Min Oh
Training before class, national competition after it
Read the story
Student Life
Come and see what a day
looks like
Lessons in English, football at lunch, rehearsal after school, and dinner with your homestay family. This is an ordinary week at John Paul College. Most of what helps a new student settle happens inside it, without anyone having to plan it.
Sunrise to Bedtime
A day at John Paul College
Move through the day one moment at a time — or press play and let it run. Nothing here is a brochure day: it is the shape of an ordinary Tuesday.
Before school
The day starts before the first bell
Some students are already on campus. Swim squads train from about 6:30am. Music students practise, teams warm up, and plenty of people simply arrive early to find their friends.
Why it matters: a sport, an instrument, an activity you chose yourself. That is the JPC experience students remember.
8:20am
Roll call at 8:20
The day begins in a mentor group — a small class with the same teacher all year. They notice when something is wrong before anyone has to explain it. For a new international student, this is the person who learns your name first.
Why it matters: you are never anonymous here. Somebody is responsible for knowing how your week is going.
Period 1
Lessons, in English, with everyone else
International students sit in the same Australian Curriculum classes as everyone else. Their teachers have worked with students from overseas for years. Students who need more English first start in a preparation program, then join these same classes.
Why it matters: this is the fastest way English improves. You use it all day, for real subjects, not only in an English lesson.
Morning tea
Twenty minutes outside
The first break is short, and almost everyone spends it outside. The campus is thirty-three hectares of natural bushland. There is room to find your own corner — or to end up in a group you did not have last term.
Why it matters: Queensland weather means breaks are outdoors nearly all year, which is a large part of why students settle so quickly.
Mid-morning
English support, without leaving the day behind
Language support is built into the ordinary week rather than added afterwards. The International Student Services team works alongside classroom teachers, with small-group and one-to-one help for students who are still building confidence.
Why it matters: a student gets help with the subject they are actually studying, in the week they are actually studying it.
Lunch
This is when the clubs happen
Art Club, Debating, Esports, Writers Club, Young Designers and Community Care all meet at lunch. If none of those appeal, there is a football game on the oval, a basketball court, the canteen and the JPCafe.
Why it matters: friendships at school are made sideways — over a shared interest, not by being introduced.
Afternoon
Laboratories, workshops and studios
Afternoons are often the practical subjects. There are purpose-built laboratories in the Science Centre, workshops in S.G. Mapstone Applied Design, and rehearsal rooms in the music centre. These are real facilities, not a shared classroom with equipment wheeled in.
Why it matters: senior subjects like chemistry, physics and design need proper rooms — and they are the subjects universities look at.
3:15pm
School finishes at 3:15
Formal classes end at 3:15pm. Some students head straight home. A great many do not, because the part of school they came for has not started yet.
Why it matters: 8:20 to 3:15 is the timetable. It is rarely the whole day.
After school
Co-curricular: a sport, an instrument, or an activity
After 3:15pm the campus keeps going. Sport training, music rehearsal and club activities all run after school, and homestay students also attend the Extended Day Program on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Why it matters: this is where the inter-school teams and the College musical come from. A lot of the friendships too.
Evening
Dinner, homework, and someone to talk to
Homestay students eat with their host family and do homework at the kitchen table, speaking English all evening without thinking about it. Boarding students return to the boarding house for supervised study, dinner and their own common room.
Why it matters: the evening is where homesickness actually shows up. It is the reason both options are supervised rather than left to chance.
Sport, Music & Clubs
There is always something running — whatever term you arrive in
Australian school sport changes with the season. A student who starts in July is not waiting until next year. They join whatever is running that term, and pick up the rest as the year turns. Music, drama, dance and the student clubs run right through.
Start in Term 1 and you arrive with everyone else, at the beginning of the school year.
In season
- Boys Cricket, Volleyball
- Girls Basketball, Football, Tennis
The carnival
Swimming
The whole school competes. No experience needed — most students swim for their house, not for a time.
Always open
Instrumental, choir and vocal, dance, drama, cheer and bands. Art Club, Community Care, Debating, Esports, Writers Club and Young Designers meet at lunch.
Start in Term 2 and you walk into a completely different sporting season from the one that just finished.
In season
- Boys Rugby, Tennis
- Girls Hockey, Netball
The carnival
Cross Country
Run through the bushland on our own campus. Everybody takes part, at whatever pace suits them.
Always open
Instrumental, choir and vocal, dance, drama, cheer and bands. Art Club, Community Care, Debating, Esports, Writers Club and Young Designers meet at lunch.
Start in Term 3 — the most common mid-year intake — and a fresh season starts the same week you do.
In season
- Boys Basketball, Football
- Girls Touch Football, Volleyball
The carnival
Athletics
Track and field across a full day. A good first week to be new, because everyone is out of uniform and out of class.
Always open
Instrumental, choir and vocal, dance, drama, cheer and bands. Art Club, Community Care, Debating, Esports, Writers Club and Young Designers meet at lunch.
Start in Term 4 and you arrive into the loudest term of the year. There is no inter-school sport season in Term 4 — the performing arts take over instead.
On stage
Carols & concerts
The end-of-year performance run: carols, recitals and performance evenings in the Stephen Bean Theatre.
Speech Night
Awards evening
The College's formal close to the year, where academic and co-curricular achievement is recognised in front of the whole community.
Always open
Instrumental, choir and vocal, dance, drama, cheer and bands. Art Club, Community Care, Esports, Writers Club and Young Designers meet at lunch. Training for the Term 1 sports begins before the year ends.
Sport offering current as of the 2025 co-curricular program. Terms indicate when trials, training and the main competition season run. Boys' and girls' seasons differ for some sports.
The Campus
One campus, purpose-built for a bigger experience
Sixty-plus facilities across thirty-three hectares of bushland, from Kindergarten to Year 12. Purpose-built laboratories, a professional-standard theatre, a multi-lane pool, design workshops — each one built for the thing it is for. Start from the air, then walk into any room.
Walk through the rooms without leaving home
Eleven of the sixty-plus facilities on campus — the ones an international student uses most. Map references match the printed campus map; choose any tile with a to open that room in 360°.
- Wellbeing & Health CentresCare on campus · H12 & G13
You Will Fit In
Arriving from somewhere else is the normal thing here
Students come from more than thirty nationalities. Nobody has to explain why their English is still improving, or why they miss the food at home. The person at the next desk has been through it too.
HelloEnglish
你好Chinese
안녕하세요Korean
こんにちはJapanese
Xin chàoVietnamese
สวัสดีThai
OláPortuguese
HolaSpanish
HaloIndonesian
KumustaFilipino
नमस्तेHindi
BonjourFrench
HalloGerman
CiaoItalian
مرحباArabic
नमस्कारNepali
30+
Nationalities on one campus
13+
Inter-school sports, boys & girls
60+
Facilities and precincts
40 ha
Of natural bushland
Wellbeing & Character
Growing wellbeing, the SOARING way
SOARING is the College's wellbeing and character framework, taught inside ordinary lessons rather than bolted on. It names six things a flourishing student needs — select a branch to see what each one means in a school week.
Strong Outcomes
Setting & achieving meaningful goals
Establishing, striving for and achieving personal goals, in belief in oneself — important for self-esteem and wellbeing, and helping to cultivate resilience when students face challenges in life.
In a school week: goal-setting with a mentor teacher, tracking your own progress across a term, and learning to reset after a result you did not want.
Activity
Valuing physical & mental health
Valuing our physical and mental wellbeing through exercise, nutrition and sleep. Learning what it means to lead a healthy lifestyle, underpinned by positive attitudes, is vital for young people.
In a school week: timetabled sport, training after the last bell, and honest conversations about sleep and screen time when assessment piles up.
Relationships
Nurturing positive connections
Nurturing positive connections with others through relational awareness and social management — communication, collaboration, leadership, decision-making and conflict resolution.
In a school week: group work with students from other countries, and a mentor group that stays together all year. Students are taught how to repair a friendship rather than drop it.
Interests
Complete engagement — being ‘in the zone’
Experiencing moments of complete engagement in personal interests. Being ‘in the zone’ is the perfect balance of challenge and the application of key strengths and skills.
In a school week: trying a club you have never done before. Picking up an instrument. Joining a team in a sport that does not exist at home.
Noticing Positive Emotions
Self-awareness & positive emotion
Developing self-awareness and the ability to build upon positive emotional experiences — enhancing creativity, resilience, perseverance and wellbeing.
In a school week: reflection built into mentor group, and staff who are trained to see the student who has gone quiet.
Giving
Meaning, purpose & serving others
Exploring one's unique sense of meaning and purpose by engaging in experiences that let us think and feel beyond ourselves. Aligning with what we value most gives students a real sense of purpose.
In a school week: Community Care service projects, fundraising, peer mentoring, and older students looking after new arrivals.
Never On Your Own
There is always someone who notices
Living far from family is the hardest part of studying overseas. We do not pretend otherwise. These are the people who will know your child by name — and who notice when a week is not going well.
International Student Services
Student-centric, and based in its own building on campus. Come with an academic question, homesickness, visa paperwork — or just somewhere to sit at lunch in the first week.
Student welfare officers
Specialist welfare staff look after each student's emotional, social and academic wellbeing, with pastoral support available around the clock for students under 18.
Your mentor teacher
The same teacher, the same small group, all year. The first person to notice a student going quiet — and the first point of contact for a parent overseas.
Health & Wellbeing Centres
A Health Centre and the Sister Cecily Foster Wellbeing Centre are both on campus. A student who is unwell, or having a hard week, is seen the same day.
Support in your language
Our international team can speak with families in their own language. No parent has to make an important decision through a translation app.
Your homestay or boarding staff
Approved host families and supervised boarding staff carry the other half of the day: meals, routines, curfews, and the trip to school each morning.
After the Last Bell
Where a student goes at 3:15pm
School finishes, but the day does not stop there. These are the three ways students live while they study with us.
Most students
Homestay
Living with an approved Australian family in a nearby suburb. Dinner at the table, English every evening, and someone at home who notices how your day went.
JPC Homestay
On campus
Boarding
A supervised boarding village, a short walk from class. Meals, supervised study, weekend activities, and a house full of students in exactly the same position.
JPC Boarding
Younger students
Extended Day Program
For families who want their child supervised on campus after the last bell — homework, activities and a safe place to be until pick-up.
Extended Day Program
In Their Words
Students who did exactly this
Every one of these is a real John Paul College student or graduate. Each has their own page, and their own account of how the years went.
Good to Know
Questions students actually ask
What time does the school day start and finish?
Normal school hours are 8:20am to 3:15pm. Most students arrive a little earlier to meet friends before the first bell. Many stay on afterwards for sport training, music rehearsal or the Extended Day Program.
What do students do at lunchtime?
Lunch is when most of the student-led clubs meet — Art Club, Debating, Esports, Writers Club, Young Designers and Community Care. Other students eat with friends at the canteen or the JPCafe, or play football and basketball on the campus courts and ovals. The campus is 33 hectares of natural bushland, so there is plenty of room to be outside.
Do international students have to play sport?
No. Sport is encouraged but not compulsory beyond timetabled physical education. Students choose their own level. Some join an inter-school team, some train with the High Performance Academy, and some prefer the performing arts or a club. There are more than 13 inter-school sports for boys and girls, and three inter-school carnivals each year.
What support is there if my English is not strong yet?
Support is built into the ordinary week, not added on afterwards. The International Student Services team sits on campus and works alongside classroom teachers. English language support and small-group help are available during the school day. Many students begin in a preparation program before moving into mainstream classes.
Can students join a club or a sport partway through the year?
Yes. The student-led clubs run right through the year and welcome new members at any point. Inter-school sport follows the term seasons. A student who arrives mid-year joins the sport running in the term they start, and picks up the others later.
What happens after 3:15pm?
It depends on where the student lives. Sport training, music rehearsal and club activities all run after 3:15pm. Homestay students also attend the Extended Day Program on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. After that, homestay students travel home to their host family for dinner and homework. Boarding students return to the boarding house, where supervised study, meals and weekend activities are part of the routine.
Will my child make friends if they do not speak much English at first?
John Paul College has students from more than 30 nationalities, so arriving without confident English is ordinary here rather than unusual. New students are placed in a mentor group from their first day. The SOARING wellbeing framework also makes relationships and belonging part of what is taught, rather than something left to chance.
Can my child join a sport if they start at John Paul College mid-year?
Yes. Australian school sport runs in term seasons, not across the whole year. A student who arrives mid-year joins whatever sport is running in the term they start. They pick up the others as the year turns. Music, drama, dance and the student-led clubs run right through the year and take new members at any point.
Does the sport change during the school year?
Yes. Each sport has its own season. In Term 1 the boys play cricket and volleyball, and the girls play basketball, football and tennis. Term 2 is rugby and tennis for the boys, hockey and netball for the girls. Term 3 is basketball and football for the boys, touch football and volleyball for the girls. The three whole-school carnivals are swimming in Term 1, cross country in Term 2 and athletics in Term 3. Term 4 has no inter-school season — it is the end-of-year performance and awards run instead.
Can we see the campus before we apply?
Yes, in two ways. Families who are in Brisbane can arrange a personal campus tour. Families who are still overseas can use the 360° virtual tour on this page. It walks through the classrooms, the pool deck, the theatre stage and the boarding common rooms. The full tour library is on the campus map page.
Come and Spend a Day With Us
Book a conversation with our international team, or arrange a campus visit while you are in Brisbane. Ask us the ordinary questions — what lunch is like, whether the homework is hard, who your child would sit with. Those are the ones that matter.