The third of four core documents for Catholic Education which applies to all schools and elements of Catholic Education, was launched in May 2005. The Strategic Priorities document serves as a guide for planning, action and review for the years 2005 – 2009.

The Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Cairns in partnership with Catholic Education Services (CES) are committed to providing a quality education for our students by developing annual goals and strategies which:

• Enrich and promote our Catholic identity, tradition and ethos
  
  
• Enhance the quality of Religious Education and Faith Formation
  
  
• Maximise student learning through the provision of high quality teaching and curricula
  
  
• Address the diverse needs of students through a culture of inclusiveness
  
  
• Enhance the personal, professional, spiritual and technological development of staff
  
  
• Strengthen the capacity for effective, life-giving relationships and collaboration involving staff, parents, students, clergy, religious and the wider community
  
  
• Use existing and emerging information and communication technologies to enhance learning opportunities and administrative practices
  
  
• Ensure the efficient and equitable distribution of available resources
  
  
• Implement rigorous renewal and planning practices at individual, school and system level
  
  
• Implement accountability practices at individual, school and system level to monitor quality and standards, and to achieve responsible stewardship.

The Strategic Priorities have been conceptualized in two levels – intentions and expectations. Strategic intentions are a set of things that could almost be described as the “to do” list for Catholic schools. Among the intentions will be things some schools could almost tick off now, but education is characterized by the need to keep reviewing what is happening and its effectiveness, so the list of intentions under each priority is important for the diocese overall, and the individual schools.

Strategic expectations are a description of what a member of a school community, or visitor, might see or experience if they were to visit a school that is successfully implementing the strategic intentions. To this extent, they have an idealistic or visionary element to them – yet they are not unreasonable or unrealistic – they are simply statements of what we should be aiming for as the culmination of our efforts.

School staffs are working together with this Strategic Priorities document, to develop a shared understanding of its components. They are jointly working on developing school plans, long- and short-term, that effectively bring these priorities to fruition in their schools, to the benefit of students and all other stakeholders.

» Strategic Priorities Booklet (pdf)