After 33 years of Principal leadership, 29 of those in the Diocese of Parramatta, St Canice's Principal Mr Mark Geerligs has made the decision to retire at the end of the 2019 school year. The School would like to acknowledge the outstanding contribution Mark has made as a Catholic educator and leader.
Beginning his teaching career in 1981, Mark became a Principal in only his seventh year as a teacher when he accepted the role of Principal of St John’s Catholic Primary School Trangie in 1987. In 1991, Mark was appointed Principal of Our Lady of the Nativity Primary Lawson. In 1996, he was appointed Principal of St Finbar’s Primary, Glenbrook and Our Lady of the Rosary, St Mary’s in 2003. Mark has been the Principal of St Canice’s since 2014.
Mark is a caring, supportive and faith-filled leader. In each of his leadership roles, Mark has built strong and enduring connections with the school community. He is a passionate educator who has always sought out opportunities to enrich the students’ learning, whether that has been within the school or in the broader community.
Mark has championed the role of the creative and performing arts in enhancing students’ learning. He is widely recognised for the many exceptional projects he has led in the school and the Blue Mountains community. The creative and performing arts could have no stronger advocate.
Mark has made a significant difference to the lives of young people in the schools he has led and served. He is a relational and inclusive leader who sets high expectations of students and encourages them to be the best they can be.
The St Canice's school community is keen to acknowledge Mark’s work and achievements in months ahead. The process of recruitment for a new Principal of St Canice’s will commence shortly.
Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to Mr Geerligs for the support provided for Catholic schooling as, together, we give witness to the Gospel that enriches the lives of our children and the communities in which we live.
-
22 Jul 2026
Little Learners - School Readiness Program
Little Learners is St Canice’s School’s fun, free, play-based school readiness program designed for children aged 3.5–5 years who will be starting school in the next 1–2 years.07 Aug 2025
St Canice's Brekky Club
All students are invited to join the St Canice's Brekky Club. Brekky Club will now run on Thursdays – 7th, 21st, and 28th August.
-
24 Sep 2026
From Facebook
Stage 1 presented their learning about the Great Barrier reef to the school today. Each class came down with their teachers to hear all the amazing facts about the Great Barrier Reef and why it is so important that we look after the largest living structure in the world! Everyone was so impressed with their hard work and Stage 1 were so proud to show off their efforts! Great job stage 1! The work will be on display in the library before school on Friday morning and parents are invited to come in and look at the work and then take the reef boxes home.23 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🥁 Thank you, Emily, for an incredible day of drumming! 🥁 On Monday, our Kindy to Year 6 students had the absolute pleasure of drumming with Emily, and what a wonderful experience it was! ❤️ Emily shared such beautiful words about our school community, describing our students as diverse, incredibly creative and an absolute delight, and highlighting the musicality, inclusiveness and warmth that make St Canice’s so special. Our students (and staff!) had so much fun joining in, learning new skills, making music together and sharing plenty of smiles along the way. 🥁🎶 A huge THANK YOU, Emily, for bringing your energy, enthusiasm and joy to St Canice’s. We loved every minute of it! 🥰🫶 What a fantastic day of music, connection and fun! 💙💛
MORE NEWS
24 Sep 2026
From Facebook
Stage 1 presented their learning about the Great Barrier reef to the school today. Each class came down with their teachers to hear all the amazing facts about the Great Barrier Reef and why it is so important that we look after the largest living structure in the world! Everyone was so impressed with their hard work and Stage 1 were so proud to show off their efforts! Great job stage 1! The work will be on display in the library before school on Friday morning and parents are invited to come in and look at the work and then take the reef boxes home.
23 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🥁 Thank you, Emily, for an incredible day of drumming! 🥁 On Monday, our Kindy to Year 6 students had the absolute pleasure of drumming with Emily, and what a wonderful experience it was! ❤️ Emily shared such beautiful words about our school community, describing our students as diverse, incredibly creative and an absolute delight, and highlighting the musicality, inclusiveness and warmth that make St Canice’s so special. Our students (and staff!) had so much fun joining in, learning new skills, making music together and sharing plenty of smiles along the way. 🥁🎶 A huge THANK YOU, Emily, for bringing your energy, enthusiasm and joy to St Canice’s. We loved every minute of it! 🥰🫶 What a fantastic day of music, connection and fun! 💙💛
23 Sep 2026
From Facebook
What a privilege it was to have the wonderfully talented Emily Cooper from Hands, Heart and Feet visiting St Canice's last Monday. Emily was here to facilitate our African Drumming Circle incursion, working in the music room with Ms Frazer and every student from Kindy to Year 6, with the goal of developing our drumming skills. Our student set up crew were excited to discover Emily's van full to the brim with handmade djembes of varying sizes and tones for each student to use during their hour drumming session. The children had a fun and fabulous time discovering different percussion instruments from West Africa, as well as learning and playing new rhythmic phrases on the Djembes, and of course, making a whole heap of noise! Thank you, Emily, for inspiring every student at St Canice's with your positive energy and your addictive rhythms. #handsheartandfeet #africandrumming #africandrummingcircle #africandrummingworkshop #MusicMatters #stcaniceskatoomba #stcaniceskatoomba💙 #stcaniceskatoombamusic #stcaniceskatoomba💙🩵 #stcaniceskatoombapercussion #stcaniceskatoombapercussion🥁 #stcaniceskatoombarhythmreading
23 Sep 2026
From Facebook
This Friday is the final day of Term 3 for our staff and students! 🥳 We wish all our St Canice’s families a safe, happy and restful break. We hope you enjoy some quality time together, have plenty of fun and make lots of wonderful memories. 💙 We can’t wait to hear all about your holiday adventures when our students return on Tuesday 13 October! 🏖️🌏✨ Have a wonderful break, everyone! 💛💙
22 Sep 2026
From Facebook
Can you guess what Stage 1 has been learning about? 🌊🐳🐠🐙🐬🦐🐋🦈🐡🦑 Our Stage 1 students have been busy learning, creating and bringing their ideas to life—and the results are incredible! 🎨✨ Their amazing dioramas will be on display in our Library this Friday, and we’d love you to come along and take a look. 👀 A diorama is a three-dimensional model or scene that uses miniature figures and objects to create a setting and bring learning to life. We’re so proud of the creativity, effort and imagination our Stage 1 students have shown in creating these masterpieces! 🌟 📚 Stage 1 families: Parents and carers are invited to collect your child’s diorama and take it home on Friday afternoon. 📸 Keep an eye out for more photos of the final masterpieces coming soon! Can you guess what they’ve been learning about? 🤔
22 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🕊️ A Prayer for Peace 🕊️ Yesterday, our whole school community gathered for a special Prayer for Peace around our Peace Pole. The Peace Pole is a wonderful reminder of our shared hope for peace, kindness, respect and harmony in our school, our community and throughout the world. 🌏💙 Our students and staff came together in prayer and reflection, sharing a simple but powerful message — may peace prevail on Earth. A very special thank you to Rotary for this meaningful gift and for helping us create a lasting symbol of peace within our school grounds. 🕊️ Peace begins with each of us.
22 Sep 2026
From Facebook
✏️ Every morning in Stage 2, our literacy block starts with teacher-guided learning and a trusty whiteboard! Whiteboards are a fantastic learning tool - they encourage every child to participate, makes thinking visible, keep students actively involved and gives them the opportunity to receive instant teacher feedback. 🧠✨ But our whiteboards come with rules too! 😄 I wonder… does your child know the difference between a 3 Second clean and a Respect clean?
18 Sep 2026
From Facebook
Stage 1 have been learning about food and fibre in Science. Look at our amazing recycled materials rug! We wove it ourselves and are rather proud of our efforts!
16 Sep 2026
From Facebook
⚽️🌞 New Soccer Nets at St Canice’s! 🌞⚽️ What a beautiful day at St Canice’s! 💚 Our students are loving our upgraded soccer nets, adding even more fun to playtime and giving our budding soccer stars the perfect place to practise their skills! ⚽️🥅 There’s nothing better than seeing our students running, playing, laughing and enjoying the sunshine with their friends. ☀️💛 A big thank you to everyone who helped make our new soccer nets possible! Let the games begin! ⚽️🙌 #StCanices #StCanicesKatoomba #SchoolLife #Playtime #Soccer #BeautifulDay #LearningThroughPlay
16 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🍳🥐 Brekky Club – This Thursday 17 September! 🥐🍳 All St Canice’s students are invited to join us tomorrow morning for Brekky Club in the Hall from 8:20am–8:40am. It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students to enjoy breakfast together and start the day with our school community. 💛 👨👩👧👦 Parent volunteers wanted! We would love some parent/carer helpers to assist with Brekky Club on the morning. If you are available to lend a hand, please complete the Google Form in your Compass Parent Portal. We look forward to sharing breakfast and a lovely start to the day together! 🌟 See you in the morning!
16 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🌏💧 Stage 1 – Keeping Our Waterways Clean! 💧🌏 Stage 1 have been investigating ways we can all help keep our waterways clean and protect our environment. Today, we watched a video featuring an inspiring young man who is an ambassador for the Great Barrier Reef. He shared an important message with us about reducing our use of plastic so it doesn’t end up in our oceans and waterways. 🌊🐠 One simple way we can help is by choosing food that isn’t packaged in plastic. Many of our students didn’t know about the local co-op food store in Katoomba, so this afternoon we’re going to walk up there and see it for ourselves! 🥕🍎 We’d love families to continue the conversation at home. Perhaps you could make a purchase in an unpackaged form and encourage your child to think about how small changes can help reduce plastic waste and protect our beautiful environment. 🌿💚 Every little change can make a difference!
16 Sep 2026
From Facebook
Stage 3 had a wonderful day out! 🎭 We enjoyed Be The Witness – The Musical, a beautiful Gospel story bringing the life of Jesus and the journey of St Peter to life through music and drama. 🙏 We then had a quick tour of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta. What a beautiful and peaceful place, rich in history and faith. ⛪️ A lovely day of faith, learning and fun! 💙
11 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🌟 Congratulations to our Lyrebird Award recipients! 🌟 At St Canice’s, our Positive Behaviour Support for Learning (PBS4L) program is an important part of who we are as a school community. Our students are encouraged to Love Selflessly, Live Responsibly and Learn Purposefully, with these values nurtured and celebrated every day by our dedicated staff and students. This morning at our whole-school assembly, we were delighted to recognise a wonderful group of students who have consistently demonstrated these values through their actions, choices and interactions with others. 🌟 Congratulations to all of our Lyrebird Award recipients! 🌟 Your kindness, responsibility and purposeful learning make our school community a better place. We are so proud of you! 👏🎉 #StCanices #LyrebirdAward #LoveLiveLearn #PBS4L #SchoolCommunity
11 Sep 2026
From Facebook
🌟 Celebrating Our Incredible Teacher Aides! 🌟 Today, St Canice’s came together to acknowledge and celebrate the incredible work of our wonderful Teacher Aides! 💙 Our Teacher Aides make such a valuable contribution to our school community each and every day. Their patience, kindness, encouragement and dedication help our students to feel supported, confident and ready to learn. 📚✨ From supporting learning in the classroom to building meaningful relationships with our students, their impact reaches far beyond what we see each day. Thank you for everything you do! We are so grateful for the care, compassion and commitment you bring to St Canice’s. 💐👏💙 #StCanices #TeacherAides #SchoolCommunity #ThankYou #MakingADifference
06 Sep 2026