TRADITIONAL ANGLICANS SURGE AHEAD WITH SCHOOL PLANNING

by ACCA's Chancellor, Councillor Lex Bell

            The Anglican Catholic Church's Saint Stephen's College at Coomera has been a spectacular success. There are now 630 students. All places from pre-school to Year 5 are filled with waiting lists. The College Principal states that, were places available, he could have enrolled another 50 students this year into pre-school.
           Therefore, with the assent of the Diocesan, Bishop John Hepworth, Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, the Chancellor lodged by the deadline of March 1, 1999, applications for Queensland Education Department consent to three new colleges, to open in the year 2001.
           The first College is at Pimpama, just 9 minutes drive northwards from Saint Stephen's College. Land has been secured in a very suitable position. It is expected that this College could accommodate some of the students which Saint Stephen's College is forced to turn away.
           The other two proposed colleges are on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. Saint Thomas' College is proposed for the western part of Caloundra and St. Mark's College is proposed for Coolum Beach. Both areas are rapidly expanding and are grossly under serviced by Church Schools.
        It cannot be expected that Government approval will automatically be forthcoming for all these Colleges. It is becoming harder in Queensland to obtain the necessary State Licence. There is also a procedure of objection available to other schools which may oppose our proposals.
           Negotiations are also well ahead for establishment of yet another ACCA School at Cobaki, just south of the Queensland/New South Wales border. A site of approximately 25 acres has been reserved for the Church by a large real estate developer who is constructing many hundreds of homes in the vicinity. Cobaki is about 3 km from Tugun, one of the southern suburbs of the City of the Gold Coast.. The school site would be "conveniently" located for siting of a chapel for the Church's southern Gold Coast congregation. Being on the New South Wales side of the State border, State Government permission for commencing the school at Cobaki is not so difficult to obtain. It is expected that school would be open in the year 2001 or 2002, depending upon how quickly the surrounding real estate sub division is developed.