Bentley Park College is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

, state run school located in Bentley Park (

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

). The school educates students from

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

12th grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

. In 1997 (term 4), the school opened as a primary school in Centenary Park called "Edmonton State School", after a nearby town. In 1998, it was renamed "Bentley Park College" with commencement in operation as a P-7 school, a corresponding name change which was subsequently reflected in the suburb of "Centenary Park", which was renamed "Bentley Park". In 2011, the school's original motto, "Achieving Tomorrow's Visions Today" was replaced with its current motto of "Aspire Learn Achieve".

Infrastructure

Medical Precinct

In 2022, Bentley Park College launched a $1.4m medical precinct, allowing High school students throughout Cairns to fast track their career in

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

Sports

On 25 February 2019, Bentley Park College launched a $1.65 million sport hall upgrade, funded under the Queensland Government's $200 million Advancing Schools initiative, an external covered multi-purpose court, new louvre systems, covered entrances, and a new kinesiology laboratory, with space for a full class of students, laptops and a fully equipped

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

Students

Bentley Original

A "Bentley Original" is a term coined for a student who attended Bentley Park College from Preschool, Prep Year or Year 1 until their Year 12 Graduation. The terms was coined by a group of Year 11 Bentley Park College students in 2010 ("2012 Bentley Originals"), a year after the graduation of the initial students who met the "Bentley Originals" requirement, i.e. those beginning Preschool in 1998, or Year 1 in 1999, and graduating in 2009.

Years

The school first opened its doors to preschool age students in 1997. In 1998, it commenced operation as a P-7 school. On 17 September 2001, Middle School specialist and general learning classrooms, Middle and Senior School Library, College Administration building and Middle and Senior School Canteen were officially opened. In 2001, The school began accepting middle school students (grades 6–9). In 2002, senior school students (grades 10–12). In 2003–2004, senior school students moved into their own building apart from the middle school students. The first cohort of Year 12s graduated in 2004. In 2011, the middle school was removed paving the way for Year 7 to transition into high school ahead of other schools in the area, with the former 'Junior School' (Years P-5), 'Middle School' (Years 6-9) and 'Senior School' (Years 10-12) being merged into two sectors: P-6 and 7-12 In 2015,

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...

's state-wide "Flying Start" program was officially implemented to align Queensland with the other states by transferring

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 in the United ...

into the high school system, As a result, Bentley Park College moved its Year 7 into the high school domain in 2015. This produced the school in its current form, teaching the initial Prep Year to final

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-compulsory educa ...

(P-12).

Student enrolments

In 2023, Bentley Park College was reported to have a maximum student enrolment capacity of 2,270 students. The 2023, limit on students entering the Prep in any given year was 150 students in 6 classrooms, which was only to be exceeded if there were more than 150 students enrolling from within the catchment area. In 2005, there were approximately 1800 students enrolled in the school, 400 of which were senior school students. The trend in school enrolments (August figures) has been:-

Notable alumni

The following are notable

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of the school:

References

External links

Bentley Park College website
{{Authority control Public high schools in Queensland Educational institutions established in 1997 Schools in Cairns 1997 establishments in Australia