Fresh from the Australian Catholic University, Sally Kearns will teach kindergarten at St Francis of Assisi Primary School this year.

Ms Kearns is expecting to feel some first-day jitters.

"I am pretty nervous but I'm also excited for the challenge," she said.

There might also be some sense of deja vu because Ms Kearns attended St Francis of Assisi as a child and attributes her desire to become a teacher to her "quirky and fun" year 6 teacher Tim Ruyg.

Ms Kearns has planned a day full of distractions and fun for her new charges, saying the social aspect of school is just as important as embedding the foundations of literary and numeracy.

She is also prepared to deal with any first-day tears, whether they're from the five-year-olds or the parents.

Catholic schools will be dealing with a boom in students this year according to the Catholic Education Office.

There has been an increase of 350 students enrolled in the Catholic system, with more than 14,000 students currently enrolled in the ACT.

There will be more than 1300 kindergarten students and 1000 new year 7 students starting at Catholic schools next week.

There are also 400 children attending the six Catholic Early Learning Centre's in the ACT.

The government school system continues to cater for the majority of students, with an expected enrolment of more than 42,700 students according to the ACT Education Directorate.

There are more than 4,700 children starting preschool, 2,300 students beginning high school and nearly 3,600 students going to college.

The Association of Independent Schools of the ACT said 18 independent schools would cater for an estimated 14,000 students this year.