STAGE 1 of Assisi College, Upper Coomera was christened and opened on July 10.
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane blessed the college while State Education Minister Anna Bligh officially opened it.
Assisi is the first master planned Preschool-Year 12 Catholic co-educational college on the Gold Coast. Classes began at the beginning of this year, initially with Pres
chool, Prep, Years 1-3 and Year 8.
Archbishop Bathersby was joined by Oxenford parish priest Fr Gerry Hefferan at an opening Mass on July 10 in St Mary’s Community Worship Centre, Upper Coomera.
In his homily, the archbishop said the name Assisi came from a small town in Umbria, Italy which produced two saints, Francis and Clare.
‘Both had a remarkable sense of God’s presence in the world, a presence so all embracing that Francis could refer easily to the sun and the moon as “brother sun and sister moon’,’ he said.
‘I am certain that Assisi Catholic College will provide in its excellent facilities such a holistic education, an education that is more necessary than ever today.’
Stage 1 cost $6.8 million, assisted by a Commonwealth Government contribution of $775,000, a State Government contribution of more than $3.8 million and a community contribution of more than $2.2 million.
It includes an administration block, an early years centre, a middle years centre, a technology centre which was nominated for an international design award, and a multi-purpose facility.
The college also has a man-made lake, called Lake Trasimeno, in the middle of the campus.
Principal Dora Luxton said an important feature of the college would be the stated goal of ‘building a community’ as well as ‘building a school’ in the Franciscan tradition.
‘We are who we are and who we will be in the future because we have a deep sense of vision, mission and purpose,’ Mrs Luxton said.
These emanate from the meaningful Franciscan values that underpin all aspects of college life,’ she said.
