Kowanyama State School and its partners at Clifton Hill receive their award at the 2025 Showcase event. Kowanyama members with Minister for Education John-Paul Langbroek and Director General – Education Queensland – Sharon Shimming: Grade 2 relieving teacher in 2025 (from Chapel Hill) Jesser Essex, school community partnerships facilitator Leara Aiden, principal Janene Harrison, deputy principal Vito Fermo; students Tiara Daniel, Levon Clark, Jarrason Nettle-Barney and Nahaya Brumby. Photo: Queensland Government.
Kowanyama State School has been recognised for its outstanding achievements at the 2025 Showcase event at Queensland Parliament House in Brisbane.
The long-running celebration recognises schools for their educational programs and initiatives that advance student achievement, wellbeing, engagement, culture and inclusion.
Kowanyama partnered with Chapel Hill State School in a project that embraced diversity and created inclusive, accessible educational settings.
The two schools were recognised under the QTU Bevan Brennan ‘Every Child Needs a Champion’ category: Realising the potential of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student.
The schools’ partnership bridges two vastly different worlds and was born out of contrasting reasons, according to Kowanyama State School principal Janene Harrison and the Showcase comments.
“Two Queensland schools from different contexts have built on each other’s strengths in a unique partnership. What started as a shared interest in inquiry learning grew into a collaboration to address key challenges.
“Kowanyama SS faced difficulties in attracting staff and supporting student transitions to secondary schools. Chapel Hill SS wanted to learn more about embedding the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“The question `What else can we do together?’ sparked innovative activities that drove school improvement.”
Key initiatives included a shared approach. Kowanyama adopted Chapel Hill’s age-appropriate pedagogies and Chapel Hill integrated Kowanyama’s learning-on-Country model.
Professional learning also involved eight teachers from each site “work shadowing” at their project partner’s school.
The partnership benefitted students through improved teaching quality, leadership development and enriched cultural understanding. Kowanyama students gained transition-to-boarding support, while Chapel Hill staff applied insights from Kowanyama’s curriculum connections to their own context.
Kowanyama was one of 13 state schools from across Queensland recognised at the 2025 Showcase event.
The winning schools will each receive part of a $120,000 bursary pool to help them share their practice with other schools or reinvest into their own programs.
Minister for Education and the Arts John-Paul Langbroek said this year’s showcased schools reflected the core values of Queensland’s state education system by “creating supportive, high-quality learning environments where all students have the potential to succeed”.
“Congratulations to the principals, teachers and staff for their leadership and dedication to improving educational outcomes for our students,” he said.
