Columba Catholic College is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and secondary

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

and

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

school, located in

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It is a school of the Diocese of Townsville. Established in 1998, the school currently caters for approximately 610 students from

pre-school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical s ...

year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth or thirteenth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-comp ...

, including 200 boarders from

year 4 Year 4 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is usually the fourth year of compulsory education and incorporates students aged between eight and nine. It is the equivalen ...

to 12. The college draws students from

and surrounding areas. Boarders come from the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and Northern

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, plus coastal and Gulf Regions of Queensland. The current

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

of Columba Catholic College is Candi Dempster. Dempster takes over from Daniel McShea who took over from Michael Ashton. Althea Norton was the original founding principal of Columba who retired after 10 years of service.

History

Columba Catholic College was established in 1998 through the amalgamation of three local Catholic schools, St Columba's Primary School (established in 1876), St Mary's College (established in 1882) and Mount Carmel College (established by the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers (; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice. Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. At the time of its ...

in 1902).

Campus

Columba Catholic College consists of two campuses, known as St Mary's for primary school in Charters Towers City and Mt Carmel for secondary school in Richmond Hill. The boarding program operates from the two campuses in order to provide single-sex facilities, the St Mary's campus caters for girls and the Mt Carmel Campus for boys. The Christian Brothers retain ownership of the Mt Carmal campus (the former site of Mt Carmal College) and continue to provide some Brothers to the staff. Each of the Boarding Campuses has its own Chapel, while the Primary Campus is situated in the grounds of the Parish Church. The school also operates "Marybank" a 40-hectare property with facilities for outdoor activities, situated on the banks of the

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at Upsta ...

. Sporting facilities of the college include several ovals,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

courts, two 25 m swimming pools (one at each campus), and the recently constructed Multi-Purpose Outdoor Education Centre.

Curriculum

Primary

The Primary Curriculum at Columba Catholic College is designed to emphasise the basic skills of

numeracy Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and apply simple numerical concepts; it is the numerical counterpart of literacy. The charity National Numeracy states: "Numeracy means understanding how mathematics is used in the real world ...

and

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

, whilst integrating the Key Learning Areas (KLA's) of

Religious Education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Maths Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, theories and theorems that are developed and proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include num ...

, Science, Studies of Society and Environment, Languages other than English (LOTE), Health and

Physical Education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

, The Arts and Technology.

Secondary

In Queensland, the first year of high school is

year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia and England) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 ...

. During this year students continue with Key Learning Areas subjects in addition to experiencing new subjects. These include Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Art, Study of Society and the Environment,

Home Economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

, Wood Technology, Metal Technology, Music, Computer Technology,

Graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

, Health & Physical Education, and Drama. In years 9 and 10 students receive some choice in the subjects they will study. There are also core subjects which all students must undertake for the complete school year. These are Religious Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Study of Society and the Environment (S.O.S.E), Health and Physical Education. Electives at this stage include Japanese,

Agricultural Science Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professio ...

, Home Economics, Computer Technology, Business Studies, Drama, Wood Technology, Junior

Visual Art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

, Metal Technology, Music and Graphics. Students in years 11 and 12 are prepared for the path they wish to take after high school (university,

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

or employment). Those deciding to leave open the option of direct entry to University or TAFE (Diploma Courses) after Year 12 are required to choose a minimum of five "Authority Subjects" (B). These subjects come under the headings of Authority (A), Authority Registered (AR), Subject Area Specifications (S), or are purely TAFE Based (T). Additionally, each Year 11 and 12 student is required to study Religious Education (T), one English subject, and one Mathematics Subject. Columba Catholic College performs well in statewide examinations, with ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'' reporting that the college was one of Queensland's top-performing schools with 89 per cent of students on

Overall Position The Overall Position (OP) was a tertiary entrance rank used in Queensland, Australia to guide selection into universities. Like similar systems used throughout the rest of Australia, the OP shows how well a student has performed in their senior ...

scores (OP's) 15 or above.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 20, 04, 28.84, S, 146, 15, 44.42, E, display=title, region:AU_type:edu_source:GNS-enwiki Catholic primary schools in Queensland Catholic secondary schools in Queensland Educational institutions established in 1998 Boarding schools in Queensland Schools in North Queensland 1998 establishments in Australia Charters Towers City, Queensland