Warwick and surrounds

Stanthorpe

If you’re considering a move to Stanthorpe for the next step in your teaching journey, you won’t be disappointed. Nestled in the heart of the Granite Belt, you’ll have access to fresh local produce from the surrounding farmlands, fruit orchards and vineyards. With fresh apples, berries, figs, olives, stone fruit, a huge range of vegetables, locally cured meats, hand-made jams and preserves, farmhouse cheeses, vinegar, chocolates, olive oil and wines, we’re not exaggerating when we say that Stanthorpe is a foodie’s dream.

It’s also the perfect place to beat the heat, with a cooler climate (with the occasional snowfall in winter) allowing you to enjoy the picturesque countryside of the surrounding area.

There are many opportunities for teachers in the Stanthorpe region, with 2 schools in Stanthorpe itself—Stanthorpe State School and Stanthorpe State High School—and 14 schools within driving distance in the Granite Belt cluster.

Goondiwindi

There is much to love about Goondiwindi, a farming community located on the Queensland-New South Wales border, 4 hours south-west of Brisbane. As a well-established border town, it has all the amenities you could want, great food, speciality boutique retail shops, an interesting history to explore and good old-fashioned country hospitality. Budding photographers will be in their element, with heritage buildings, jacaranda tree-lined streets in spring, an array of birdlife and the scenic backdrop of the Macintyre River in the early morning and at sunset.

Check out 10 things you can do when you teach in Goondiwindi on the Southern Queensland Country website and then learn more about the area from Goondiwindi Regional Council’s Visitor Guide.

Goondiwindi State School works collaboratively with the local community to ensure its students experience success. It is a base for specialist teachers who provide educational services to the surrounding small schools. Teachers are well supported, with an experienced team at the school which includes a Head of Inclusion, Head of Department (Curriculum), 3 Inclusion teachers, a HPE teacher, Technology and Health teacher, Instrumental and Classroom Music teachers and a Speech Language Pathologist.

Staff at Goondiwindi State High School are committed to innovative teaching practices that improve outcomes for all students. In 2018, this was recognised when they won a Department of Education Showcase Award for Excellence in the Secondary Years for their program that significantly improved the writing outcomes of students. The school hosts state-of-the-art equipment and facilities that include an iCentre, PCYC Indoor Sports Centre, Trade Training Centre, IT access across the school, a hospitality commercial catering facility, scientific laboratories, music room, undercover multipurpose shelter, agricultural complex and property complete with tractors, farm tools, animals and facilities.

Texas

Texas is a small farming community an hour and a half drive from Goondiwindi on the Queensland-New South Wales border. It is perched on the banks of the peaceful Dumaresq River and within driving distance from Girraween National Park and Sundown National Park, making it a great place for teachers looking for the serenity of wide-open spaces and rugged wilderness and plenty to see and do. Texas ticks the boxes with a welcoming close-knit community, relaxed lifestyle, excellent fishing, camping and picnicking spots, and canoeing, hiking, golfing, and 4-wheel-driving options in the local area.

Texas State School is unique to most other schools in the state because its Prep to Year 10 student population is made up of Queensland and New South Wales residents (imagine the rivalry in June and July each year when a certain football game is played!). Explicit Instruction, Australian Curriculum, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL), Smash Up – a daily fitness program, Watching Others Work, Student Wellbeing and Reading are all important facets of the teaching and learning program at the school. Teachers and students make use of the wide range of facilities including an industrial arts centre, home economics kitchen, art room, music room, science laboratory and resource centre.

Allora

You won’t need a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down in Allora, a quaint country town in the Darling Downs, where the author of Mary Poppins lived as a child. Allora is located just off the highway between Toowoomba and Warwick and is in driving distance to the picturesque Main Range National Park, best known for Queen Mary Falls.

Known as the best little town in the Downs, you’ll find the people as friendly as its surroundings are beautiful. Surrounded by parks and fields of sunflowers that line the highway, you’ll be walking on sunshine in December and January every year you teach in Allora.

Set on the beautiful grounds that you would expect in this lovely country town is Allora State School, which supports students from Prep to Year 10 and boasts modern facilities to ensure students and teachers are well supported in their teaching and learning. These include: a purpose-built performing arts hall, resource centre, music centre, catering block (including dining room), newly refurbished science laboratory, 2 computer classrooms, interactive data projectors and other ICT devices in each classroom, multipurpose court and large sporting fields.