Education Minister Grace Grace has today congratulated local schools recognised in Queensland's 2022 Showcase Awards for Excellence in Schools, with Urangan State High School and Tinana State School named as North Coast regional winners.
Now in its 23rd year, Minister Grace said the Showcase Awards are widely regarded as the most prestigious educational awards in Queensland, showcasing excellence in education, innovation, and leadership.
"One of the privileges of my job as Education Minister is to meet the outstanding teachers and educators delivering innovative and world class opportunities for our young Queenslanders," Ms Grace said.
"The Showcase Awards allow us to recognise and celebrate the great work that our schools are doing day-to-day to ensure that Queensland continues to innovate and develop new education practices.
"The quality of submissions for this year's awards was once again exceptional and extremely competitive, making the task of selecting award winners all the more difficult for the regional judging teams.
"To be named as one of the 27 regional winners, or as one of the 24 to receive a commendation, is a significant accolade for these schools. It's an important recognition of their contribution to the state's education system.
"I congratulate each and every one of them, and wish them all the best in the next rounds which will determine our state finalists, and ultimately our state winners."
Urangan State High School won the QSuper Showcase Award for Excellence in the Secondary Years with their Time for the Right Work initiative.
Principal of Urangan State High School, Tony McCormack, said he was proud of the team for their intentional collaboration that's having such a fantastic impact on student outcomes.
"Our students are now achieving at-or-above both regional and state means, which represents a sensational platform for our students to launch from for their post-school lives," Mr McCormack said.
"The power of this work has truly embodied our school motto of 'working together to learn' and highlights the strength of our learning community here at Urangan."
Member for Hervey Bay, Adrian Tantari, said he was proud of everyone at the school.
"I am so impressed by the commitment of our principals and teachers to improve learning outcomes for students right across Hervey Bay," Mr Tantari said.
"Our local educators continue to show incredible passion for innovative teaching and learning practices, and I wish the Urangan State High School team all the best in the next stage of the awards."
Tinana State School was also named as the regional winner of the TUH Health Fund Showcase Award for Excellence in Inclusive Education for their Everyone's Welcome in the Room – Whatever it takes project.
This year there were 86 submissions for the Showcase Awards state-wide, representing 120 schools. Regional award winners and commendation recipients will share in $66,000 worth of development grants to further support their initiatives.
The 27 regional award winners will be whittled down to a smaller number of state finalists next month, before the overall winners across the 10 categories are announced at a conference in Brisbane in October 2022. Winners will receive up to $10,000.
A video about the Urangan SHS project is available here: https://youtu.be/EAMGTF8-zBA
