Burdekin Catholic High School

From the Principal

This week, our community, celebrated the Feast Day of St Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers and a guiding influence on our school's mission and values. Our school community gathered for a special Mass to honour his legacy, with students, staff, and families joining in prayer and reflection. The Mass was a beautiful expression of our Marist identity, highlighting the importance of humility, simplicity, and a deep love for young people—qualities that St Marcellin lived by and which continue to inspire our work today. We are grateful for the meaningful involvement of our students, particularly our Year 7s, who helped prepare a portrait of St Marcellin as part of the celebration.

Interschool Drama Festival

Our students recently took to the stage at the Interschool Drama Festival, delivering a captivating performance of 12 Hangry Jurors. The production showcased not only their dramatic talents but also their ability to collaborate, think critically, and engage an audience with humour and purpose. The cast's energy, timing, and commitment to their roles were outstanding, earning warm praise from the audience and adjudicators alike. At Burdekin Catholic High School, we place great value on the Arts as a vital part of a well-rounded education, recognising that creative expression fosters confidence, communication skills, and emotional intelligence. We are incredibly proud of our students’ achievements and grateful to the staff who guided and supported them throughout the rehearsal and performance process.

Enrolments 2026

2026 Year 7 enrolments are filling quickly. If you have siblings looking for enrolments, please complete an application now! We also have limited places across other year levels.

From the Deputy Principal

REPORTING

As we near the end of semester, students are in the final stages of the completion of assessment and teachers will begin to compile report cards. This year, our reporting across TCE will be undergoing a change for students in Years 7 to 10.

Semester One Report Cards - Burdekin Catholic High School

What’s New in 2025?
At Burdekin Catholic High School, we are committed to keeping families informed about their child’s learning journey. This semester, your child’s report card in Years 7 to 10 will look a little different following updates from Townsville Catholic Education. These changes are designed to simplify reporting and focus on the most meaningful information for families.
Why do we Report?
Report cards provide a snapshot of your child’s achievement and effort in each learning area. They are based on the Australian Curriculum and help parents understand their child’s progress and next steps.

What’s Changed?

Subject Description/Learning Statement to replace subject comments: You will now see a Subject Description/Learning Statement from the Australian Curriculum for each subject.
General Comment Only: Instead of separate comments for each subject, your child’s Home Room Teacher will write one general comment at the end of the report card.
Application to Learning Scale: Every subject will show your child’s Application to Learning, which reflects effort, participation and attitude. This is rated on a 4-point scale: Excellent – Very Good – Satisfactory – Needs Attention

What has not Changed?

We will still be reporting on: Home Room; Days Absent; A – E reporting scale and Parent-Teacher Interviews.
Year 11 and 12 will remain the same.

Drama Festival

Last Friday we performed in the annual Inter-School Drama Festival. Congratulations to our outstanding cast and crew for staging such an entertaining performance. This year, we performed Twelve Hangry Jurors, a spoof of the film Twelve Angry Men. Twelve jurors, trapped in the deliberation room, deciding not on justice, but on what they can order! This year was the fiftieth anniversary of the Drama Festival, and as was announced on the night, a festival started by Burdekin Catholic High School teacher Mrs Therese Joyce and Home Hill State High School teacher, Mrs Cathy Dunbar in 1975.
Our awardees on the night were:

Best Actor: Elora Taylor
Best Supporting Actor: Sofie Lejaragga
Director’s Award: Ziggy Viero
Barry Jones Award: Inara Taylor

Now we move onto our preparations for Moana Jr.!

Elisa Rigano
Deputy Principal

From the Assistant Principal - Pastoral

As we move into the assessment phase of the term, it’s not unusual to see a rise in classroom disruptions. More often than not, it’s not about poor behaviour—it’s avoidance. When students feel behind or unsure, it can be easier to disrupt a lesson than to engage with the work in front of them.

But dodging assessment only adds pressure later.

Students who stay on top of their work tend to feel more in control, more settled in class, and less likely to make choices that impact others. A calm, orderly classroom helps everyone concentrate, and that only happens when students are pulling their weight and using the time wisely.

We’re encouraging students to be proactive: chip away at the task, seek help early, and take ownership. Parents—your reminders and encouragement at home are a key part of that too.

The goal is simple: steady progress, less stress, and a strong finish to the term.

Leighton Gallagher
Assistant Principal - Pastoral

Assistant Principal - Religion

Happy Feast Day! Our Marist Charism finds its origin in the turmoils of the French Revolution. This period of France, whilst anti-Christian, became an explosive period of Christian spiritual renewal by which many saints came out of France. St Marcellin Champagnat was one of those people. Others such as St John Vianney and St Peter Chanel were men that St Marcellin Champagnat met while training to be a priest. These men saw such socialist movement engulfing religiosity and Marcellin particularly dedicated his young teachers, to our Blessed Mother Mary, as men who worked tirelessly for the education of young people. Through his involvement in the newly formed Society of Mary, a congregation known today as the Marist Society, that he eventually broke away but still connected, to start his own congregation called the Little Brothers of Mary or what we now know as the Marist Brothers. Marcellin was a Catholic priest who saw the need to start schools, especially for those who cannot afford education. He built schools out of people’s generosity and through the devotion to Mary, Marist schools started opening worldwide. He died on June 6^th 1840 and this date became officiated by the Church as his Feast Day. Today, we are fortunate and privileged to be part of this enriching Marist tradition. For the last few days, the students and staff have been celebrating St Marcellin Champagnat as the Patron saint of Burdekin Catholic High School. Last Friday, Marcellin House celebrated the day as members of their House and on Wednesday everyone joined in with a whole school Mass. Today we pray for Marcellin’s intercession to keep all of us safe in the care of our Good Mother, especially the last, the least and the lost as he always encourages his Little Brothers, to pray for one another.

Blessings,
Denis Tutaka
Assistant Principal - Religion

From the Guidance Counsellor

In this edition of SchoolTV - SLEEP

Students today have extremely busy schedules, with ever increasing responsibilities at school and at home. Many kids, especially adolescents, are going to bed later and later and are at risk of sleep deprivation. This affects three areas of a child’s development: psychological, physiological and psychosocial. All three are essential to a child's growth, learning ability and overall wellbeing. Sleep is vital to a child’s overall development and is as important as diet and exercise.

Sleep also strengthens a child’s immune systems and supports their ability to function properly on a daily basis. Children who do not get enough sleep show increased levels of aggressive behaviour, are less attentive and are much less active. Trying to catch up on sleep on weekends is not the answer and can still lead to severe sleep deprivation.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn about the importance of sleep and how sleep deprivation can have adverse effects on a child’s health and wellbeing.

Here is the link to the Sleep edition of SchoolTV:

https://bchs.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/sleep

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

year of schooling
category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

Year 12 CQUniversity Webinar

Year 7 Supporting Kids with Cancer

Year 7 Students Show Family Spirit - Supporting Kids with Cancer

Our Year 7 students (and families) have proudly demonstrated true Family Spirit by fundraising for the Children’s Cancer Institute, joining in support of the 25th anniversary of the Townsville to Cairns Bike Ride (TCBR).

What began in 1999 as one father's mission to make a difference has grown into a powerful community movement. Over the past 25 years, TCBR has raised more than $8 million to help children battling cancer. This inspiring ride honours the strength of young cancer patients and supports life-saving research.

By getting involved, our students are helping change lives—contributing to a future where every child has the chance to grow up and chase their dreams. We are so proud of their generosity, compassion, commitment and energy in supporting this incredible cause.

BCHS supports those riding for a future without childhood cancer.

Year 8 Science

Observing Chemical Reactions

Year 8 students have been diving into the exciting world of chemical reactions — not just learning about them from a book, but observing them firsthand through experimentation!

🔬 What Are Chemical Reactions?

Chemical reactions occur when substances interact and form new substances. These changes can be seen in a variety of ways — colour changes, gas formation, temperature change, or even light and sound being produced!

🧪 Why Experiment?

The best way to understand chemical reactions is to see them in action. Students conducted hands-on experiments to:

Identify signs of chemical change
Understand the difference between physical and chemical changes
Learn how reactants become products
Use evidence and observation to explain what’s going on at the particle level

Burdekin Catholic High School Competes in the Vicki Wilson Cup

Burdekin Catholic High School recently participated in the prestigious Vicki Wilson Cup Netball Tournament held in Townsville. The event brought together some of the strongest netball teams from across North Queensland, including schools from Townsville, Mount Isa, and the Whitsundays.

We were proud to send four dedicated teams to represent our school: the Open Girls Championship team, the Open Boys Championship team, the Youth Girls Championship team, and the Youth Girls Development team. Each group showed tremendous spirit, skill, and sportsmanship throughout the competition.

While we did not come away with a division win this year, the experience was invaluable for all involved. Our teams demonstrated remarkable growth in their gameplay, teamwork, and resilience. We are incredibly proud of all our students who represented BCHS. Special thanks go to our dedicated coaches and support staff who guided our players through training and competition.

We look forward to building on this year’s experience and returning stronger in future tournaments. Well done to everyone involved!