Boarders welcomed back to old school

When Year 7 student from The Cathedral College Rockhampton, Ella Roberts finished her primary schooling at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Springsure, Ella was certain those days were behind her.

This year’s events saw Ella and her brother William, both Boarders at TCC, return home to Springsure and walk through the gates of their old school once more, this time to learn online.

Accessing the school’s internet on their college provided laptop, Ella and William joined their TCC teachers and classmates in Microsoft Teams for the five weeks of online learning.

College Principal, Rob Alexander said Ella and William and several other Boarders were able to successfully continue their learning thanks to the warm welcome extended by several Catholic schools across the Diocese of Rockhampton and beyond.

‘Our Online Learning Department contacted the nearest schools to Boarders disadvantaged through poor internet connection to see what could be done,’ Mr Alexander said.

‘The schools were very quick to open their doors and help. We are very grateful to Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, Springsure, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Blackall, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Barcaldine, Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School Longreach, Marist College, Emerald and St Michael’s Catholic School Palm Island.

‘Their generosity means a lot. At TCC education is everything and to have some of our students miss out because of limited access to the internet would not have been fair,’ Mr Alexander said.

Mr Alexander said the College was also very determined to have all Boarders return when school reopened.

‘Many Boarders across Queensland are still at home learning.  Our Boarders are in the classroom learning face to face alongside Day students.’

‘This is the best way for students to learn and we are very grateful all our students are thriving once more,’ Mr Alexander said.

Photo: TCC Boarders Ella and William Roberts return to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Springsure during Learning from Home delivery to access better internet connection.