2018

St Benedict’s Catholic School, Shaw

2018 – PRESENT

St Benedict’s Catholic School is the newest Catholic school to be opened in the Townsville Diocese. Planning for the school commenced when the Townsville Catholic Education Office faced waiting lists for prep places in other local Catholic primary schools. The school has been awarded a 6 Star environmental sustainability rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. Under the foundation Principal, Penny Collins, the school has expanded since opening to cater for over 500 students across P-6.

Ms Jacqui Francis 2018 – PRESENT Executive Director

Jacqui Francis joined the Townsville community in 2013 to take up a senior leadership role with Townsville Catholic Education and in April 2018 commenced in the role of Executive Director. Before living in Townsville Jacqui spent 20 years living in Sydney. Prior to that she grew up in the Gippsland region of Victoria where she was educated at the local Catholic primary and secondary schools. Jacqui commenced her career as a primary school teacher and worked in state schools in Victoria. She went on to hold middle and senior leadership roles in the Commonwealth and New South Wales public sectors and has applied her skills within various industries including policing and public safety, rail transport and road infrastructure. Jacqui’s work has provided opportunities to work in international, national, state and regional settings on projects which have addressed human resource development, organisational capacity building, leadership development, governance and improvement of organisational performance. Jacqui has a Master of Business Administration (International Business), a Bachelor of Education (School Librarianship) and a Diploma of Teaching (Primary). She is currently completing a Master of Theological Studies through Australian Catholic University.