Catholic Education - Diocese of Cairns

The 30 Catholic schools and colleges of the Diocese of Cairns in Far North Queensland are located from Waibeni (Thursday Island) in the Torres Strait, in and around the Cairns area, west to the Atherton Tablelands and south to Innisfail and Tully on the Cassowary Coast. We have two Prep to Year 12 colleges, 20 primary schools and 7 secondary colleges. The most recent school to open is Newman Catholic College, Smithfield which opened in 2022 with Year 7 and will grow a year level each year until Year 12 is reached in 2027. It is the first Catholic school in Australia to be co-located with a university, at James Cook University’s Cairns campus. In 2016, St Joseph’s Parish School, Weipa opened with Prep to Year 6 and MacKillop Catholic College, Mount Peter also opened that year in the Cairns southern growth corridor. MacKillop will offer Prep to Year 12 by 2025. Our youth assistance college, Holy Spirit College opened its Cooktown and Cairns (Manoora) campuses in 2015, with the Edmonton campus opening in 2021.