-school destinations of students from St Stephen's Catholic College who completed Year 12 and gained a Senior Statement in 2018. The results are from the Year 12 Completers Survey, which is conducted approximately six months after students completed Year 12.
Post-school destinations
In 2019, 92.7% of Year 12 completers from St Stephen's Catholic College were engaged in education,
training or employment in the year after they completed school.
Of the 55 respondents, 65.5% continued in some recognised form of education and training. The most
common study destination was bachelor degree. A further 27.3% transitioned directly into paid employment and no further study.
MYP Corporation conducted a School Results Survey with students 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 113 out of a total of 134 eligible respondents. This equates to a response rate of 84.3%. St Stephen's Catholic College (Mareeba) recorded an overall satisfaction score of 70% (3.52 out of 5).
Fair to good areas include: Resources, Learning + Teaching, Leadership, Catholic Ethos, Bullying + Behaviour Management, Student Protection, Improvement Processes.
Data Last Updated Wed Mar 18 2020
Reading | Average Score for the school | 552.1 |
Average Score for Queensland | 545.02 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 98.1% | |
Writing | Average Score for the school | 511.8 |
Average Score for Queensland | 503.56 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 94.1% | |
Spelling | Average Score for the school | 549.3 |
Average Score for Queensland | 543.73 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 96.1% | |
Grammar and Punctuation | Average Score for the school | 562.3 |
Average Score for Queensland | 542.01 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 95.1% | |
Numeracy | Average Score for the school | 558.4 |
Average Score for Queensland | 550.35 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 98.1% |
Data Last Updated Mon Mar 30 2020
Reading | Average Score for the school | 598.2 |
Average Score for Queensland | 576.34 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 97.6% | |
Writing | Average Score for the school | 554 |
Average Score for Queensland | 534.99 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 86.2% | |
Spelling | Average Score for the school | 588 |
Average Score for Queensland | 580 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 94.3% | |
Grammar and Punctuation | Average Score for the school | 590.7 |
Average Score for Queensland | 573.07 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 95.4% | |
Numeracy | Average Score for the school | 602.4 |
Average Score for Queensland | 588.82 | |
% students at or above the national benchmark | 100% |
Data Last Updated Mon Mar 30 2020
No Naplan Data AvailableAustralian Government recurrent funding$7,438,632
State/Territory Government recurrent funding$2,183,622
Fees, charges and parent contributions$1,947,324
Other private sources$249,409
Total gross income (excluding income from government capital grants)$11,818,987
Income allocated to current capital projects$203,173
Income allocated to future capital projects and diocesan capital funds$0
Income allocated to debt servicing (including principal repayments and interest on loans)$694,644
Subtotal$897,817
Total net recurrent income$897,817
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Cairns meet their annual reporting requirements under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (the Act) Section 423 (1) by updating their information on this section of the Cairns Catholic Education website. Information contained in each section of the report relates to the previous calendar year. The required information is published by 30 June each year, excepting post-school destinations data for Year 12 completers which is published by 30 September.