Nazareth Catholic College, Adelaide

Nazareth Catholic College
Motto: In Joyful Hope
Location
Findon (ECC & Primary), SA, Australia Flinders Park (Secondary), SA, Australia
Information
Type	Roman Catholic, Independent, Co-educational, Day
Established	1949 (Our Lady of the Manger School) 1950 (Cardinia Catholic School) 1956 (Mater Christi School) 1971 (Siena College) 2007 (Amalgamation)
Key people	Mr Michael Dahl (Director) Ms Pauline Murphy (Co-Principal - Primary) Dr Neil McGoran (Co-Principal - Secondary)
Enrolment	~720 (Primary),[1] ~940 (Secondary)[1]
Colour(s)	Old Gold, Charcoal & Cream
Website	www.nazareth.catholic.sa.edu.au

Nazareth Catholic College is a Roman Catholic, independent, co-educational, day school, located across two campuses: a Primary Campus in Findon, and a Secondary Campus in Flinders Park; suburbs approximately 5.3 kilometres north-west of the centre of Adelaide, South Australia. The College is part of the larger organisation Nazareth Catholic Community.

The College was established in January 2007 with the amalgamation of Siena College (Findon), Cardinia Catholic School (Flinders Park), Mater Christi School (Seaton), and Our Lady of the Manger School (Findon).

The Findon Primary Campus caters for approximately 720 students^[1] while the Flinders Park Secondary Campus caters for approximately 940 students,^[1] a total of 1660 students, Early Childhood Centre (ECC) to Year 12, across the two campuses.

Nazareth Catholic College is a member of the Independent Schools Sport Association (ISSA).

History

Nazareth Catholic College was established in January 2007 with the amalgamation of three neighbouring Catholic Primary Schools and Siena College.

Siena College, Findon

Motto: In Joyful Hope

Siena College was founded in 1971 as a regional Secondary School for girls. From the very beginning Siena was a co-operative venture, involving sisters from the Dominican, Mercy and Josephite orders. It was the first multi-order diocesan regional college in South Australia. The College took its name from Siena, the Italian city famous for its association with St Catherine.^[2]

Cardinia Catholic School, Flinders Park

Motto: A light into the Future

Cardinia Catholic School was founded in 1950 by the Sisters of St Joseph and was previously known as St Joseph’s Parish School. In 1998 the school adopted the name "Cardinia" meaning sunrise, to acknowledge the Aboriginal culture.^[2]

Mater Christi School, Seaton

Motto: Veritas – Truth

In 1956 Sister Agatha, a Sister of St Joseph established a Years 1 to 3 school in the Gleneagles parish within an open paddock covered in box thorn. It had an enrolment of forty nine students and was named Mother of Christ School. The following year the Dominican sisters of North Adelaide administered the school and in 1967 the name of the school was changed to Mater Christi School as an acknowledgement of the spirit of community between local Australians and Italian-Australians.^[2]

Our Lady of the Manger School, Findon

Motto: Veritas – Truth

The school was established in 1949 in conjunction with a church on 5 acres (20,000 m²) of land. The Dominican Sisters of North Adelaide began teaching on the site in 1951 and the school officially opened as South Australia’s first Catholic open space Primary School in 1971.^[2]

Nazareth Catholic Community and College

2007

Nazareth Catholic Community and therefore Nazareth Catholic College, as an overall project came into existence in 2007. While physically the three current school sites did not change immediately, they became part of the community.

The four schools in the project adopted the name "Nazareth Catholic College" but were identified by their individual locations e.g. Nazareth Catholic College, Seaton (formerly Mater Christi School). Siena College became a co-educational Secondary School and provisions were made for the introduction of boys at Year 8. The uniform for Nazareth Catholic College was introduced for Year 8 and Reception students and began to be phased in.^[2]

2008

The Secondary Campus was relocated to newly built state of the art facilities at 1 Hartley Road, Flinders Park in January 2008.^[2]

2009

A newly completed Early Childhood Centre (ECC) and Primary School campus opened in January 2009 on Crittenden Road at Findon.

The new site comprises a gathering of services to support families of young children such as counselling, speech therapy, early childhood services, playgroups, and a parent café.

A new church called "Our Lady of the Manger Church" is yet to be established and a multi-purpose space will complete the design of the site.^[2]

School Structure

Nazareth Catholic College is divided into two "sub-schools":

1. Primary School (Early Learning Centre to Year 7)
2. Secondary School (Years 8 to 12)

Students and Staff are allocated into one of five "houses", which are used for school events such as sports day. The houses are as follows:

1. Dominic (Yellow), named after Saint Dominic of Osma.
2. Catherine (Green), named after Saint Catherine of Siena.
3. MacKillop (Red), named after Blessed Mary MacKillop.
4. McAuley (White), named after Sister Catherine McAuley, a Sister of Mercy.
5. Romero (Blue), named after Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Curriculum

The Nazareth Catholic College curriculum follows a framework that covers the eight nationally recognised key learning areas: English, Mathematics, Science, Society and Environment, Languages, Arts, Health and Physical Education and Technology.

From Reception to Year 7, students study core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science, Design and Technology, Visual Arts, Drama, Dance and Music, Studies of Society and the Environment, Health and Physical Education, as well as Religious Education, and commence studies of a second language with Italian. Japanese is offered as a second language from Year 8 and French from Year 10.

In Years 11 and 12 a full range of South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) courses are offered, as is the Vocational Education and Training module Community Studies.

See also

• List of schools in South Australia

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Our Community Newsletter Issue 5 - Frequently Asked Questions". Nazareth Catholic College. http://www.nazareth-catholic.edu.au/newsletters/downloads/Newsletter_0005.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Our History - and our future". Nazareth Catholic College. http://www.nazareth-catholic.org.au/college/history/. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 

External links

• Nazareth Catholic College website