Columba Catholic College
Encyclopedia
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
, co-educational
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
, Catholic
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
, day
Day school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
and boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
located in Charters Towers
Charters Towers, Queensland
Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is a school of the Diocese of Townsville
Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, erected in 1930, covering North Queensland, Australia.-Ordinaries:...
.
Established in 1998, the school currently caters for approximately 610 students from pre-school
Nursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
to year 12, including 200 boarders from year 4 to 12. The college draws students from Charters Towers
Charters Towers, Queensland
Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold...
and surrounding areas. Boarders come from the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and Northern Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, plus coastal and Gulf Regions of Queensland.
The current principal of Columba Catholic College
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
is Mr Michael Ashton, who began in 2008 after Tim Dark resigned to go back to university to study medicine. Althea Norton was the original founding principal of Columba who retired after 10 years of service
History
Columba Catholic College was established in 1998 through the amalgamation of three local Catholic schools, St Columba’s Primary School (established in 1876), St Mary’s College (established in 1882) and Mount Carmel College (established in 1902).In 2004, plans were made to merge the 3 schools into 2. The reasoning behind this was that there were problems getting information quickly between the three locations. Also, when the schools wanted to converge together on special occasions (like the end of year mass) there was huge difficulties either walking or busing students to the location.
Campus
Columba Catholic College consists of two campusCampus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
es, known as St Mary's and Mt Carmel. The boarding program operates from the two campuses in order to provide single-sex facilities, the St Mary's campus caters for girls and the Mt Carmel Campus for boys. Each of the Boarding Campuses has its own Chapel, while the Primary Campus is situated in the grounds of the Parish Church.
The school also operates "Marybank" a 40-hectare property with facilities for outdoor activities, situated on the banks of the Burdekin River
Burdekin River
The Burdekin River in Queensland, Australia rises on the western slope of the Seaview Range and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Upstart Bay over 200 km to the southeast of the source. The river was first encountered by Europeans during the expedition led by Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845 and named...
. Sporting facilities of the college include several ovals, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
courts, two 25 m swimming pools (one at each campus), and the recently constructed Multi-Purpose Outdoor Education Centre.
Primary
The Primary CurriculumCurriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
at Columba Catholic College is designed to emphasise the basic skills of numeracy
Numeracy
Numeracy is the ability to reason with numbers and other mathematical concepts. A numerically literate person can manage and respond to the mathematical demands of life...
and literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
, whilst integrating the Key Learning Areas (KLA's) of Religious Education
Religious Education
Religious Education is the term given to education concerned with religion. It may refer to education provided by a church or religious organization, for instruction in doctrine and faith, or for education in various aspects of religion, but without explicitly religious or moral aims, e.g. in a...
, English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
, Maths, Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, Studies of Society and Environment, Languages other than English (LOTE), Health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
and Physical Education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
, The Arts and Technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
.
Secondary
In Queensland, the first year of high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
is year 8. During this year students continue with Key Learning Areas subjects in addition to experiencing new subjects. These include Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, Study of Society and the Environment, Home Economics
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
, Wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
Technology, Metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
Technology, Music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, Computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
Technology, Graphics
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
, Health & Physical Education, and Drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
.
In years 9 and 10 students receive some choice in the subjects they will study. There are also core subjects which all students must undertake for the complete school year. These are Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Study of Society and the Environment (S.O.S.E), Health and Physical Education. Electives at this stage include Japanese, Agricultural Science
Agricultural science
Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
, Home Economics, Computer Technology, Business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
Studies, Drama, Wood Technology, Junior Visual Art, Metal Technology, Music and Graphics.
Students in years 11 and 12 are prepared for the path they wish to take after high school (university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, TAFE or employment). Those deciding to leave open the option of direct entry to University or TAFE (Diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
Courses) after Year 12 are required to choose a minimum of five "Authority Subjects" (B). These subjects come under the headings of Authority(A), Authority Registered (AR), Subject Area Specifications (S), or are purely TAFE Based (T).
Additionally, each Year 11 and 12 student is required to study Religious Education (T), one English subject, and one Mathematics Subject.
Columba Catholic College performs well in state-wide examinations, with The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
reporting that the college was one of Queensland's top-performing schools with 89 per cent of students on Overall Position
Overall Position
The Overall Position is a tertiary entrance rank used in the Australian state of Queensland for selection into universities. Like similar systems used throughout the rest of Australia, the OP shows how well a student has performed in their senior secondary studies compared to all other OP-eligible...
scores (OP's) 15 or above.