Brisbane Catholic Education has announced the name for the new primary school planned to open at Redbank Plains in 2020 – it will be called St Ann’s School.
The new school’s Community Consultative Committee – comprised of local parish and community representatives, Parish Priest Fr Vu Dinh Tuong, and Brisbane Catholic Education staff – discussed a number of possible alternatives before deciding on the name, which has now been endorsed by Archbishop Mark Coleridge.
St Ann’s School will be built on a 3.2 hectare site on Halletts Road, adjacent to the Cashmere Road Reserve. It is planned to open with Prep to Year 3 in 2020, and then grow by one year level at a time until it reaches Year 6. When it reaches full size, it is anticipated that it will be a four stream school catering for 780 students and employing around 50 teachers and support staff.
It will not be the first Catholic school at Redbank Plains; a small school, staffed by lay teachers and then the Sisters of St Joseph, originally operated in Redbank Plains in the 1860s and 1870s. The new school will be part of the St Francis Xavier Parish, based at Goodna.
In naming the new school after St Ann, the Committee is dedicating it to the memory of St Ann, the mother of the Virgin Mary – which which makes her the grandmother of Jesus! St Ann is also the patron saint of miners, which also reflects the important role that coal mining played in the development of the Redbank region.
Brisbane Catholic Education Executive Director, Pam Betts, said the new school was necessary to meet the growing population in the region, with the number of school-age children expected to increase rapidly in the years ahead.
“Ipswich City Council’s latest development report shows that Redbank Plains is now the fastest-growing suburb of Ipswich, and this momentum is expected to continue as new suburban developments are rolled out all the way to the Ripley Valley,“ Ms Betts said.
“Brisbane Catholic Education is committed to ensuring that high quality and affordable Christian schooling is available to young families throughout the region, with other new schools planned for Springfield, Ripley, Greenbank and Flagstone over the next decade.
“We look forward to working with members of the local parish, community representatives and families to create a caring and inclusive new school at St Ann’s, which will welcome all those who share our values,” she said.
Applications for enrolment will open in coming months, but families wishing to be kept up to date on developments should lodge an expression of interest on the New Schools page of the Brisbane Catholic Education website, brisbanecatholicschools.com.au