Villa Maria College, Christchurch,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

was opened on 18 February 1918 with 14 pupils. It was founded by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

and served as a parish school when boys were admitted in 1921. From 1941 the school reverted to being a girl's 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).

Houses

Villa Maria College has six houses: McAuley (yellow) Brodie (orange) Claver (purple) Grace (blue) Ennis (green) Mercy (red)

Honour

In the

2001 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2001 was announced on 16 June 2001 for the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland), New Zealand (4 June), Australia (11 June), Barbados, Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Sai ...

, former principal Sister Pauline Margaret O'Regan was made a Distinguished Companion of the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

(DCNZM). She had left the school and the convent in 1973 to work within Christchurch's poorer communities.

Notable alumnae

Ellen Halpenny Ellen Halpenny (born 25 July 1990) is a former New Zealand netball international. She was a member of the New Zealand team that were silver medalists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. During the ANZ Championship era, Halpenny played for Canterbu ...

(born 1990), netball player *

Courtney McGregor Courtney Louise McGregor (born 17 November 1998) is a retired artistic gymnast who represented New Zealand. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and retired in 2020. Early life and education McGregor was born in 1998 in Christchurch, wher ...

(born 1998), representative female artistic gymnast *

Grace Prendergast Grace Elizabeth Prendergast (born 30 June 1992) 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 coxle ...

(born 1992), rower *

Jan Tinetti Janette Rose Tinetti (born 1968) is a New Zealand politician and a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party. Personal life Tinetti was born in Hokitika on the West Coast and grew up in Christchurch. She received ...

(born 1968), cabinet member of the Labour Party

Notes

References

* ''Villa Maria College golden jubilee, 1918–1968'' Christchurch, 1968. * Mary Declan Burke RSM, ''Mercy through the years : the centennial history of the Sisters of Mercy, Christchurch Diocese, 1878–1978'', Sisters of Mercy Trust Board, Christchurch, 1978. * Michael O'Meeghan S.M., ''Held firm by faith : a history of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, 1840–1987'', Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, Christchurch, 1988. * ''Villa Maria College, seventy-five years, 1918–1993'', Villa Maria College, Christchurch, 1993. * Michael King, ''God's farthest outpost : a history of Catholics in New Zealand'', Viking, Auckland 1997. {{Schools in Canterbury Educational institutions established in 1918 Secondary schools in Christchurch Girls' schools in New Zealand Catholic secondary schools in Christchurch Sisters of Mercy schools 1918 establishments in New Zealand