Catholic Diocese of Cairns

Information

The Catholic school system is an integral part of the Church in this diocese. Through Catholic Education, families are supported in their efforts to educate young people. This education is one of love and care, respecting the uniqueness of each person. Catholic Education nurtures the spiritual, social and academic development of young people.

Catholic schools are faith communities based on belief in God and a Christian way of life. Gospel values permeate all areas of education. Students are educated for excellence according to the talents and capabilities of the individual, by properly qualified and dedicated Christian teachers.

Catholic schools have religious education programmes and liturgical activities that benefit the whole school community. All education programmes, religious and academic, are developed with the multicultural nature of our population and our special needs students taken into consideration.

Catholic Education in the Cairns diocese encompasses nineteen primary schools, six secondary colleges and one P-12 college with their 6,000 primary students, 3,250 secondary students and more than 1200 teachers and school officers. Catholic Education has the largest workforce in the region in the non-government sector.

Our nineteen primary schools are Parish schools and each forms an important element of the life and work of its parish. St Andrew's Catholic College is a growing P-12 Diocesan College which will achieve Year 12 intake in 2009. Two of the secondary colleges, St Augustine's College at Cairns and Mt St Bernard at Herberton, are also boarding schools. St Monica's students may also board at St Augustine's. Our newest college, St Stephen’s Catholic College in Mareeba, opened in 2006 with Year 8 and will achieve Year 12 intake in 2010.

Our schools are set in the geographical context of the Great Barrier Reef, the Outback, and the Wet Tropical Rainforests. Cairns Diocese consists of all of Queensland north of a line drawn from Cardwell on the east coast, west to the Northern Territory border. This includes the whole of the Gulf country, Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait Islands. With one exception, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, Thursday Island/Hammond Island, all of our schools and colleges are within two hours driving time from Cairns.

Our schools are united not only by location within the Diocese, but by our purpose in providing education, and by the Catholic faith and identity that underpins them.