Our Community and Culture

St Carthage’s Primary School values the partnerships between students, families, businesses and schools in our broader community as it can bring mutual benefits and maximise student engagement and achievement.

We network with:

St Carthage’s Parish

Trinity Catholic College 

St John’s College

Catholic Mission.

We organise school events and take part in community events that provide opportunities to showcase students’ talents, raise awareness for local issues or concerns, and extend social networks. These events can help to create a more cohesive community. 

At St Carthage’s Primary School, we encourage your family to share these experiences with your child.

• Anzac Day March
• Darryl Chapman Fun Run.

Students belong to six house teams that promote connections to our Catholic story and a deeper sense of belonging. Houses are used for sporting events, assemblies and gatherings.

Jerome - Jade (Green) Jerome House is named after Br Jerome, a Marist Brother and the last Religious Principal of St Carthage's from 1991 to 1995. The colour of Jerome House is Jade (Green).	Doyle - Purple Doyle House is named after Jeremiah Doyle, the founding Bishop of the Diocese of Lismore. The colour of Doyle House is purple.	Thomas - Blue Thomas House is named after Sister Maria Thomas, a Presentation Sister and hardworking Librarian at St Carthage’s School. She is remembered for her dedication to learning and passing this on to the many children she taught. The colour of Thomas House is blue.
Nagle - White Nagle House is named after Nano Nagle, who founded the Order of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary in Ireland in 1775. The colour of Nagle House is white.	D’Arcy - Orange D’Arcy House is named after Mother Stanislaus D’Arcy, a Presentation Sister from Ireland who established St Mary’s College and St Carthage’s School in 1886. The colour of D’Arcy House is orange.	Carthage - Red Carthage House is named after St Carthage the Elder, an Irish bishop and Patron Saint of our school and the Diocese of Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland. The colour of Carthage House is red.

Young Mochuda (Carthage) was born in Country Kerry, the son of Fingen and Mead. Fingen was a chieftain who owned two castles – one south of Tralee Bay and the other on the banks of the Maine near Dingle Bay. As a young boy, he worked on his father’s property, minding the pigs.  

One day, a procession of monks with their Abbot, St Carthage, the elder, passed by on their way to their Monastery at Tuam. They were singing psalms as they walked, and young Carthage was so fascinated that he left his father’s herd and followed them all the way to the Monastery gates. Later, his father sadly agreed to let his son enter the Monastery where he trained to be a Priest. The Abbot Carthage ordained him in 580 when he was 30 years old, and he took the name of his beloved Abbot. 

Later, Carthage founded a new Monastery at Rahan and lived there for forty years.  He wrote a famous Monastery Rule, which still exists, and over 1000 men joined the great Monastery, where young boys from all over Ireland, England and even the continent came to be educated in Latin, Greek and Gaelic. This school produced many fine scholars and was famous for the love of learning it encouraged. 

Later in life, he was consecrated Bishop of Lismore. After his death, the Church was renamed St Carthage’s in his honour. St Carthage is now the patron Saint of the Diocese of Lismore, County Waterford in Ireland.