St Mary's College, Wellington

St Mary's College
Address
Guildford Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand
Coordinates
Information
Type	Integrated secondary (year 9-13) single sex, girls
Motto	Misericordia et Sapientia (Mercy and Wisdom)
Established	1850; 174 years ago
Ministry of Education Institution no.	286
Principal	Catherine Ryan
School roll	638 (March 2016)
Socio-economic decile	9Q
Website	www.st-marys-wellington.school.nz

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.

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%.

See also

• Sacred Heart Cathedral School, Thorndon
• Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
• Sisters of Mercy
• St Mary's Cathedral, Wellington

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/Sources

• Lillian G. Keys, Philip Viard, Bishop of Wellington, Pegasus Press, Christchurch, 1968.
• Ernest Richard Simmons, Brief history of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, Catholic Publications Centre, Auckland, 1978.
• Michael King, God's farthest outpost : a history of Catholics in New Zealand, Viking, Auckland 1997.
• Mary de Porres Flannigan R.S.M., Mercy comes to Wellington : a history of St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s College Board of Trustees, Wellington, 2000.
• Michael O'Meeghan S.M., Steadfast in hope : the story of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington 1850-2000, Dunmore press, Palmerston North, 2003.