Saint Patrick's Catholic Primary School welcomes you to our school website. Our school has served the rural Catholic community of Nanango proudly since 1912 and was initially entirely staffed by the Mercy Sisters. Between the years of 1955 and 1971 St Patrick's was expanded to include classes up to Year 10. In 1981 the first lay Principal was appointed at St Patrick's, with the final teaching Sister of Mercy departing from the school in 1982. Today, St Patrick's is focused on educating students to be empowered citizens equipped to create the positive changes they would like to see. The work of today's teachers and staff rests upon deep foundations established by those religious and lay staff who came before them; committed to school community. Catholic identity and the provision of high-quality teaching and learning for the students of St Patrick's School.
Our school is open to everyone in our Nanango town community and has a current enrolment of around 70 students. We have a deep commitment to improvement in the provision of high-quality education. With our school motto 'Pride and Pleasure in Learning' we share a school Mission to Teach, Challenge and Transform, with that of our collective Brisbane Catholic Education system of schools. This mission is expanded upon by our vision to be a proud Catholic school community through providing innovative learning opportunity for all, faith in action and celebrating our identity.
Each of our classroom spaces and also our library have recently been refurnished to provide contemporary learning environments, digitally connected and able to be used flexibly as learners progress through tasks via different pathways. These approaches to teaching and learning, supported by dynamic student workspaces within the classroom and around the school, aim to enable every learner to progress and achieve at school. Currently, all student (Prep-Year 6) have an iPad each as their own learning tool. Key teaching staff are involved in enhancing their digital skills knowledge through sharing excellent practice within the school and through focused professional learning to advance their productive use of digital technology within the classroom.
As a Catholic school, St Patrick's continues to be a real and living expression of the Church's pastoral mission in the world. In everyday school life this means that we use the life of Jesus as a model of how to act and speak toward one another. through quality Religious Education, rich experiences of prayer and celebration and participation in social justice projects, students are supported in developing their relationship with God and responding to the presence of God in their own lives. As a community we encourage our families and parish to join us in our faith in action particularly through our liturgies, masses, class prayer gatherings and a range of other significant calendar events which connect us to the Jesus story.
We are a vibrant school community which celebrates our identify richly throughout the year as we gather together for St Patrick's Feast Day, march together on ANZAC Day and compete at our sports carnival. Weekly we invite parents and community to join us at a whole school assembly where we recognise student achievement and growth and share prayer together. Additionally, we share in a Remarkable Moments day to celebrate excellent learning grown across the school year for our students and sing and dance and celebrate all things, The Arts at our annual St Patrick's School Concert.
As Principal, I look forward to meeting you in the future and hope that you will take the time to journey with us through this website. The website offers an opportunity to take time to explore and discover the information that we have provided for you. Our key drivers of educational improvement are stated in our Strategic Plan (2023-2024) and our Annual Improvement Plan 2023. In addition, I invite you to visit our school, experience our engaging grounds and classrooms and get a sense of the pride and pleasure in learning which our school community lives by.
Aleisha Connellan
Principal