St Therese’s School is located 20 minutes south of Cairns City, in Bentley Park; an area referred to as the ‘growth corridor’ of Cairns. Our school has a rich 90-year history in the Edmonton area, opening its doors on the 29th April, 1929, with an enrolment of 30 students. Responding to growing numbers of families seeking enrolment, our school was relocated in 1995, from Edmonton to a new site, its current position, in Bentley Park. Our staff continue the vision and mission of Catholic Education that began so many years ago, enabling a holistic and world class learning environment at St Therese’s, for more than 600 students from Prep to Year 6.
Our parent community consists of families whose occupations are linked to tourism, hospitality, defence, mining (FIFO) or trades, which are in high demand in this region. Our enrolments are comprised of some forty-two nationalities and 19 faith backgrounds, representing a diverse student population.
St Therese’s School offers nine Learning Areas (LAs): Religious Education, Mathematics, English, Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE), Science, Technology, The Arts (Art & Drama, Music), Languages Other Than English (Italian) and HPE. Tuition for instrumental music is offered, as an extra-curricular activity, to students from Year 1 to Year 6.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is taught and integrated across all year levels. Staff resource learning and teaching of SEL through the Resilience Project (Prep-Year 6), and in Health and Physical Education lessons using the Daniel Morcombe Curriculum (Prep-Year 4), and Real Talk (Year 5-Year 6).
St Therese’s students participate in competitive team sport activities across the region in the following disciplines: Rugby League, AFL, Netball, Athletics, Futsal, Soccer, Reader’s Cup, Tournament of Minds, and the Cairns Eisteddfod.
Our school’s Student Leadership Program and Citizenship Awards, through the support and sponsorship of a local businessman Lou Piccone, promotes and rewards active community involvement, building a strong sense of identity, collaborative relationships, and the development of effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Learning is enhanced and enriched at St Therese’s through the integration of key events throughout the school year such as: global citizenship initiatives (promoting social justice and environmental causes), NAIDOC celebrations, ANZAC Day, Book Week, Catholic Education Week, The Premier’s Reading Challenge, 100 Days of Learning, and various feast days in the Church’s liturgical calendar.
St Therese’s School has highly dedicated and motivated parents and carers who strive to provide the optimal conditions for learning for their children and strengthen the partnership between home and school environments. We encourage parent involvement through our local Catholic School Parents Queensland body (the STSC), that provides social events and parent education through guest speakers, and actively promotes consultation and collaboration with school staff to support and enhance student engagement in learning.
