St Patrick's College is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

, located in

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

, Southern

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. The college provides a general and religious education for students from

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia and England) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 ...

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth or thirteenth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-comp ...

. The school traces its founding to Christian Brothers College, established as an upper primary school in 1956 by the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers (; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice. Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. At the time of its ...

. In 1992, it merged with Mary Immaculate College, which had been founded in 1959 by the

Presentation Sisters The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The sisters of the congregation use th ...

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

. The school takes its name from St. Patrick's School, a primary

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

, which had been founded in 1924 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 ...

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central ...

, and of which Mary Immaculate College had been established as a secondary department. St Patrick's College is connected to St Patrick's Catholic Parish Sutherland and St Patrick's Primary School.

College house system

There are eight college houses – Nagle (blue), Leary (gold), Rice (green) and Wiltshire (red) MacKillop! (purple), Gilroy (silver), Dunlea (orange), O’Connor (pink). The houses are named after important members of college history Oconnor all the way

School hymn

The school hymn is sung to the tune of Gustav Theodore Holst's "Jupiter" theme from

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

(also known as "

I Vow to Thee, My Country "I Vow to Thee, My Country" is a British patriotic hymn, created in 1921 when music by Gustav Holst had a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice set to it. The music originated as a wordless melody, which Holst later named "Thaxted", taken from the "J ...

").

Extracurricular activities

This includes sporting events, band, debating, public speaking, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Social Justice and Youth Ministry.

College sports

Many students participate in internal, grade and representative sport. Various internal and grade sport includes soccer, basketball, softball, AFL, water polo, cricket, surfing, tennis, swimming, life saving, rugby, hockey, oztag, golf and many more. Representative sport is a major part of college culture with the college competing in various prestigious sporting competitions such as the SCCC (Shire Combined Catholic Colleges), SSCCC (Southern Sydney Combined Catholic Colleges) and the NSWCCC (NSW Combined Catholic Colleges). Sports such as football, AFL, rugby league, rugby union, touch, hockey, waterpolo, netball, soccer, tennis, softball, baseball, basketball and cricket are representative sports the college competes in on a yearly basis.

College bands

The St. Patrick's College bands include the Marching Band, Junior and Senior Band, Stage Band, Guitar Ensemble and Drum Squad.

Debating and public speaking

The college encourages students to participate in Debating and Public Speaking. Junior and Senior teams participate regularly in the Catholic Schools Debating competition which provides students with the challenge of competing against students from a number of other Catholic Colleges. In addition, teams have been involved in a Shire Debating competition organised by the Sutherland Rotary Club and a History Debating competition organised by the NSW Department of Education.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

program involves three progressive levels which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award. There are four sections at Bronze and Silver level and five at Gold. With assistance from adult Leaders, participants select and set objectives in each of the following areas: Volunteering, Physical, Skills, Expedition and, at Gold level, Residential. Each section must be done for a minimum period of time. It must be monitored and then assessed by someone with knowledge of that particular activity to achieve an Award. The Duke of Edinburgh's Award it has become a significant program to develop the skills of college students. Currently the college has of the largest programs on offer in NSW with an increasing demand for places each year. Students of the college may apply to commence the program in Year 9, with the opportunity to continue through to Year 12.

Gallery

File:St. Patricks College Campus.jpg, St. Patrick's College Campus File:St. Patricks College hall foyer.jpg, St. Patricks College hall foyer File:(1)St Patricks Church Sutherland-6.jpg, St. Patrick's Church Sutherland File:St. Patricks Sutherland church.jpg, St. Patrick's Church Sutherland File:(1)St Patricks Church Sutherland-1.jpg, St. Patrick's Church Sutherland

Notable alumni

Chris Downy Christopher John Downy (born 29 March 1955) is a former Australian politician. He was the Liberal Party member for Sutherland in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1997, and Minister for Sport, Recreation and Racing from 1993 ...

, NSW state politician – NSW Minister for Sport, Recreation and Racing 1993–1995, Liberal MP for Sutherland 1988–1997 *

Alex Gersbach Alexander Joseph Gersbach ( ; born 8 May 1997) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a left-back for A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers, and the Australia national team. He made his debut for Australia in 2016, having pre ...

, professional footballer *

Kimberlee Green Kimberlee Green (born 5 March 1986) is an Australian former international netball player. Green was the captain of the Giants Netball team in the Suncorp Super Netball league and represented the Australia national netball team, Australian natio ...

, netballer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patrick's College, Sutherland Catholic secondary schools in Sydney Educational institutions established in 1956 1956 establishments in Australia Sutherland Shire