St Mary’s Special Religious Character

With Bishop Michael McCarthy as Chief Teacher and Shepherd of the Diocese, all who work in Catholic education are called to life-long education and faith formation. Fr Michael McCarthy, Bishop of Rockhampton Diocese, looks to Catholic education and faith formation within our schools to provide: a living experience of Jesus Christ; a simple Gospel message; the formation of Christian communities; prayer as central to each person’s life and the proclamation of God’s presence in word and action.

As a school within the Diocese of Rockhampton, we draw our mission from the mission of the Catholic Church – to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The Diocesan Vision Statement asks communities to walk together, to be a life-giving and hope-filled people, modelling ourselves on the teachings of Jesus Christ. It emphasises the values, beliefs and quality of relationships which bring about our call as believers.

St Mary’s School was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924 and now caters for students from Preschool to Year Six. The school is situated in South Mackay which is partly an inner city suburb with predominantly older residents and newer rental developments arising. St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is a convenient school for inner city workers. Consequently, the students come from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds and cultural groups and from several different parishes. Providing quality education in a loving and accepting Christian environment, we value our small size, family-like and welcoming atmosphere.

We strive to offer students and parents a friendly, welcoming family atmosphere and a visible community spirit. Our caring and progressive staff present a dynamic and evolving curriculum based on solid gospel values, a fostering of academic excellence and a deepening relationship with our God. Our school motto of “Learn from Christ” permeates everything we do and stand for at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School. We are a learning community which promotes the premises that learning is lifelong and life-wide. St Mary’s is committed to quality learning and teaching. Based on our shared values and beliefs all learners at our school will have opportunities to be and to become reflective and self-directed learners. We succeed as co-educators when we cater for our students with flexibility and care, foster a love of learning, celebrate the individual and encourage growth and development as an ongoing journey for all. Simply, we strive to be role models for all — students, parents, staff and wider community. Essentially, we fulfil this task through the espousal of the key Gospel values found in our school’s Mission Statement — encouragement, care and respect.