Principal’s Message

St Therese’s Catholic Primary School is located in Denistone, a Northern Sydney suburb surrounded by Eastwood, Ryde, West Ryde and North Ryde. Our small, community-focused school offers a quality Catholic education for boys and girls from Kindergarten to Year 6.

The students, parents, and staff are very proud of our school as we provide a secure, happy and faith-filled environment in which all members are challenged to be the best person they can be by following the example of Jesus Christ.

A single-stream school, St Therese’s offers many programs to enhance the learning of our students, including Reading Recovery, literacy and numeracy support, specialised Physical Education lessons, and Music and differentiated programs for our gifted and talented students. The school buildings provide students with a twenty-first-century, technology-rich learning space.

Our website outlines the features that make our school a place of faith, friendship and learning. I hope you enjoy visiting the site. Please contact us if you would like to know more about our school.

Joanna Camarda
Principal

History
The school was opened in 1951 with an enrolment of 40 children and was conducted by the Sisters of Mercy (Parramatta congregation). The first classrooms were in the church of St Therese, which served as a school during the week. In 1952, a new church-school was built.

By 1968, St Therese’s had their highest enrolment of 197 students – girls from Kindergarten to Year 6 and boys from Kindergarten to Year 3.  The gradual increase of government funding from the late 1960s allowed for the employment of more lay teachers, so that in 1969 there were two nuns and five lay teachers. In 1974, the parish farewelled the Sisters of Mercy and appointed the first lay principal. Another change in the late 1980s was the provision of primary school for boys to Year 6.

In 1992, an amphitheatre was erected on the site of the old presbytery and during 1996 the whole school community was moved to St Michael’s School at Meadowbank, while an extensive program of refurbishment and building occurred. The new school building was blessed and opened in 1997.

St Therese’s Catholic Primary School Denistone is a Catholic community committed to nurturing a love of God, self, others and learning.

OUR VISION
Our vision is to:

  • Promote our Catholic faith through celebrating, praying and learning 
  • Affirm the dignity of each individual by respecting and acknowledging one another through nurturing relationships
  • Foster learning by providing experiences which are challenging, motivating and engaging.

OUR MISSION
Inspired by our beliefs and our school motto ‘Live by Truth and Love,’
St Therese’s Catholic Primary School is enlivened by the teaching of Jesus Christ within the traditions of the Mercy charism. We aspire to instill the values of compassion, respect, excellence, justice and option for the poor as we commit to a holistic approach to education. We recognise the uniqueness of each child to reach their full potential in a mutually respectful environment.

OUR SCHOOL-WIDE PEDAGOGY
St Therese’s offers a school-wide pedagogy that is:

  • ENGAGINGwhere students experience success as active, involved learners.
  • COLLABORATIVE where students challenge and support one another, developing relationships and working together.
  • EVALUATIVE where reflective thinking and constructing timely feedback guides learning.
  • INNOVATING using multi-modal learning recognises individual learning styles and different ways of thinking.

St Therese’s Denistone

Parish Priest: Rev Roberto Castillo

A: 440 Blaxland Road, Denistone NSW 2114
P: (02) 9809 2925
W: www.sttherese.org.au
E: admin@sttherese.org.au

Mass Times
Saturday: 9.00am, 6.00pm
Sunday: 8.00am, 9.30am

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