ST JOSEPH’S Catholic Primary School has aced its competition across the state this year to be named a finalist in the Most Outstanding School award at the Queensland Tennis Awards.

It’s the fourth time the school has been nominated for the award in a remarkable display of the region’s rural talent.

Helen Ambrey began and now co-ordinates the tennis program at St Joesph’s Biloela which has led to the development of strong tennis throughout the region.

“We’ve introduced tennis to other schools in the region which is great, like Thangool who have done really well,” Ambrey said.

“We’ve helped others to join tennis competitions which is good for the region.”

The other schools nominated for this year’s Most Outstanding School are Sunshine Coast Grammar, Brookfield State School and Kelvin Grove State College.

“We have tough competition we with some massive schools in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast,” Ambrey said.

“Being named a finalist is enough but you never know.

“We show consistency with the numbers we have relative to the size of our school and what we are achieving stands out pretty well.”

St Joesph’s will head to the Queensland School State Finals in January at the Brisbane International to compete in the Orange, Red and Green ball categories.

St Joseph’s students are introduced to tennis from a young age in PE.

Then they can participate in extra training for competitions.

The Queensland Tennis Awards presentation is October 26 at the at Queensland Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The winner from each category will be nominated for the Newcombe Medal, Australian Tennis Awards.

“The last three years myself and the principal have attended the awards but we are still yet to confirm who will go this year,” Ambrey said.

“There’s plenty of tennis stars there.

“Last year I met Todd Woodbridge who presented the night.

“It’s a good night to throw ideas,” he said.

“The last time we sat with Brisbane Boys College and it was nice to hear from their coach what they’re doing in their program.”