Top Cairns Schools 2024: Public, Private & Selective

Cairns' school landscape has developed significantly as the city's permanent professional population has grown. The private school sector is particularly strong for a regional city, and the James Cook University campus provides a pathway to higher education that has improved educational attainment outcomes across the Far North Queensland region.

Government schools — Cairns State High School is the city's largest government secondary school. Trinity Bay State High School (Manunda) and Cairns West State School serve the western suburbs. The northern beaches government schools (Smithfield State High School) serve the growing northern beaches residential community. Queensland's ATAR-pathway and vocational programmes are available at all major Cairns high schools.

Trinity Anglican School — Trinity Anglican School (White Rock) is Cairns' largest and most established independent co-educational school, offering K-12 education with boarding facilities for rural Far North Queensland students. The school's curriculum covers the full Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) range and the school's results consistently rank above the state average.

St Augustine's College — the Catholic boys' school in the northern suburbs (Cairns North) has a strong tradition in the Catholic community and provides the primary Catholic boys' secondary option in the city.

James Cook University Cairns — the JCU Cairns campus provides tertiary pathway from Cairns' secondary school graduates and has expanded medical, nursing, and education programmes that retain graduates in the Far North Queensland region who would otherwise have relocated to Brisbane or southern cities for degree study.

Boarding school context — Cairns families who prioritise access to the widest range of Year 11-12 options and elite sporting or arts programmes frequently consider Brisbane Grammar, Anglican Church Grammar, or other Brisbane private school boarding placements.

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