Catholic education for Rosebery
As larger numbers of young families flock to inner Sydney, a new Catholic primary school is responding to the challenge and recently welcomed its foundation kindergarten class at the start of Term 1.
The 29 kindergarten students and seven staff of St Joseph’s primary Rosebery made history last month as the first school opened in the area for generations.
While the new school community will make the official move to the Rosebery site later this year, their school journey has begun on the campus of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, an all girls secondary school in Kensington with a much longer history stretching back over 100 years.
“We’re looking for ways that the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart students can work with our kindergarten students as buddies and that’s certainly beneficial for both schools”, explained foundation principal of St Joseph’s Rosebery, Mr Bernard Ryan.
Mr Ryan said some of the new students are graduates of the St Joseph’s Preschool and Long Day Care centre which is on the same site as the new primary school which the students will move into in Rosebery in the second half of 2023.
“We’re working with the early learning centre to build up a very strong relationship with them, so we can work together to provide a continuity of Catholic education from six weeks of age through to Year 6”, he explained.
Next year, the school will also open up to Year 1 enrolments with the aim of having 525 students from kindergarten to Year 6 by 2029.
“It’s extremely significant for us to be able to bring Catholic education back to the suburb of Rosebery for the community in this area and indeed it’s the first time a school has opened in this area for a very long time”, Mr Ryan said.
“We’re seeing many young families moving back to the inner city with its cosmopolitan lifestyle and new transport infrastructure coming with the Metro train line and this is really a response to that broader trend”.
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