This year celebrates the theme “Great Learning, Great Communities”. This is a very fitting theme for 2017 as we celebrate Catholic education in Cowra and sur- rounds. Since the beginning, St Raphael’s Catholic School has been welcomed and supported within the Cowra community. St Raphael’s values the long standing relationships and partnerships that have developed with St Raphael’s Parish, the wider community and families over generations while providing a rich Catholic education for the youth of Cowra and surrounds.
2017 marks a significant year for the students, parents and staff of St Rapha- el’s Catholic School. For the first time the school can offer education beyond Year 10. Students can now begin their educa- tion in Kindergarten and graduate Year 12. Students selecte a course of study from a very broad range of subjects on offer. St Raphael’s offers students the opportunity to complete VET qualification in hospitality and construction. They are pleased to have a range of subjects and have accommodated student selections with small class sizes and the recruitment of new staff.
The school has undergone significant redevelopment and boasts state of the art facilities including science laboratories, construction, hospitality, art room, TAS classroom, general purpose classrooms and change room facilities. These facilities will be used by the whole secondary department and can be accessed by primary classes. Primary classes have access to purpose built learning spaces and can take advantage of such great facilities.
Students have already had many different learning opportunities and look forward to the upcoming year where we have all secondary grades.
Year 7 students participated in a rafting trip and a range of activities that has assisted in orientating them to secondary school life. Students are showing maturity
as they experience the changes of school life with timetables, multiple teachers and assessment tasks.
In 2016 Learning Plus was launched in the secondary school. This program in- volves all secondary students and aims to foster relationships that enhance collabo- rative learning, models effective learning practices and creates healthy learning habits. This program will continue this year.