St Thomas of Canterbury College

St Thomas of Canterbury College
Location
69 Middlepark Rd,
Upper Riccarton,
Christchurch,
New Zealand
Information
Type Integrated Catholic Boys Secondary (Year 7-13)
Motto Virtute Scientiam Complete
Established 1961
Ministry of Education Institution no. 331
Principal Christine O'Brien
School roll 540 (2011)
Socio-economic decile 8
Website stthomas-coll.school.nz

St Thomas of Canterbury College is a college for year 7 to 13 boys and offers a Catholic education to its students. It is located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The college is integrated into the state education system under an integration agreement which was first entered into by the Christian Brothers (as the proprietors of the college) and the Government of New Zealand on 11 November 1981 under Section 7 of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975.[1] St Thomas of Canterbury College is located in the Christchurch suburb of Sockburn.

Contents

Roll

In 2006 the ethnic composition of St Thomas of Canterbury College was New Zealand European/Pākeha 72%, Māori 7%, Samoan 3%, Other Pacifica 1%, Asian 13%,Middle Eastern 2% and Others 2%.[2] The college excels in sporting, cultural, scientific and enterprise[3] activities. Academically, the school offers for senior years the National Certificate of Educational Achievement assessment system (NCEA).

History

A Christian Brothers' school in Christchurch was first proposed in the 1880s. The third Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, Patrick Francis Lyons (Bishop 1944-1950) acquired land on Sockburn in West Christchurch and formally invited the Christian Brothers to provide the staff. There was no progress for several years. Eventually Brother Marlow, the Provincial of the Christian Brothers, and Edward Michael Joyce, the fourth Catholic Bishop of Christchurch (Bishop 1950-1964), agreed, and St Thomas of Canterbury College held its first classes on 6 February 1961 (Waitangi Day - not a public holiday holiday then).[4] As a result of the February 22nd earthquake in 2011, Catholic Cathedral College whose premises were damaged in the earthquake, "site shared" with St Thomas of Canterbury. St Thomas restricted its use of the school to the morning and Catholic Cathedral College took over the school in the afternoon[5]

Houses

The names and colours of the St Thomas of Canterbury College Houses are:

Principals

Notable former staff

Notable alumni

Church

Sport

Notes

  1. ^ St Thomas' Jubilee 1961 - 1986, St Thomas of Canterbury Jubilee Committee, Christchurch, 1986, p. 48.
  2. ^ Education Review Report
  3. ^ TKI - Education for Enterprise – St Thomas of Canterbury College
  4. ^ Donaldson, p. 12;
  5. ^ http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=202
  6. ^ Mark Garry Hammett at AllBlacks.com
  7. ^ Hinton, Marc (17 February 2011). "Hurricanes won't change under Hammett". Stuff.co.nz. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/4670439/Hurricanes-won-t-change-under-Hammett. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 

References/Sources

  • J.C. O'Neill, The History of the Work of the Christian Brothers in New Zealand, unpublished Dip. Ed. thesis, University of Auckland, 1968.
  • St Thomas' Jubilee 1961-1986, St Thomas of Canterbury Jubilee Committee, Christchurch, 1986.
  • Paul Malcolm Robertson, Nga Parata Karaitiana The Christian Brothers, A Public Culture in Transition, A Comparative Study of the Indian and New Zealand Provinces, an unpublished thesis for MA in Anthropology, University of Auckland, 1996.
  • Graeme Donaldson, To All Parts of the Kingdom: Christian Brothers In New Zealand 1876-2001, Christian Brothers New Zealand Province, Christchurch, 2001.
  • Education Review Office, Education Review Report: St Thomas of Canterbury College, November 2005
  • Rick Maxwell, St Peter's College, Auckland, Simerlocy Press, Auckland, 2008.

External links

Christian Brother (Irish) secondary schools in New Zealand
Marist Albion Rugby Club schools, Christchurch