More than 150 years after the first school opened in Brisbane’s then tiny business district, Catholic education continues to grow across the state.
Catholic Education Week will be held from July 25-31 2021, with a theme of A Spirited Tomorrow driving this year’s celebrations.
Tomorrow’s Catholic education is built on the remarkable work of the past from that starting point of a small school near the intersection of Brisbane’s Albert and Elizabeth Streets.
Since then, Catholic schooling has operated for most of its time in Queensland on the backs of educators including St Mary MacKillop, who taught in Brisbane with the determination and generosity that would compel the Church to make her Australia’s first saint.
Catholic education in Queensland now includes:
- 309 schools across the state
- 30 Catholic kindergartens
- 22 different providers of Catholic education
- About 150,000 students
- More than 20,000 staff
“One in five Queensland students attends a Catholic school,” Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said.
“Catholic education has done remarkable things for so many people over more than a century in Australia. The Queensland Catholic Education Commission lists its values as integrity, justice, hope, collegiality and service.
“They’re a good reminder of the many qualities that our Catholic educators take into their work each day.
“This is the Church in action, reaching Queenslanders in all parts of the state. It’s worth celebrating and that’s why Catholic Education Week is such an important part of the year.”