Boyne Island Environmental Education Centre
Boyne Island Environmental Education Centre (BIEEC) is a residential and day visit education facility operated by The Department of Education, Queensland, offering programs for students Prep to Year 12. Our unique location on a picturesque central Queensland coastal town allows us to emphasise the natural coast, marine and reef environments, and human use of these areas. With access to a wide diversity of habitats, equipment at the centre, and specially trained teaching staff, we offer educational experiences for all students that bring the Australian Curriculum to life beyond the capacity of the classroom.
Come explore our many and varied activities on offer that deliver authentic, stimulating and real-world learning experiences.
What is an environmental education centre?
The centre is part of Education Queensland’s resource support for sustainability and environmental education. At BIEEC, we have the task of promoting, demonstrating and modelling the environmental education for sustainability. About 5,000 students, from prep through to primary, secondary and tertiary levels, visit our residential school each year for periods ranging from a day to five days, and sometimes longer. BIEEC teaching staff collaboratively design, with visiting teachers, a sequence of learning activities that is based on the students’ specific interests directly linked with classroom curriculum.
Hymba Yumba Independent School
Located in Springfield, 25 kilometres southwest of Brisbane, Hymba Yumba Independent School (HYIS) is a co-educational independent school and community building initiative, with a focus on the arts and sciences. In Bidjara Language, Hymba Yumba means listening and learning place. At HYIS, we offer our jarjums a Prep to Year 12 education grounded in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures by embedding Indigenous Knowledges and ways of working into the Australian Curriculum. Our school includes vocational education and training, health and wellbeing services, and an Elders Cultural Yarnin’ Place.
Come see our new Arts and Science Building and check out the ways we embed our values inside and outside our classrooms.
Our values
Our goal is to assist all jarjums to build strong and proud Indigenous identities in a safe, positive and stimulating learning environment. We do this through strong leadership and guidance from Elders and professional staff, and by partnering with parents, carers and communities who are the first educators of our jarjums. We collaborate with government, business and education organisations so we deliver a quality education and enable our students to move seamlessly into a sustainable lifestyle.
Hervey Bay Special School
Hervey Bay Special School is located on the beautiful Fraser Coast area. We deliver a range of learning opportunities and experiences for students from Prep to Year 12 with intellectual and other significant disabilities. Our school prioritises developing the communication capabilities of all students while delivering the Australian Curriculum in age-appropriate contexts. We plan in collaboration with families, therapy services where required, to ensure that the communication, sensory and physical needs of our students are being met.
Come check out our sensory garden, simulated workplace Coffee@Hervey’s, workshop space and more.
Our history
Hervey Bay Special School was officially opened in August 1986 to provide alternative programs for students with special needs in the Hervey Bay area. Previously such students travelled by bus to the Maryborough Special School. In 1986 there was an initial enrolment figure of 19. By 1990 it had grown to 41 and was stable throughout the rest of the 90s. Enrolment in 2011 reached 100 for the first time. Students often complete their full schooling at Hervey Bay Special School.
Mater Dei Primary School
Located on Queensland’s largest inland city, Toowoomba, Mater Dei Primary School is a Catholic co-educational Prep to Year 6 school with a strong Benedictine tradition. Welcoming all faith traditions and providing an inclusive and dynamic environment, Mater Dei holds a proud tradition of providing students with quality education and being a warm and welcoming community.
Our Illuminating Possibilities Learning Framework underpins all that we do. Reflecting the interrelationship between teachers, students and the curriculum, it identifies the successful overlay of these elements as relationship, clarity and challenge. Maintaining positive and productive relationships between students and teachers, clarity of learning for both teachers and students, and providing appropriate levels of challenge ensures we illuminate possibilities for all learners.
Come see examples of our school-wide approach to teaching and learning.
Our history
Mater Dei Primary School was opened in 1917 as Holy Angels School, administered by Brisbane Catholic Education and run by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. The school began as a co-educational school for primary aged children, and also served as a secondary school for girls during its history. It was renamed Mater Dei in 1955 and had its first lay principal in 1978. The Sisters, who remained involved until 1982, were recognised during the school’s centenary celebration for their contribution by the naming of school sporting house teams in their honour.