Planning is underway and registrations are being invited for a new Catholic school in the Sunshine Coast’s fastest-growing community.
The co-educational school in Aura will be purpose-built to cater for up to 1900 students from Prep to Year 12.
Dr Doug Ashleigh, Acting Executive Director of Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE), said it was part of an ongoing response to accommodate the community’s education needs.
He said the proposed school would provide for the increasing number of families moving to the area who were seeking a Catholic education for their children.
“It will be the second Catholic P-12 school for the growing area, with enrolments in neighbouring Brisbane Catholic Education school of Unity College on the Sunshine Coast overflowing.
“Brisbane Catholic Education schools remain increasingly popular with parents on the Sunshine Coast.”
BCE said that up to 150 teaching and non-teaching staff would be required once the college was at full capacity.
The exact location was still being finalised and design work would be carried out in coming months.
BCE said the commencement year would be revealed once necessary planning and funding approvals had been secured.
Previously, BCE said it hoped to begin construction of stage one in 2022, but Sunshine Coast News understands this is now more likely to happen in 2023.
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Architectus, which in association with HDR designed the Sunshine Coast University Hospital for Queensland Health, has been engaged for the project, which will require an eight-hectare parcel.
Father Joshua Whitehead, priest appointed to the Aura Catholic Community, said the school would provide top quality Catholic education and create a sense of belonging, which new communities needed.
“Many families moving into the new City of Aura have come from elsewhere in Australia and know few, if any, other people in the area,” he said.
“This offers a prime opportunity for engaging young families in their faith in a way which respects where they are at.”
Mrs Shelley Morey is one of the parents who is thinking about sending her two sons, Mason and Hayden, to the school.
“My husband and I have wanted to send our boys to a Catholic school from day one,” said Mrs Morey, who has been living in Baringa in the AURA estate for the past six months.
“We are new parishioners of the Catholic Parish in Aura and the hope of having a new Catholic school in our own community, to send our children to, is exciting.”
This year, enrolments in BCE schools are at an all-time record, with more than 77,000 students. Over the past 10 years, BCE has grown to establish 11 new schools across South-East Queensland. About 20 per cent of all students in Australia attend Catholic schools.
Register your interest now to receive updates about the proposed new P-12 Catholic school at Aura http://bit.ly/3nwE6Gg.
