ABOUT DOWNLANDS COLLEGE... 

Scholarship applications for 2013 close on 13 February 2012

Every day is Open Day at Downlands College!  If you would like to come and have a look at the facilities and opportunities we offer, please call us on 07 4690 9500 to arrange a convenient time...we look forward to seeing you at Downlands.

Downlands College is an independent Catholic coeducational day and boarding school for students from Years 8 to 12. Owned and conducted by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Downlands was opened in 1931 as a boarding school for boys with a total enrolment of 68.  Today it accommodates 500 day and 240 residential students from all parts of Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and beyond.

Downlands motto is Fortes in Fide - Strong in Faith. Our faith is based on a belief in and a commitment to a loving God. We value truth, learning and respect for the individual as essential features of the education process.

Situated in a superb location in the regional city of Toowoomba at the centre of a prosperous rural community, Downlands provides students with access to a full range of facilities often found only in large cities, yet the College is in a peaceful setting of beautiful avenues, parks and gardens.

Boarding students at Downlands travel vast distances to attend our College - from Darwin in the Northern Territory through to Armidale in the south and the many towns and cities in between, from Brisbane to Kowanyama, Thargomindah and Longreach. Our many day students either live in our lovely city or travel in from Allora to the South, Crows Nest and beyond in the North, Rosewood in the East and West to near Dalby. Some of these students use casual boarding from time to time to reduce the amount of travel each day and to take advantage of supervised study at night.

OP results 2012 - 8 graduates (5 boys and 3 girls) achieved OP 1s which equates to 6% of the cohort receiving OP 1s; 23% achieved OP 1-5 and half the cohort achieved OP 1-10.

Advantages of Coeducation

Students attending coeducational schools are provided with an invaluable opportunity to understand and appreciate the perspectives boys and girls bring to a school - and to recognise the sheer complexity of gender.

Downlands students have the opportunity to interact with a large range of individuals of both sexes, ensuring that they understand that gender is only one of many determinants of identity. Importantly, boys and girls develop good friendships over the years and learn to appreciate each other’s strengths, without feeling self-conscious. Recognising how society ‘constructs’ gender, they learn to discard sexist attitudes and to realise their own individuality within a mixed sex school setting.

Whether you feel aligned to single sex schools or coeducation, it has to be accepted that co-education recognises that society is made up of individuals, both male and female, living jointly as members of communities. This points to the undeniable fact that one of the core purposes of schooling is socialisation and that it is more naturally and fully achieved within the context of boys and girls being educated together.

What we gain from our education are ‘patterns’ – patterns of behaviour and patterns of interaction, and these patterns make up who we are. Schools can do much to develop those patterns of interaction between boys and girls in the formative years and these internalised strategies will stand students in good stead for life after school.

The social development of our students, including the formation of appropriate values and attitudes, are a prerequisite for the ongoing wellbeing of our society. It therefore appears anachronistic to opt for a segregated form of schooling in order to prepare young people for our ever changing society.

Testimonial

"Our four children have and are currently attending Downlands College. We have found the Downland’s community to be friendly and ready to help when called upon.

Our children have all enjoyed their time at the College and have been encouraged to excel in all areas of their education and sport. This encouragement has been balanced and very positive.

We have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending Downlands College to any prospective parent."

John and Liz Wagner
Toowoomba 2011