Queen Margaret College is an independent girls’ school in Wellington, New Zealand, providing education for students from Year 1 to 13 with a co-educational Pre-School. It was established in 1919 as an inner-city, Presbyterian girls’ college.

Curriculum

Queen Margaret College offers the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

. The school is the largest, independent girls’ school in Wellington and the only girls’ school in the lower North Island offering a dual qualification pathway of either the internationally recognised IB Diploma or New Zealand's credential, The National Certificate of Education (NCEA).

Extra-curricular

The students have numerous opportunities for involvement, high-level performance and leadership through sporting and cultural activities and extensive exchange programmes with sister schools. The college has over 100 sports teams participating in a wide range of sports. There are options for social and competitive levels. Students can join a number of musical groups and participate in the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, debating, theatre-sports and the annual joint musical production with Scots College. Queen Margaret College also has an extensive exchange programme with sister schools from Chile, Tahiti, France, Australia, China, Europe, US and Japan encouraging language development and global citizenship.

Facilities

Queen Margaret College is located in a Category 2 historical building constructed in 1876. The Tower Block is located at the centre of the school learning environment. The Hobson Complex was opened in 2013 which includes a purpose-built gym and fitness room. The school also has an auditorium for music and performances. A new purpose-built co-educational pre-school was opened in 2015. In 2018, the Queen Margaret boarding house was established, capable of housing 40 students.

History

Queen Margaret College was founded on its present site in Hobson Street, Thorndon, in 1919 as an independent girls' school by the Hon John Aitken and The Very Rev. Dr. James Gibb. Its general aim as stated in the first prospectus was "to provide for girls a sound intellectual and moral education, and to build up strong Christian character on board religious basis, and thus to develop the best type of girlhood and womanhood". The buildings had been used by Scots College from 1916 to 1918. The School's namesake is Queen Margaret, who was married to King

Malcolm Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to: People * Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Clan Malcolm * Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld Nobility * Máe ...

. He features in ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', being one of Duncan's sons, who flees after his father was murdered. Students are organised into five houses – Berwick (blue & silver),

Braemar Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an elevation of . The Gaelic ''Bràigh Mhàrr'' prop ...

(blue & yellow),

Glamis Glamis is a small village in Angus, Scotland, located south of Kirriemuir and southwest of Forfar. It is the location of Glamis Castle, the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. History The vicinity of Glamis has prehistoric tr ...

(red & blue), Lochleven (red, green and black), and

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

(black & yellow). They are named after castles in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, a nod towards the Scottish heritage upon which the school was built. Queen Margaret College is the sister school of Scots College, and the colleges annually celebrate Founders' Day together. The college also has links with the international body of Margaret Schools and Independent Schools of New Zealand. The Queen Margaret College Tower Building is registered by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

as a Category II structure, with registration number 1419. The Queen Margaret College building was originally designed and erected for T.C. Williams and his wife Anne Beetham as their family homestead in Hobson St.,

Thorndon, New Zealand Thorndon is a historic inner suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Because the suburb is relatively level compared to the hilly terrain elsewhere in Wellington it contained Wellington's elite residential area until its best was d ...

. T.C. Williams was the son of

Henry Williams (missionary) Henry Williams (11 February 1792 – 16 July 1867) was the leader of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission in New Zealand in the first half of the 19th century. Williams entered the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen and served in the Napo ...

who translated the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

into Māori.

Notable old girls

Hilary Barry Hilary Ann Barry (née Pankhurst, born 4 December 1969) is a New Zealand journalist and television personality who co-hosts '' Seven Sharp'' with Jeremy Wells on TVNZ 1. She was a newsreader on TV3 for many years and until 2016, presented the 6 ...

, 1980–1987, journalist and television personality *

Kirsty Gunn Kirsty Gunn (born 1960, New Zealand) is a novelist and writer of short stories. Her stories include "Rain", which led to the 2001 film of the same name, directed by Christine Jeffs and also the 2001 ballet by the Rosas Company, set to "Music ...

, novelist and writer of short stories *

Stella Maxwell Stella Maynes Maxwell (born 15 May 1990) is a fashion model. She is a former Victoria's Secret Angel, and is also the face of the cosmetics brand Max Factor. Early life Maxwell was born in Brussels, Belgium, to Northern Irish parents, Stella Ma ...

, fashion model *

Antonia Prebble Antonia Mary Prebble (born 6 June 1984) is a New Zealand actress, best known for her role as Loretta West in the hit NZ comedy-drama '' Outrageous Fortune'', as Trudy in '' The Tribe'', as Jane in '' The Blue Rose'', and as Rita West, the gran ...

, 1999–2001, actress *

Helen Small Helen Wenda Small (born 23 October 1964) is the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford. She was previously a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. Early life Small was ...

, 1970–1982, English Literature professor at Oxford University *

Ruby Tew Ruby Tew (born 7 March 1994) is a New Zealand Olympic rower. Personal life Born in Wellington, she is the daughter of New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew. She received her secondary education at Queen Margaret College. She is studying towards a B ...

2008–2011, Olympic rower * Shirley Smith, lawyer *

Betty Loughhead JP MBE Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Bea ...

first NZer to be appointed President of Soroptimist International

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1919 Girls' schools in New Zealand Presbyterian schools in New Zealand Secondary schools in the Wellington Region Schools in Wellington City 1919 establishments in New Zealand Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia