Carinity Education Shalom Townsville celebrates its first graduates

Eight students have made history as the first graduating class of Carinity Education Shalom in Townsville, a school once on the brink of closure.

Carinity Education Shalom Year 12 graduates with Stuart Todd, Head of Secondary at the Townsville school.

A group of eight students have become the first graduating class of an independent Townsville school that at one point faced closure.

Students of Carinity Education Shalom in Townsville marked the completion of their year 12 studies with a ceremony at Northreach Bapist Church on Friday morning.

They are the first students to graduate from the school after it was acquired by Carinity and saved from closure in 2018, when it was known as Shalom Christian College under different ownership.

Crystal Whaleboat is one of four Carinity Education Shalom graduates who started at the school in Prep year.

The Carinity Education Shalom is an independent Prep to Year 12 school in Condon that aims to provide a culturally sensitive and supportive learning environment., with 92 per cent of the students identifying as First Nations.

Head of School Sharyn Ive said she was proud to see the students completing their education, with four of the eight that graduated attending the school since prep and said the graduation ceremony was “bittersweet”.

Carinity Education Shalom graduates Kyrarn Harley, Brendon Sailor and Gerard Prior.

“I have had the privileged of being with these students since their first days at school, many of them starting in Prep,” she said.

“Watching them grow has been an overwhelming blessing and I find myself filled with joy, excitement and a few tears as they are now graduating as part of the Shalom family.”

Brendon Sailor is one of the inaugural senior graduates of Carinity Education Shalom in Townsville.

Since reopening in 2019 the school has seen the number of students triple, with the school one of five Carinity Education schools across Queensland. Other locations are in Hervey Bay, Gladstone, Rockhampton and Brisbane.

Originally published as Carinity Education Shalom Townsville celebrates its first graduates