Harman Patil (Editor)

St Mary's College, Wellington

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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.

Contents

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".

Characteristics

  • Number of Teachers: 48
  • International Students: 11
  • Ethnic make up of students: New Zealand European/Pākehā, 54%; Samoan, 11%; South East Asian, 9%; Māori, 7%; Other Pacific, 5%; Chinese, 3%; Indian, 3%; Other Asian, 3%; Other ethnic groups, 5%.

    • Notable alumnae

  • Patricia Frances Grace DCNZM, QSO, (born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1937) is a notable Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. Her first published work, Waiariki (1975) was the first collection of short stories by a Māori woman writer. She has been described as "A key figure in contemporary world literature and in Maori literature in English"
  • Beverley Wakem CBE, Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand (2008-) (first woman in the role); Ombudsman (2005-); former Chief Executive of Radio New Zealand Limited (1984–1991).
  • Joy Watson, award-winning New Zealand author.

    • References

    St Mary's College, Wellington Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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