A NEW era dawned in Catholic education in Queensland on January 30 with the opening of 210 Preparatory Year facilities.
A full-time Prep year of schooling has replaced part-time Preschool programs in Catholic primary schools throughout the state.
About 6400 children started Prep for the first time.
Queensland Catholic Education Commission executive director Mike Byrne said the change was a significant one and a great deal of hard work and resources had gone into preparing for the Prep Year.
“The full-time Prep program is an exciting, fun, inquiry and play-based curriculum focusing on language, mathematics, health and physical wellbeing in a social context,” he said.
“This is an exciting development, not only for our Catholic school communities, but for education in Queensland.
“We are now looking forward to this full implementation stage and seeing future generations of Queenslanders benefiting from it.”
Mr Byrne said he wished at this historic time all children, their families, teachers and assistants all the best for a happy and productive school year ahead.
Catholic schools will offer the accredited Queensland Studies Authority Early Years Curriculum Guidelines with faith and values education components integrated into them.
Catholic education worked closely with the State Government and independent schools on this project as part of the Education and Training Reforms for the Future agenda.
The State Government in 2002 released the reforms as a white paper which outlined the Government’s future policy direction for education and training.
A number of Catholic schools participated in the trial and phase-in of the Prep Year program over the past four years.
Brisbane Catholic Education spokesman Damian Brennan commended the efforts of the hundreds of staff who have played a vital role in preparing for Prep and all grades in the new school year.
The cost of implementing Prep Year in Catholic schools to date has been $53.7 million.
In addition to growth and new Prep facilities, Xavier College in Hervey Bay is expanding.
The school opened in 2003 from Years 8-12, but this year opened a primary school from Prep-Year 3.
