John Paul College (Brisbane)

John Paul College
Location
Daisy Hill, Logan , Queensland Australia
Coordinates	27°38′S153°09′E / 27.633°S 153.150°E / -27.633; 153.150
Information
Type	Independent, early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school
Motto	Unity Christ Learning
Religious affiliation(s)	Ecumenical
Denomination	Non-denominational Christianity
Established	1982;41 years ago (1982)
Principal	Craig Merritt
Years	Early learning; K–12
Enrolment	1,711 [1]  (2018)
Campus size	33 hectares (82 acres)
Campus type	Suburban
Colour(s)	Burgundy and blue
Newspaper	Burgundy + Blue
Affiliation	The Associated Schools
Website	www.jpc.qld.edu.au

John Paul College is an independent, non-denominational Christian early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school, located in the Logan City suburb of Daisy Hill, Queensland, Australia.

Established in 1982, the school enrolled 1,711 students in 2018, from early learning and Year K to Year 12, of whom two percent identified as Indigenous Australians and 24 percent came from a language background other than English. John Paul International College provides English Language Studies for international students keen to engage in study in Australia. ^[1]

The principal is Craig Merritt. ^[2] The school is located on a 33-hectare (82-acre) campus, and is a member of The Associated Schools. ^[1]

Overview

The foundation principal was Cec Munns, who was also a member of the steering committee which had urged the Brisbane Catholic Education Office to establish a Catholic secondary school in the area. This request was denied, so the committee worked with the local Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting parishes to establish the school, which opened on Australia Day 1982 with 144 students in Years 8 and 9.^{[ citation needed ]}

John Paul College has twice been judged as one of the best ten schools in Australia in a nationwide series conducted by The Australian newspaper in both 2002 and 2003.^{[ citation needed ]}

John Paul provides group or private instrumental, vocal, dance, and drama lessons on a weekly basis.^{[ citation needed ]}

Organization

The College comprises three schools:

Primary School	Childcare to Year 6
Senior School	Year 7 to Year 12
International College	Assists international students with the English language

Primary school is broken down into an additional three schools:

• Early Learning (childcare, kindergarten and prep)
• Junior Primary (Years 1, 2 and 3)
• Senior Primary (Years 4, 5 and 6)

History

The college was founded through the collaborative efforts of four clergymen from three different denominations: Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting. All four were strong believers in ecumenism, which continues to guide the College ethos to this day. ^[3]

Father Rollo Enright, the Catholic parish priest at St Peter's, Rochedale, had a strong commitment to ecumenism and was the driving force behind the push for the ecumenical concept of the college when it became clear that the proposal to build a Catholic College at Daisy Hill was rejected by the Catholic Education Office. Father Leo Burke was the founding Catholic parish priest of St Edward's, Daisy Hill and remains involved with the college to this day as its patron. Another ecumenist, Patrick Doulin, was parish priest of St Mark's Anglican community, Slacks Creek, and the official representative of the Anglican hierarchy. Reverend Bryan Gilmour, the pastor of Logan Uniting Church, was a prominent leader of the ecumenical movement within his own Church and, with the others, enthusiastically supported the establishment of John Paul College as an ecumenical school. It was indeed, he who when it appeared all avenues to establish the college were exhausted, suggested that the founders pray that, "not our will, but God's, be done".

Houses

Students are allocated to one of the four houses and will remain in that house for the duration of their time at JPC. Siblings are assigned to the same house. ^[4]

House	Colour
Gilmour	Blue
Burke	Red
Doulin	Breen
Enright	White

Boarding

JPC offers accommodation for students in Years 7 to 12. The boarders are housed in a "village-style" environment called Fenton Village. Vegetable gardens surround individual residential homes, which accommodates eight boarders each. The Director of Boarding, Assistant Director of Boarding, House Mother and four Tutors live on-site. ^[5]

Notable alumni

Sports

Olympians

• Genevieve LaCaze
• Mitch Larkin
• Keryn McMaster
• Ki Sung-yueng
• Michael Turnball

Association football

• Ki Sung-yueng
• Michael Turnball
• Sin Chang-moo

Australian rules footballers

• Shaun Hampson
• Jesse White

Men's basketball

• Tim Coenraad
• Rhys Martin
• Cameron Tragardh

Women's basketball

• Maddison Allen
• Mikhaela Donnelly
• Sarah Graham
• Kalani Purcell
• Kristy Wallace

Netball

• Madeline McAuliffe
• Clare McMeniman
• Laura Scherian

Rugby union

• Jake Schatz

Others

• Raghe Abdi – Somali-Australian terrorist. ^[6]
• Yassmin Abdel-Magied – Sudanese-Australian mechanical engineer.
• David Baxby – CEO, Virgin Management Asia Pacific.
• Renee Gracie – Adult film actress and racing driver
• Gong Hyo-jin – South Korean actress.
• Dami Im – South Korean-born Australian singer.
• Taj Pabari – 2017 Queensland Young Australian of the Year.
• Jesse Wardlaw – AFL W Player

See also

• Queensland portal
• Schools portal
• Christianity portal

• List of schools in Queensland
• Education in Australia
• Ecumenism

References

1. "John Paul College, Daisy Hill, QLD: School Profile". MySchools. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
2. "John Paul College Announces Sixth Principal". 15 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
3. "About Us: What is ecumenism?". jpc.qld.edu.au.
4. "Co-Curricular Activities: School Houses". jpc.qld.edu.au.
5. "Boarding@JPC". jpc.qld.edu.au.
6. "Radicalised ISIS supporter an ex-Qld private school pupil". The Courier-Mail. Queensland Newspapers. Retrieved 18 December 2020.

External links

• Official website
• JPConnect
• John Paul International College