Siena Catholic College is a Year 8-12 co-educational College of approximately 750 and is situated at 60 Sippy Downs Dr, Sippy Downs on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Social Climate of the School
Siena is known for the "Siena Spirit" which is developed through a strong commitment to the "Prayer" and "Care" elements of the school ethos and is characterised by the positive students/staff relationships. A strong pastoral focus on students is generated through the vertical House Group system and the provision of a Year Co-Ordinator each Year Level. Both of these ensure students are known and "tracked" as they move through the school. These are supplemented by a full time Counsellor and trained Year 11/12 Peer Support students and a strong anti-bullying focus. Each Year level has yearly Retreat or Outdoor Education programme.

All year 8-10 study Personal and Social Development Education as a core subject and Year 10 undertake Community Assistance for one afternoon per week for a term. A Student Representative Council exists for Years 9-12 with a separate Year 8 Council to cater for the needs of this group who are in their first year of secondary schooling. A strong social justice is evident in the school with yearly fundraising for many charities - eg, Caritas, the Cancer Society's Relay for Life and the 40 Hour famine as well as immersion experiences - Fiji and inner-city Sydney, and involvement in Rosies on the Street.

Curriculum
Siena offers a mainstream curriculum and information on the subjects available to students at each year level can be accessed through the Curriculum link on this website.

Worthy of note is the YEAR 10 CURRICULUM which has undergone a major change in the past year.

The state government's Education and Training Reforms for the Future (ETRF) review emphasized the importance of Year 10 as a transition to the Senior Phase of Learning and a school-based review team's recommendations in relation to this have been adopted. The image of scaling a wall from Year 10 to encounter Senior studies in Years 11 has been replaced by the image of a ramp, which students gradually ascend during Year 10 and arrive at the top of by the beginning of Year 11.

Maths, English, Religious Education and Personal/Development Education (PSDE) remain Core but all other subjects become Elective subjects and mirror Senior subjects, mostly in name but all in that they parallel the teaching, learning and assessment strategies of Senior subjects.

Students choose 6 semester-length units that can specialize in eg physics, geography whereas these would have been part of Science or Studies of Society and the Environment (SOSE) as they are in Years 8 and 9. If they are sure of their subjects for Senior, students can choose two semesters in the same subject to improve their proficiency in them but can elect single semester units in several in order to be better informed when it comes to establishing their Senior Education and Training (SET) Plan.

Some subjects have been added to give students access to Certificate level courses:

• Certificate III in Children's Services - continues in Year 11
• Certificate I in Hospitality (Operations)
• Certificate I in Furnishing
• Certificate I in Computer
• Certificate I in Work Education (available to all through (PSDE)

Community Assistance continues to be an important part of Year 10. Each student spends Tuesday afternoon for a term at eg St Vincent de Paul, Lifeline with Endeavour workers, at aged care facilities working with clients/residents.

Extra Curricular Activities
Cultural:

• Instrumental music for individual instruction in
  • Woodwind
  • Percussion
  • Strings
  • Guitar
  • Piano
  • Vocals
• College Show Band, Concert Band and/or Strings Ensemble
• College Musical every second year
• In the non-Musical year, entry into the Sunshine Coast Dance Eisteddfod (1st and 2nd places from 18 schools in 2008)
• Choir, including participation in the Sunshine Coast Vocal Eisteddfod
• Debating teams
• Public Speaking competitions

Academic:

• Tournament of the Minds (State winners in 2007 and 2008)
• Maths Challenge for Young Australians
• Readers Cup
• Literature Circle
• Chess Club
• Headstart programme at the University of the Sunshine Coast
• ASX sharemarket game
• Legal Studies "Moot" competition
• Extreme Science Experience
• "Girls Solving It" Maths/Science/Technology competition

Service:

• Caritas Fundraising
• 40 Hour Famine
• Island Swim - fundraiser for local special schools
• Qld Cancer Society's Relay for Life
• Queensland Youth Parliament
• Biennial Cultural Immersion Experience to Fiji

Sport:
Years 8 and 9 participate in sumer and winter round fixtures in school time on Wednesday afternoons in school time. The sports involved are:

Sports played outside of school time are in local competitions and include:

• Basketball - boys and girls
• Netball - girls
• Rugby League
• Rugby Union - boys and girls
• Soccer - boys and girls
• Touch - boys and girls
• Volleyball - girls

All students have the opportunity to be selected in District sports teams, then the Sunshine Coast Region at State Titles and ultimately Queensland and Australia in all sports offered by QSSSA. To do this students must attend trials, either as a representative of a College team - Swimming, Cross-Country, Athletics, others as an individual at trial days/afternoons.