Brisbane Catholic Education – A proud Queenslander

6/06/2022

​​​Our Lady of the Rosary, Caloundra students enjoying a swim at the beach.

This Queensland Day (6 June 2022), Brisbane Catholic Education is looking back on all things that make BCE and our 146 schools proud Queenslanders. 

BCE is part of the Queensland story, and so much of our history is woven into the Sunshine State.   

Our story started 14 years before Queensland was established as an independent state in 1859 and 2022, we’re the second largest employer within Queensland, after the Queensland State Government. 

From our unique location in South East Queensland, BCE schools enjoy sunshine throughout the year with some schools boasting their own swimming pool and students able to learn to swim and play water sports on campus.  

St Pius Primary School Banyo have enjoyed their own swimming pool since 1964, with thousands of former students remembering their first strokes in the school’s original pool.   

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St Pius Primary School Banyo students enjoying school swimmining lessons in their campus pool.

Meanwhile, St John’s Vianney Manly has a true Queenslander view of the picturesque Manly Bay, with students and staff enjoying the blue ocean vista from their playground, classrooms, and offices.  

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St John’s Vianney, Manly​ playground.

Each year, almost 700 BCE students hit the waves of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast for surfing lessons, one of the many perks of their school’s unique locations in South East Queensland.  

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Marymount College, Burleigh Waters students enjoying school surfing lessons.

Living in the Sunshine State also means our students are lucky enough to get to play outdoors most of the year.  St Mary’s Primary School Ipswich boasts an innovative playground, providing students with colourful and shade covered monkey bars, climbing wall, a bridge, and slides.  

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St Mary's Primary School, Ipswich adventure playground.

But the true Queensland experience doesn’t end there. Students at the school and their senior counterparts at St Mary’s College Ipswich are part of Queensland’s early history, educating some of Queensland’s youngest residents for 159 years - since 1863.  

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St Mary's College, Ipswich students from 1938 to 1939 - Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich.

Executive Director Dr Sally Towns said BCE has progressively opened more schools across Southeast Queensland to “keep up with Queensland’s growing population.” 

“With the recent opening of Holy Spirit College Fitzgibbon and Star of the Sea Merrimac, our future is looking stronger than ever in this part of the state,” she said.  

Dr Towns added that solar power is a viable option to advance all 146 schools towards ecological approach to resource use and that in 2019, BCE undertook an exhaustive process to have specifications written for the installation solar and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), with the aim to minimise environmental impacts in their schools. 

“We call it the Laudato Si’ awakening, where as a BCE community we care for our common home,” she said. 

“We have come so far as we work towards achieving both incremental and transformative improvements, as we continue to make a commitment to our state’s future. 

“This 6 June, we wish all of our staff, students and communities a Happy Queensland Day.” ​ 

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​Our Lady of the Rosary, Caloundra student enjoying boogie boarding lessons.


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