St Therese began in 1939, at the request of the Parish Priest, Fr John Mulherin, when the Sisters of the Good Samaritan were invited to start a school in the parish. For over 50 years, the school was affectionately known as ‘Little Flower’ after the title afforded to our patron, St Therese of Lisieux. The school was staffed and administered by the sisters until 1978, when the first lay principal, Mrs Marie Debusch was appointed. Today the school is fully staffed by committed lay teachers and administrators.

St Therese is situated between the mountains and the sea, very close to Mt Keira on the Illawarra escarpment and on the edge of the Wollongong CBD. Generational enrolment is a feature of St Therese, with successive parents and grandparents continuing to be involved in school life.

We are a two-stream school, with 360 students and 37 staff members. 

We pride ourselves on being a happy, calm school, where all students are provided with an environment conducive to effective learning and strong friendships. We aim to provide a broad education, focused on the important skills of Literacy and Numeracy, while not forgetting critical thinking, appreciation of the arts and knowledge of our world. Each child’s spiritual needs are also taken into account by the provision of Religious Education, prayer, worship and reflection time.

At St Therese, we embrace a culture of School Review and Improvement. Every year through collaboration with staff and parents, aspects of student learning, resources, recruitment and strategic planning are identified and targeted through detailed action plans to bring about improvement for the betterment of our students. This ongoing improvement process ensures that we are reflective of our practices and not complacent in the role we have been entrusted to do and are actively seeking to continually improve pedagogy to meet the learning needs of students. In particular, the planning of challenging programs of work for more able students and the differentiating of activities to suit student needs, have been enthusiastically embraced by staff members.

We have currently engaged in the redevelopment of the St Therese site as a whole, and more specifically, our primary classroom building. While this building is iconic to long term residents of the area, the renovations have made the classrooms more conducive to collaboration and student centred learning.

Read more about What We Offer at St Therese and Take a Tour of our school.

A Catholic School in the Diocese of Wollongong

Catholic schools have a long and proud history in the Australian educational landscape. Originally established by orders of brothers, nuns and priests in the nineteenth century, they are now almost entirely staffed and led by lay people.

Catholic systemic schools in the Diocese of Wollongong are either parish primary schools, or diocesan secondary or K-12 schools. They are all co-educational schools. (The diocese also has another seven independent congregational secondary schools, some of which offer single-sex education.)

Catholic schools have a unique character because as well as being places where learning is highly valued, they are places where priority is given to a values-based education in the Catholic faith. This involves all staff and students proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. Staff identify strongly with their school and take pride in their work and the school’s achievements.

Visit the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) website here