Carmel College is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

for

girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

s located in Milford on

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

's North Shore. It was established by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

in 1957 starting with a student roll of only 15 girls. The College's brother school is nearby

Rosmini College Rosmini College is a state integrated Catholic School, Catholic secondary school for boys, situated in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. The proprietor of the school is Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland, the Bishop of Auckland. The school cater ...

Location

Carmel College is situated on the northern shore of Lake Pupuke.

History

In 1957, the long-held dream of the Sisters of Mercy to establish a Catholic girls' school on the North Shore was realised. Carmel College is the

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts. In the social and le ...

Charism In Christianity, a spiritual gift or charism (plural: charisms or charismata; in Greek language, Greek singular: wikt:χάρισμα, χάρισμα ''charisma'', plural: χαρίσματα ''charismata'') is an extraordinary power given by the ...

at the heart or centre of the school. Sister Mary Justine Gillies was given the mission of founding Carmel College on donated land, initially with 15 students and no actual classrooms. Sister Justine gathered dedicated teaching Sisters and, as the school grew, these Sisters were joined by the first full-time lay teacher, Verena Butler, in 1963. Under Sister

Pauline Engel Dame Sister Pauline Frances Engel (10 September 1930 – 15 November 2017) was a New Zealand educator and Roman Catholic religious sister. A member of the Sisters of Mercy, she served as the third principal of Carmel College. Prior to running ...

, the third principal of the College, who was appointed in 1983, the college undertook an extensive programme of building, expanding and refurbishing. This included building a gymnasium, a food and technology block, an arts block, and the refurbishment of the science laboratories. On 19 June 2013, Bishop Patrick Dunn and the mayor of Auckland, Len Brown, opened the Harkins Building, which included a classroom block to accommodate music, drama, information technology and social sciences, a performing arts centre seating 160, a large covered atrium providing break-out teaching and social spaces, and a new library overlooking Lake Pupuke. Carmel celebrated its 50th jubilee in June 2007 with a reunion of many Carmel old girls, in celebrations lasting a week including songs by various music groups, a wall of photographic remembrance, and a time capsule to be dug up at the college's centennial.

Enrolment

As of , the school has a roll of students, of which (%) identify as Māori. As of , the school has an

Equity Index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market perform ...

of , placing it amongst schools whose students have the socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 9 and 10 under the former

socio-economic decile In the education in New Zealand, New Zealand education system, decile was a key measure of socioeconomic status used to target funding and support schools. In academic contexts the full term "socioeconomic decile" or "socioeconomic decile band" wa ...

system).

School activities

Carmel College students take part in a range of activities throughout New Zealand including Stage Challenge, Big Sing Choral Festival and Polyfest. The school has a number of clubs, including the Human Rights Group, Creative Writers' Club, Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD), Young Vinnies and the SAVE environmental group. Carmel has different music groups such as the Carmel College Orchestra, the Carmel College Jazz Band, and Chamber groups.

Notable alumnae

* Tania Dalton, netballer * Rebecca Dubber, swimmer, Paralympic bronze medallist * Teneale Hatton, canoeist *

Fiona McDonald Fiona Maude McDonald (born 1965) is a New Zealand pop singer and television personality. Singer McDonald's first involvement with music came through singing jingles for Auckland student radio station bFM. From that work she was asked to jo ...

, singer *

Shai Navot Shai Navot is a New Zealand lawyer, former Crown prosecutor (New Zealand), crown prosecutor, and leader of The Opportunities Party (TOP) between 2020 and 2022. She previously served as deputy leader of The Opportunities Party during the 2020 Ne ...

, leader of

The Opportunities Party The Opportunities Party, often referred to as TOP, is a Centrism, centrist List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. It was founded in 2016 by economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan (economist), Gareth Morgan. ...

, lawyer,

crown prosecutor Crown prosecutor is the title given in a number of jurisdictions to the state prosecutor, the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial. The title is commonly used in Commonwealth realms. Examples * ...

* Randa, AKA LarzRanda rapper & recording artist * Jodie Rimmer, actress

References

External links

Carmel College WebsiteNZ Government Education Website

Catholic Diocese of Auckland – Catholic Schools
{{subject bar, auto=y, d=y Educational institutions established in 1957 Girls' schools in New Zealand North Shore, New Zealand Catholic secondary schools in Auckland 1957 establishments in New Zealand Sisters of Mercy schools Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia Takapuna