Cathedral Grammar School | |
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Address | |
2 Chester Street West, Christchurch, New Zealand | |
Coordinates | 43°31′40″S172°37′44″E / 43.5279°S 172.6290°E |
Information | |
Type | Private, Co-educational, Primary |
Motto | Latin: Semper fidelis ("Always Faithful") |
Established | 1881 |
Ministry of Education Institution no. | 368 |
Chairperson | Lawrence Kimberley |
Headmaster | Scott Thelning [1] |
Chaplain | Teresa Kundycki-Carrell |
School roll | 280 [2] (August 2024) |
Socio-economic decile | 10 |
Website | cathedralgrammar.school.nz |
The Cathedral Grammar School is an independent, Anglican preparatory day school in Christchurch, New Zealand. The school is situated on a site covering two blocks in mid-Christchurch next to the Avon River and adjacent to Hagley Park, which it uses for its playing fields. It is in close proximity to Christ's College, the Canterbury Museum, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the Christchurch CBD.
The school was founded in 1881 to educate the choristers of ChristChurch Cathedral, an objective which it is still fulfilling to this day. Cathedral Grammar is a member of the Choir Schools Association whose members include the ancient cathedral choirs of the United Kingdom – Westminster Abbey, King's College Cambridge, Magdalen College, St Paul's Cathedral to name but a few. It is one of only two small number of choir schools in the Southern Hemisphere, since Christchurch Cathedral is the only Anglican cathedral in New Zealand to have an English-style male-only Cathedral choirs.
Almost immediately after its establishment, admission to the school was also opened to boys who were not choristers, and girls were accepted into the school from 1988.
Unique amongst Christchurch schools as well as New Zealand primary schools, Cathedral Grammar provides single sex education to both boys and girls on the same grounds with the Girls' School opening in 1995.
The school is divided into four departments. The preschool is co-ed, taking boys and girls from ages three to four. The Junior School is also co-ed for pupils from Years 1–3 (ages five to seven). In the Preparatory School, a separate Girls' School and Boys' School provide largely single sex classes. Extension classes in Mathematics and English are the only co-ed classes at this level. The Boys' and Girls' School combine for chapel services, orchestra, assemblies, some sports events, operettas, social functions and share common playgrounds.
The Headmaster is Scott Thelning. He is supported by Heads of Department for each of the fours areas of the school. Class sizes are a maximum of 17 in Year 1, 20 in Years 2 and 3 and 24 in Years 4 to 8.
Pupils of the school generally achieve high academic standards in a curriculum which covers English, Mathematics, History & Geography, Science, Music, Art, Religious Education and Physical Education.
Pupils active in the arts and in sport with the school being a part of the cricket, hockey, and tennis competitions. They have won the Canterbury hockey tournament 12 times in a row.
A history of the school – Jubilate: The Story of a Choir School – was written in 2006 by the Rev. Canon Roger Couper, Headmaster 1984–2001, and published by the Cathedral Grammarians' Association to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the school. In 1976, St Saviour's Chapel was relocated from Lyttelton onto the school grounds and served as the school's chapel [3] until the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, when the building suffered slight damage. [4] The building was then relocated to Lyttelton again to serve as the Anglican church, so that the ground could be remediated. [5]
In 1972, the school acquired Inveresk, a heritage building located at 17 Armagh Street, and incorporated it into the school. [6] The cottage was originally constructed between 1863 and 1878 on land that was originally granted to Church Property Trustees (i.e. the Anglican Church) in 1858, but sold to a private person in 1863. The cottage was purchased in 1879 by John Anderson Jr, the son of the former Mayor of Christchurch and iron foundry founder John Anderson. The mayor's family home in Cashel Street was called Inveresk after his birthplace near Edinburgh in Scotland. It is assumed that when Anderson senior's house was sold in 1907, that Anderson junior transferred the name to his house in Armagh Street. [7] One of Anderson's daughters lived in the house until 1967 and after her death, the house was sold to the Church Property Trustees, which passed it on to the school. [8]
Cathedral Grammar intended to demolish the building, but after intervention by Christchurch City Council and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (since renamed to Heritage New Zealand), it was retained. A further application some years later in 2001 to demolish part of the building to make room for a two-storey structure was withdrawn after opposition was received. On 14 April 2005, the NZHPT registered the building as a Category II heritage structure with registration number 3117. [7] Inveresk closed after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and after renovation and structural upgrade, it was opened again on 25 May 2012 by rugby coach Todd Blackadder and Bishop Victoria Matthews. [6]
A number of valuable choral scholarships are awarded every year to cathedral choristers. Further academic scholarships are awarded to the most academically able and/or musical applicants. These scholarships, including the Deamer scholarship (internal) and the Merton scholarship (external), are generally awarded at Years 5–8.
Christ's College, Canterbury is an independent Anglican secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in the city centre of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Cathedral Square, locally known simply as the Square, is the geographical centre and heart of Christchurch, New Zealand, where the city's Anglican cathedral, ChristChurch Cathedral is located. The square stands at the theoretical crossing of the city's two main orthogonal streets, Colombo Street and Worcester Street, though in practice both have been either blocked off or detoured around the square itself. The square was badly damaged in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Cyril Julian Mountfort was a New Zealand ecclesiastical architect. He was the second son of Benjamin Mountfort.
The Diocese of Christchurch is one of the thirteen dioceses and hui amorangi of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Diocese covers the area between the Conway River and the Waitaki River in the South Island of New Zealand.
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of the country's most prominent 19th-century architects. He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch's unique architectural identity and culture, and was appointed the first official Provincial Architect of the developing province of Canterbury. Heavily influenced by the Anglo-Catholic philosophy behind early Victorian architecture, he is credited with importing the Gothic revival style to New Zealand. His Gothic designs constructed in both wood and stone in the province are considered unique to New Zealand. Today, he is considered the founding architect of the province of Canterbury.
John Anderson was the second Mayor of Christchurch in New Zealand 1868–1869, and a successful businessman. He had a close connection with three buildings that have later received Category I heritage registrations by Heritage New Zealand. Two of these buildings were demolished following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Daniel Reese was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Thomas Rowley was an early settler in Canterbury, New Zealand. His father was a member of the Canterbury Association and Dean-designate for ChristChurch Cathedral, but never came to the colony. Thomas Rowley and one brother emigrated, and he became a significant runholder. He later started acting as an agent for absentee landowners. He briefly served as a Member of Parliament for one of the rural Canterbury electorates. Rowley was active in church matters and married a daughter of Octavius Mathias, the first vicar of the Church of St Michael and All Angels. After 11 years in New Zealand, he returned to live in England.
Colombo Street is a main road of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It runs south-north through the centre of Christchurch with a break at Cathedral Square. As with many other central Christchurch streets, it is named for a colonial Anglican bishopric, Colombo, Sri Lanka in what at the time was known as Ceylon. Parts of the street which run through Sydenham were known as Addison Street during the 1880s, and some parts were known as Colombo Road.
The Lyttelton Times Building, last known as Base Backpackers, in 56 Cathedral Square, Christchurch Central City, was the last headquarters of the Lyttelton Times before its demise in 1935 as the then-oldest newspaper in New Zealand. The building in Chicago School architectural style was registered with New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage item, with the registration number 7216. The building's last use was as a backpackers' hostel and a restaurant. It was demolished following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Warner's Hotel in 50 Cathedral Square, Christchurch is the site of a hotel established in 1863. The original building, extended on numerous occasions, burned down in 1900. A new building was built in 1901. Again, it underwent numerous alterations. A fourth storey was added in 1910 and the northern end of the building was demolished in 1917 and a theatre built in its place to create a noise buffer to the printing presses of the adjoining Lyttelton Times Building. The theatre was demolished in 1996 and patrons enjoyed a beer garden. In 2010, a high-rise Novotel hotel opened on the site of the beer garden and in the process, the historical and symmetrical 1901 façade was recreated.
The Guthrey Centre at 126 Cashel Street, Christchurch Central City, originally the offices of Andersons Foundry and later 'Andersons Ltd, was a Category I heritage building registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The building was demolished following severe damage from the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
The Church of St Michael and All Angels is an Anglican church located at 84 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Cecil Walter Wood was a New Zealand architect. He was the dominant architect in Canterbury during the interwar period.
Joseph Clarkson Maddison was a New Zealand architect. He trained as an architect in his native London and came to Canterbury at the age of 22. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, he was one of the most prominent architects in Christchurch, receiving commissions from all over the country. Until the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, 13 of his buildings were listed by Heritage New Zealand on their register, with three of those Category I listings, but many of the Christchurch buildings have been demolished since. His style was plain and utilitarian, and he specialised in the classical Italian mode.
St Saviour's at Holy Trinity is an Anglican church in Lyttelton, Christchurch, New Zealand. St Saviour's Chapel was relocated from West Lyttelton to Christchurch's Cathedral Grammar School in the 1970s. Following the earthquakes and the demolition of Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton, St Saviour's was returned to Lyttelton to the site of Holy Trinity in 2013.
TheTrinity Church or Trinity Congregational Church designed by Benjamin Mountfort, later called the State Trinity Centre, is a Category I heritage building listed with Heritage New Zealand. Damaged in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and red-stickered after the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the building was threatened with demolition like most other central city heritage buildings. In June 2012, it was announced that the building would be saved, repaired and earthquake strengthened. The building, post its church status, has housed some commercial operations, including the State Trinity Centre; 'The Octagon' (2006–2010); and later, following earthquake repairs, a business called 'The Church Brew Pub' (2023–present).
Samuel Charles Farr was a 19th-century builder and architect in Christchurch, New Zealand. He intended to emigrate from England to Auckland, but significant shipping problems saw him end up in Akaroa in 1850 instead. From 1862, he lived in Christchurch. Farr has a number of firsts against his name: the first marriage in Canterbury, he designed Akaroa's first church, designed New Zealand's first iron verandahs, and he started Sunday schools in Canterbury. As a leading member of the Acclimatisation Society, he stocked almost every lake and river in Canterbury with fish and was instrumental in introducing the bumblebee to New Zealand. His most notable building was Cranmer Court, the former Normal School, in the Christchurch Central City; this building was demolished following the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Cranmer Court, the former Christchurch Normal School, was one of the most significant heritage buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Its demolition, due to some damage in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, was controversial.
Robert William England was a New Zealand architect from Christchurch.