MARY Immaculate Primary School in Annerley was crowned 2010 Staffroom for Improvement champion after two weeks of record-breaking competition voting.
The battle to win a $30,000 staffroom makeover courtesy of Queensland Teachers’ Credit Union (QTCU) was highly contested across Queensland, with schools tirelessly drumming up community support to win the ultimate prize.
With just 127 students and 26 staff, Mary Immaculate beat 1170 schools from as far north as Thursday Island and south as Stanthorpe to claim victory.
Principal Helen Camden said it was an emotional day for the staff at Mary Immaculate Primary School.
“The staff here works so hard and they really deserve this,” Mrs Camden said. “We just can’t believe that all the effort we’ve put into this competition over the past couple of weeks has paid off.”
Mrs Camden said while the school in Annerley might be small in size, it was certainly big in spirit.
“The support from the whole community has been simply amazing,” she said. “Teach-ers, parents and students alike worked tirelessly from the beginning to get out there and gather up support, and we never gave up.
“We had people doing everything from letter-box drops to bulk emails. The spirit generated directly from this competition has been overwhelming and we just can’t believe we’ve won.”
QTCU chief executive officer Mike Murphy said this year’s competition had been a record-breaking event with almost 60,000 votes.
“It was quite an overwhelming response from the community this year,” Mr Murphy said.
“Final results revealed about 20,000 more votes than last year and hundreds of more schools from across the region that joined the race for the ultimate staffroom makeover.”
Mr Murphy said this year the competition had also spread virally to give school communities the chance to voice their support.
“Thousands of people engaged in a Facebook battle to prove why their school deserved to win,” he said. “It was just wonderful to see the power of community spirit hard at work.”
Mr Murphy said the competition was designed to give students, parents and other members of the community the chance to say “thank you” to teachers across Queensland for the valuable role they played in society.
“And I think it’s clear from this year’s outstanding results, it’s been one very big thank-you,” he said.
