Our Catholic ethos

Newman Catholic College joins the system of 29 other Catholic schools and colleges in the Cairns Diocese. As such, the vision and values of Catholic education will underpin all that is done at Newman, building on the fine traditions of Catholic education that already exist in the Diocese.

Our students

Our students will be young, enthusiastic members of Generation Alpha, students born from 2010 onwards. Newman Catholic College foundation students will experience a different world to the one in which many of us grew up. Generation Alpha young people will be global, digital, social, mobile and visual learners, used to multi modal ways of living and learning. The ‘why’, the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of teaching and learning need to be different to what we saw 100, 50 or even 20 years ago. Across the globe there is growing consensus that education demands radical transformation if we want students to become future ready, in the face of a more digitally enabled, uncertain and fast changing world.

Co-location and relationship with JCU

Newman Catholic College sits on the most visible public edge of the campus of JCU. Being the first Catholic College co-located on a university site, the opportunities for interaction are endless. Being co-located on the JCU campus, the College will work collaboratively with the University so that learning and teaching is enhanced at all year levels, but particularly in the senior phase of learning.

JCU Cairns houses state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities which include an impressive library and Ideas Lab, health sciences and science facilities. The faculties of Education, Marine Science, Dentistry, Business and Creative Arts present wonderful opportunities to connect Newman Catholic College students with higher order thinking and new horizons and opportunities, not to mention access to world standard educational facilities.

Cairns Catholic Education is working closely with JCU to develop programs and partnerships which will benefit students at all levels in all Cairns Diocese Catholic colleges, but especially Newman Catholic College because of its co-location.

This partnership will provide exciting extension opportunities and transition programs for students, with the possibilities for staff interchange to foster mutual mentoring opportunities, under discussion. The benefits of the partnership will have implications for the recruitment of graduate teachers, staff professional development, and education research.

All this will be achieved by creating high-quality complementary education and training opportunities through student placements, internships and research opportunities for JCU academics and students at a multi-disciplinary level.

The professional working relationship established with JCU may see tertiary courses commenced in Years 11 and 12, mentoring and tutoring of students by JCU undergraduate students and continually evolving opportunities for collaboration and support.

Our educational focus

Curriculum as Newman Catholic College will centre on design, digital and inquiry-based learning. It will be strategic in its intent to promote the development of skills such as problem solving, critical analysis, and creative thinking; a curriculum that is innovative, digital and design focused and forward thinking.

Middle school learning programs have been designed around specialist learning labs (collaboratories), each located within an environment of interconnected spaces of varying function and scale – all aimed to facilitate easy and quick adaptation to different teaching and learning modes, to suit the middle school cohort with its varied abilities and developmental stages.

Senior school learning programs will seek to provide multiple pathways for students – Newman Catholic College is not designed as an exclusive, academic school only. It will not seek to reproduce options available at other Catholic colleges, such as a Trade Training Centre, but will focus on options not currently available e.g. aviatronics, aviation and drones, and blurring the boundaries between traditional secondary and tertiary pathways.

Our design

Newman Catholic College’s design provides for state-of-the-art facilities, delivered over a four-stage, master-planned build. Read more about the Design Concept and Staging.

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