St Mary's College, Wellington

St Mary's College
St Mary's College
	Exterior of St Mary's College
Address
	Guildford Terrace,; Wellington,; New Zealand
Coordinates	41°16′32″S 174°46′33″E / 41.2756°S 174.7758°E
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	Sarah Parkinson
School roll	529 (August 2024)
Socio-economic decile	9Q
Website	www.stmw.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 from 1861 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. The area of Central Wellington in which the school is located is also named after Thorndon. 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 (absorbing the earlier group) when they 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, buildings dating from the twentieth century as the latest, 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.

The school remains in the ownership of the Sisters of Mercy and describes itself as a "Mercy School". The Gabriel Hall and St Joseph's Providence Porch have Category 2 listings with Heritage New Zealand (formerly New Zealand Historic Places Trust).^[4]^[5]

As most other New Zealand Schools do, students in years 11–13 sit NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) examinations.

Characteristics

Number of Teachers: 33^[6]
International Students: 4
Ethnic make up of students: New Zealand European/Pākehā, 45%; Pacific, 22%; Māori, 16%; ; Asian, 14%; Other, 3%^[7]

Notable alumnae

Margaret Butler (1883–1947) – sculptor.^[8]
Pip Desmond – Author and journalist.^[9]
Patricia Grace (born 1937) – writer.[10]
Ainsleyana Puleiata (born 2000) – international netball player.^[11]
Saviour Tui (born 2001) – Netball player; has represented Samoa internationally.^[12]
Beverley Wakem (born 1944) – Former Chief Ombudsman, president of the International Ombudsman Institute and chief executive of Radio New Zealand.[13]
Therese Walsh (born 1971) – chief executive and business leader; chief operating officer for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and head of the organising body for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.[14]
Joy Watson (née Evans) (1938–2021) – author of children's books.^[15]
Fran Wilde (born 1948) – New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and first female Mayor of Wellington.[16]

References

^ "Principal's welcome: Sarah Parkinson". St Mary's College. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
^ "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
^ "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
^ "St Mary's College Gabriel Hall". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
^ "St Joseph's Providence Porch, St Mary's College". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
^ "Staff". St Mary's College. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
^ "About the School". Education Review Office. 15 August 2017.
^ Stocker, Mark. "Butler, Margaret Mary". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
^ Desmond, Pip (1 November 2011). Trust: A True Story of Women & Gangs. Penguin Books (NZ). p. 11. ISBN 9781869796587.
^ Roger Robinson, "Patricia Grace", The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, (edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie), Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998, pp. 214–216.
^ Suzanne McFadden (23 September 2020). "The anatomy of a comeback: netball prodigy rebounds". Newsroom. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
^ "Saviour Tui: Shooting for the top". College Sport Media. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
^ Romanos, Joseph (27 April 2009). "The Wellingtonian interview: Beverley Wakem". Stuff. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
^ Carlisle, Talia (1 July 2015). "Therese Walsh's rollercoaster ride". Stuff. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
^ "Grandpa's Slippers trod winning parth". The Dominion Post. Stuff. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2022 – via PressReader.
^ Who's Who in the New Zealand Parliament 1990. Wellington: Parliamentary Service. 1990. p. 71.

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.

External links

Media related to St Mary's College, Wellington at Wikimedia Commons

[1] "Principal's welcome: Sarah Parkinson". St Mary's College. Retrieved 10 August 2024.

[NZ_school_roll_data-2] "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 17 September 2024.

[3] "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

[4] "St Mary's College Gabriel Hall". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 1 August 2024.

[5] "St Joseph's Providence Porch, St Mary's College". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 1 August 2024.

[6] "Staff". St Mary's College. Retrieved 13 January 2019.

[7] "About the School". Education Review Office. 15 August 2017.

[8] Stocker, Mark. "Butler, Margaret Mary". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

[9] Desmond, Pip (1 November 2011). Trust: A True Story of Women & Gangs. Penguin Books (NZ). p. 11. ISBN 9781869796587.

[10] Roger Robinson, "Patricia Grace", The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, (edited by Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie), Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1998, pp. 214–216.

[NR2020a-11] Suzanne McFadden (23 September 2020). "The anatomy of a comeback: netball prodigy rebounds". Newsroom. Retrieved 23 July 2022.

[12] "Saviour Tui: Shooting for the top". College Sport Media. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

[13] Romanos, Joseph (27 April 2009). "The Wellingtonian interview: Beverley Wakem". Stuff. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

[14] Carlisle, Talia (1 July 2015). "Therese Walsh's rollercoaster ride". Stuff. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

[15] "Grandpa's Slippers trod winning parth". The Dominion Post. Stuff. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2022 – via PressReader.

[16] Who's Who in the New Zealand Parliament 1990. Wellington: Parliamentary Service. 1990. p. 71.

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v t e Schools in the Wellington Region, New Zealand
State secondary & composite	Aotea College Heretaunga College Hutt Valley High School Kāpiti College Kuranui College Makoura College Mana College Naenae College Newlands College Onslow College Ōtaki College Paraparaumu College Porirua College Rongotai College Taita College Tawa College Upper Hutt College Wainuiomata High School Wairarapa College Wellington College Wellington East Girls' College Wellington Girls' College Wellington High School
State-integrated	Bishop Viard College Chanel College Hutt International Boys' School Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School Rathkeale College Sacred Heart College Solway College St Bernard's College St Catherine's College St Mary's College St Matthew's Collegiate School St Oran's College St Patrick's College, Wellington St Patrick's College, Silverstream
Private	Chilton St James School Queen Margaret College Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Scots College