Villa Maria College | |
---|---|
Address | |
Coordinates | 43°31′45″S172°34′03″E / 43.5292°S 172.5675°E |
Information | |
Type | State integrated single-sex girls secondary (year 7–13) school |
Motto | That you may learn to Prize what is of Value |
Established | 1918; 106 years ago |
Ministry of Education Institution no. | 326 |
Principal | Deborah Brosnahan [1] |
School roll | 828 [2] (February 2024) |
Socio-economic decile | 9Q [3] |
Website | www |
Villa Maria College, Christchurch, New Zealand was opened on 18 February 1918 with 14 pupils. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy and served as a parish school when boys were admitted in 1921. From 1941 the school reverted to being a girls' college. Villa Maria College is a day school but it also had boarders between 1935 and 1979. In 1981, the college was integrated into the New Zealand state school system under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975 but its proprietors remain the Sisters of Mercy (through the Sisters of Mercy Trust Board).
Villa Maria College has six houses:
McAuley (yellow)
Brodie (orange)
Claver (purple)
Grace (blue)
Ennis (green)
Mercy (red)
In the 2001 Birthday Honours, former principal Sister Pauline Margaret O'Regan was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM). She had left the school and the convent in 1973 to work within Christchurch's poorer communities. [4] [5]
"I put a lot of thought into accepting the first honour. It seems enough, to be honest. I'm perfectly comfortable with the situation as it stands.
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute has about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They also started many education and health care facilities around the world.
The Catholic Church in New Zealand is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope in Rome, assisted by the Roman Curia, and with the New Zealand bishops.
Dame Malvina Lorraine Major is a New Zealand opera soprano.
Trinity Catholic College is a Catholic, state-integrated, co-educational, secondary school located in central Dunedin, New Zealand. The school was founded in 1989 as the successor of several other secondary schools the oldest of which was founded in 1871. Trinity is the only Catholic secondary school in Dunedin and is open to enrolments from throughout the entire city. The school's proprietor is the Catholic Bishop of Dunedin.
Francis William Mary Redwood SM, was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, Metropolitan of New Zealand.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with providing support and advice to the governor-general, the prime minister and members of the Cabinet of New Zealand. The department is also charged with centrally leading New Zealand's "national security planning, which includes civil defence."
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington is the metropolitan archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214. Parishes number 22 and the archdiocese extends over central New Zealand between Levin and Masterton in the north to Kaikoura to Westport in the south.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Christchurch is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Wellington. Its cathedral and see city are located in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It was formed on 5 May 1887 from a portion of the territory of the Diocese of Wellington, which was elevated to archdiocese later that same month.
Denis George Browne is the bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Hamilton, New Zealand having served as its bishop from 1994 to 2014. Previously, he was Bishop of Cook Islands and Niue (1977–1983) and then became the tenth Catholic Bishop of Auckland (1983–1994).
John Paul College is a Catholic secondary school in Rotorua, New Zealand. The co-educational school enrolls students in years 7 to 13. It was opened in 1987 and combined two existing schools, Edmund Rice College and MacKillop College. The school was founded to serve the Catholic families of Rotorua. John Paul College is named for Pope John Paul II.
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.
John Paul II High School, Greymouth is an integrated Catholic, co-educational Year 9 to Year 13 secondary school located in Greymouth, New Zealand.
Marian College, Christchurch was founded in 1982 with the merging of two Catholic secondary schools for girls, St Mary's College and McKillop College located in Shirley. Both schools provided boarding and day facilities. The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch is the proprietor of the college.
Catholic Cathedral College is an integrated Catholic co-educational secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1987 but its origins go back to more than a 119 years earlier. The college is an amalgamation of two schools: Sacred Heart College for girls, and Xavier College for boys.
Grace Elizabeth Prendergast is a former New Zealand sweep rower. She is a 15-time national champion in the premier category, an Olympic champion, a five-time world champion and the current (2022) world champion in the coxless pair. She grew up in Christchurch, where she started rowing for the Avon Rowing Club in 2007. She competed at the Tokyo Olympics in two boat classes and won gold in the coxless pair and a silver in the eight and set a new world's best time in the pair. Various parties, including the World Rowing Federation, expected her to win medals in Tokyo. She was the highest ranked female rower in the world twice in a row in 2019 and 2021. Since 2014, her rowing partner in the coxless pair has been Kerri Gowler. Prendergast is also a Boat Race winner, having competed as part of Cambridge University Boat Club's (CUBC) women's crew in 2022. She retired from professional rowing in October 2022.
Stephen Marmion Lowe is a New Zealand prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. On 18 December 2021, Pope Francis appointed him as the twelfth Bishop of Auckland, succeeding Bishop Patrick Dunn. From 2015 until his Auckland appointment, he was the Bishop of Hamilton, New Zealand.
Courtney Louise McGregor is a retired artistic gymnast who represented New Zealand. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and retired in 2020.
Janette Rose Tinetti is a New Zealand politician and a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party.
Pauline Margaret O'Regan was a New Zealand school teacher, community worker and writer.