Established 1850; 167 years ago Principal Catherine Ryan Total enrollment 625 (2011) Founded 1850 Ministry of education institution number 286 | Ministry of Education Institution no. 286 Socio-economic decile 9Q Phone +64 4-473 5554 School roll 616 (November 2015) | |
Type Integrated secondary (year 9-13) single sex, girls Website www.st-marys-wellington.school.nz Address Thorndon, Wellington 6011, New Zealand Motto Misericordia et Sapientia (Mercy and Wisdom) Similar Wellington Girls College, St Patricks College, Wellington College, Queen Margaret College, Scots College | ||
St Mary's College Wellington is situated in the suburb of Thorndon in Wellington, New Zealand. The school is a state-integrated all-girls Catholic secondary school for years 9-13.
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History
The school, which is one of the oldest existing schools in New Zealand, was founded in 1850 by Philippe Viard, first Bishop of Wellington and staffed by a small group of religious sisters, the "Sisters of Mary", established by Viard. Part of the land on which the school is situated was donated by Lord Petre, the 11th Baron Petre (1793-1850), who was a director of the New Zealand Company and whose family seat Thorndon Hall in Essex was an important centre of Catholic Recusancy from the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Another part of the site was given by Sir George Grey, Governor of New Zealand out of public funds. In 1861 the school was taken over by the Sisters of Mercy who first arrived in Wellington in that year. To begin with, the school was co-educational (boys and girls) and had a boarding facility attached. Nowadays the boarding facility is gone, and it is a single sex girls' school.
Buildings
While most traces of the original buildings on the site have disappeared, the school has some buildings dating from the early twentieth century, including the "Gabriel Block" which is now used as the school hall. The other two main blocks are "Carlow" and "McAuley". McAuley is named after Sister Catherine McAuley, who used her inherited fortune to found the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, Ireland. As most other New Zealand Schools do, students in years 11-13 sit NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) examinations. The school remains in the ownership of the Sisters of Mercy and describes itself as a "Mercy School".