Sancta Maria College, Auckland

Last updated

Sancta Maria College
Sancta maria college logo.png
Sancta Maria College.jpg
Sancta Maria College in 2009.
Address
Sancta Maria College, Auckland
319 Te Irirangi Drive
Flat Bush
Auckland 2013
New Zealand
Coordinates 36°57′36″S174°54′19″E / 36.9600°S 174.9054°E / -36.9600; 174.9054
Information
Type State integrated co-ed secondary, years 7–13
MottoFaith is our compass
Established2004; 20 years ago
Ministry of Education Institution no. 491
PrincipalLouise Moore
School roll832 [1] (February 2024)
Socio-economic decile7O [2]
Website sanctamaria.school.nz

Sancta Maria College is a co-ed Catholic School in Auckland, New Zealand. It is named after the schooner on which Bishop Pompallier travelled around New Zealand. [3]

Contents

The name

The College is named after the mission schooner Sancta Maria on which Bishop Jean Baptist Pompallier sailed around New Zealand. The name Sancta Maria is a Latin title for Mary, the Mother of God. It means Holy Mary.  

Bishop Pompallier, who is a specially honoured pioneer of the New Zealand Catholic Church, arrived in the Hokianga from France in 1838 with a group of Marist Priests and Brothers. With this group, he sailed around New Zealand converting settlers to Catholicism in the early 1840s.

Fathers Garin and Viard who accompanied Bishop Pompallier established churches in Howick and Panmure. Bishop Pompallier devised his own flag for the vessel – a bunting version of the Miraculous Medal, It consisted of a blue cross surmounting a large M and surrounded by twelve stars. The background was white. These twelve stars have been incorporated into the school logo along with the Sancta Maria and the school's motto 'FAITH IS OUR COMPASS'.

The College's name commemorates the historic arrival and work of Bishop Pompallier.

History

Sancta Maria College was built in 2004 and was used as a 'transfer' school from St Mark's and Star of the Sea Primary schools in Howick and Pakuranga, New Zealand.

There has been a notable increase in the population of students and the school has also been expanded to include 5 classroom 'blocks'. When Sancta Maria Catholic Primary School came in the year of 2010 they shared the same auditorium for assemblies and masses and so the college built a new gym for P.E.

When it was first built, Sancta Maria College only supported students from Years 7–9, the same as Botany Downs Secondary College, due to lack of teaching space, but now it is a fully functional school from Years 7–13.

Classrooms

The school's construction of grouped classrooms has been divided up into 'blocks', named after Saints.

Saint Anne Block is a three-story block with approximately 12 classrooms, which are used for the main social sciences, English and mathematics.

Saint Benedict Block is a two-story block, with the top three classrooms being used for music and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Labs, as well as the Careers Office and the Guidance Counselor's Office, new built library the Dean of Year Level's offices and a few small meeting rooms.

The next block is the Saint Catherine Block. The Saint Catherine Block, along with the Saint Benedict Block, were the first two blocks of classrooms in the foundation year. The Saint Catherine Block's top level is mainly for the sciences with five classrooms equipped for experiments and of the other four, three of which are being used for religious educations lessons with the final two being used for languages (specifically French and Japanese respectively). The bottom 10 classrooms are devoted to the technologies, with the first being information communication technology, with 30 flat screen computers into which students login using their own user id, the next adjoining classroom is for fabric technology, such as sewing and designing. Then there is the spare technology room used for Early Childhood Education, and the next is for food technology, which is used for cooking and baking. Next is the design technology room which is graphics, construction design, which in the future may incorporate CADD. After that is the building technology room, with woodwork and metalwork and electronics classrooms.

The fourth block is Saint Dominic Block, which houses Year 7 and Year 8 students. Between every two classrooms is a 'pod' with approximately 10–15 computers for the classes to use if needed. The only exception is the last half of the bottom level which splits between art and languages, and the last third of the top level which is for 'Business Studies', or economics and accounting.

A new two-story library has been constructed along with a set of new tennis courts for student use.

A new gymnasium equipped with a fitness centre and physical education offices was opened in 2010. There is also an auditorium which is used for assemblies and other large events or gatherings. The school chapel and priest's office are also in the building complex with the auditorium. The chapel displays the icon which was specifically painted for Sancta Maria College.

The administration building houses the sick bay, cashier's office, reception desk, meeting rooms, staff room and staff offices.

Both Anne and Catherine blocks are equipped with a set of COW's (Computers On Wheels) for individual student use.

From February to August 2017, construction took place under the school library. This was so that the lower story of the library could be converted into a Modern Learning Environment, to be used exclusively by the Religious Education department of the school. Current plans are for the block to be named 'Saint Francis Block'. Saint Francis Block can hold four classes at a time, and will be a shared space for all year levels.

Education

Sancta Maria College offers NCEA as its national qualifications standard and each year students results are significantly higher than national averages.[ citation needed ] They have a system of 'impositions' for misbehaviour and rule infringement which can lead up to an afterschool detention or a Saturday detention for continued or more serious offences.

Houses

The houses of Sancta Maria College are named after ports or harbours in New Zealand at which Bishop Pompallier's schooner landed. The four houses are:

Alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hokianga</span> Bay in Northland Region, New Zealand

The Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as the Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Chanel</span> 19th-century French Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr

Peter Chanel, SM, born Pierre Louis Marie Chanel, was a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr. Chanel was a member of the Society of Mary or "Marists" and was sent as a missionary to Oceania. He arrived on the island of Futuna in November 1837. Chanel was clubbed to death in April 1841 at the instigation of a chief upset because his son converted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macleans College</span> State co-educational school

Macleans College is a co-educational state secondary school located in Eastern Beach, Auckland, New Zealand. The school is named after the Scottish MacLean family who lived and farmed the land of the school and surrounding reserves, and the school emblem contains the castle from their family crest along with six waves which symbolise the seaside location of the school. Metro placed Macleans College as the number one Auckland high school in 2010 among those in the Cambridge International Examinations system. In 2014, Macleans College ranked 2nd nationally in the Cambridge International Examinations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hargest College</span> School

James Hargest College is a large school of 1,882 students, in Invercargill, New Zealand. The school caters for students from year 7–13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Saint Francis (Indiana)</span> Private university in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.

The University of Saint Francis (USF) is a private Catholic university in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The university promotes Catholic and Franciscan values. The school's 2022–23 enrollment was 1,903 undergraduate and graduate students, the majority of whom come from states in the Midwest, primarily Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio.

Verdon College is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school in Invercargill, New Zealand, teaching students from year 7 to 13. The College is named after Bishop Michael Verdon (1838–1918) who was the second Catholic Bishop of Dunedin (1896–1918). It has the highest rate of achievement in NCEA results for secondary schools in Invercargill city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Augustine's College, Sydney</span> School

St Augustine's College, Sydney is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex primary and secondary day school for boys, located in Brookvale, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school caters from approximately 1,200 boys in Year 5 to Year 12 with an education ethos of Augustinian. It was founded by the Priests of the Order of St. Augustine and is situated directly opposite Brookvale Oval.

Pompallier Catholic College is a Catholic co-educational secondary school located in the suburb of Maunu in Whangārei, New Zealand. It is one of nine secondary schools within the Marist network. Pompallier Catholic College is named after Bishop Jean Baptiste Francois Pompallier who led the first group of Catholic Missionaries from Lyons, France, to New Zealand. The patron saint of the college is John the Baptist. Students of Pompallier Catholic College are colloquially known as Pompallians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Baptiste Pompallier</span> First Bishop of Auckland

Jean-Baptiste François Pompallier was the first Roman Catholic bishop in New Zealand and, with priests and brothers of the Marist order, he organised the Roman Catholic Church throughout the country. He was born in Lyon, France. He arrived in New Zealand in 1838 as Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, but made New Zealand the Headquarters of His Catholic Mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Peter's College, Auckland</span> School in Auckland, New Zealand

St Peter's College is a Catholic secondary school for boys in the Edmund Rice tradition, and dedicated to St Peter. It is located in the central Auckland area of Grafton, Auckland, New Zealand. With a roll of over 1300, the school is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand. St Peter's College was established in 1939 as a successor of Auckland's earliest school and of St Peter's School, founded in 1857. However, Auckland also had another Catholic secondary school dedicated to St Peter, Hato Petera College or St Peter's Māori College, which existed for 90 years from 1928 until 2018 in Northcote.

Philippe Joseph Viard was a French priest and the first Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Wellington, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland</span> Latin Catholic jurisdiction in New Zealand

The Diocese of Auckland is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. It was one of two dioceses in the country that were established on 20 June 1848. Auckland became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Wellington in 1887. A large area of the diocese south of Auckland was split from the diocese on 6 March 1980 to form the Diocese of Hamilton. As of 2021, almost 40 per cent of New Zealand’s 471,000 Catholics lived within the diocese of Auckland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Eden Intermediate School</span> School

Glen Eden Intermediate School (G.E.I.S) is a state co-educational intermediate school located in the suburb of Kaurilands in Auckland, New Zealand. The roll fluctuates around 1050 student and there is an enrolment scheme in place. In-zone suburbs include Titirangi, Laingholm, most of Glen Eden and nearby Konini and Kaurilands. Maree Stavert has been principal since the retirement of Terry Hewetson in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flat Bush</span> Suburb in Auckland, New Zealand

Flat Bush is a southern suburb in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It has recently become one of the city's largest new planned towns after being developed as a rural area of Auckland for several decades. Located near Manukau Heights, plans for substantial expansion began under the Manukau City Council - having bought 290 hectares in the area in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabra Dominican College</span> School in Cumberland Park, South Australia, Australia

Cabra Dominican College is a private, independent Catholic high school located at Cumberland Park, an inner-southern suburb in Adelaide, South Australia. It was established by an order of Dominican sisters from Cabra, Dublin in February 1886 with nine sisters, and caring for 37 boarders and 4-day girls. Originally offering a co-educational primary education and a high school education for girls, it began accepting boys into the high school in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Margaret Mary's College</span> Private school in Townsville, Queensland, Australia

St Margaret Mary's College is an all-girls Catholic school in the suburb of Hyde Park, Townsville, Queensland Australia and caters for years 7–12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Martyrs Catholic School</span> Academy in Leicester, Leicestershire, England

English Martyrs Catholic School is a coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form located in Leicester, England. The school's new buildings had their official opening in May 2015.

Sancta Maria College is a Catholic secondary school located in Louisburgh, County Mayo, Ireland. The school was Ireland's first Catholic co-educational secondary school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hato Petera College</span> Integrated secondary (year 9-13) school

Hato Petera College was an integrated, co-educational college in Northcote Central, Auckland, New Zealand for students from Year 9 to Year 13. It existed for 90 years, opening on 3 June 1928 and closing on 31 August 2018. The school had a strong Catholic and Māori character. It was located on part of the land originally given by Sir George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, to Bishop Pompallier, the first Bishop of Auckland, in 1849 for education purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas and Mary Poynton</span>

Thomas Poynton and Mary Poynton and their children were among the first Catholic families to settle in New Zealand. They were instrumental in bringing Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier to New Zealand and were involved in the growth of Catholicism and Catholic missions in the Hokianga and later on in the North Shore of Auckland.

References

  1. "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  2. "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. Auckland City Libraries. "Schooner Called Sancta Maria, formerly the Atlas" . Retrieved 16 November 2013.