St Mary’s College Broome launches fee free early learning deal to celebrate opening of new facilities

A Broome Catholic school has slashed kindergarten and pre-primary enrolment fees for its 2022 intake and reduced class sizes as it celebrates the completion of a new early learning centre and the refit of senior school buildings.

St Mary’s College Broome announced it would offer fee-free education for its youngest cohorts next year to mark the opening of the new pre-primary building.

The offer will be available for 2022 enrolments only for kindergarten and pre-primary students.

St Mary’s principal Carol Bell said the school was passionate about being affordable and accessible to families.

“We are offering our families here in Broome the opportunity to come and see what we are about and an opportunity to not pay fees in those pre-compulsory years as a way to celebrate the new facility,” she said.

“We believe so strongly in what we do that we want to share the story with our community.”

The kindergarten was officially opened this month and features open spaces, educational nooks that can be tailored to the curriculum, a modern kitchen and even a small door for children next to the main entrance.

Across the other side of a shared outdoor play space, construction of the pre-primary building is on track to be completed in time for the 2022 school year.

The pre-primary will share many similar design elements to the kindergarten as a way to ease the transition through the year groups for students.

Ms Bell said providing familiarity helped to break down what can be a daunting prospect for young children entering the school system for the first time.

“For us it is important our kids feel welcome, settled, comfortable and familiar with their surrounds, and that families can see that connection,” she said.

“Having that sense of connection ... means those kindergarteners are taking that step into more formalised learning with a familiar space.

“We think it gives great options for our kids and helps them make the transition into the K-12 learning journey.”

An official opening of the early learning centre and the upgraded senior school building was hosted at St Mary’s last week, with dignitaries invited to take a look through the new facilities.

The ceremony was bookended by performances from the school; first from the primary school students with their song Voice, Treaty, Truth, sung in English and Yawuru, then a rendition of Vance Joy’s Riptide by senior students.

Starting next year, class sizes will also be reduced from 30 to 25 to allow more opportunities for teacher-student interaction.