St Andrew's College, Christchurch

St Andrew's College, also known as StAC, in Christchurch, New Zealand, is a private, co-educational school that enrols from pre-school to secondary Year 13. It was founded in 1917 and it is the only independent, co-educational primary and secondary school in New Zealand's South Island. Although now a fully co-educational school, it was formerly an all-boys school. It became fully co-educational in 2001.[3] The current rector of St Andrew's College is Christine Leighton.

St Andrew's College
Address
347 Papanui Road
Strowan
Christchurch 8052
New Zealand
Coordinates43.5081°S 172.6138°E / -43.5081; 172.6138
Information
TypePrivate, fully reg. (Years 1–13)
MottoFides et Patria
"Faith and Country"
Established1917
Ministry of Education Institution no.318
RectorChristine Leighton[1]
School roll1529[2] (March 2020)
Socio-economic decile10
Websitestac.school.nz

History

St Andrew's College was founded by Rev. Alexander Thomas Thompson in 1917 in the Scottish Presbyterian tradition of the Christian faith.

St Andrew's College gate column

The school began in a humble fashion with 19 boys and four teachers, driven by the determination of the Reverend Thompson, whose driving ambition was to ‘educate the sons of the Presbyterian and Scottish community of Canterbury.’

StAC had three boarding houses for the 165 boarders of years 9 to 13: MacGibbon (years 9 to 11) and Rutherford (years 11 to 13) for boys, and Thompson (years 9 to 13) for girls. Boarding facilities were damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake; as a result, the boarders have lived in local motels until the new boarding houses were opened at the start of 2013. Thompson and Rutherford houses have been demolished and replaced with brand new state of art boarding facilities while McGibbon House has been refurbished and strengthened. Boarding used to be available for year 7 and 8 students, but is no longer provided. St Andrew's College has four houses: Rutherford, MacGibbon, Thompson and Erwin.

On 31 October 2008, the students and teachers of St Andrew's College set a world record for the largest school mass dance with a recital of the YMCA.

In 2017, St Andrew's College celebrated its 100th anniversary.

In 2020, students of the school reported that a teacher tore down posters and verbally abused them for promoting the Black Lives Matter movement.[4] The school conducted an investigation but did not publish the outcome.[5]

Plans

The 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake severely damaged the school chapel and forced the closure of the school arts block and Strowan house, which both sustained some structural damage, however, most of the schools buildings were relatively undamaged, and the arts block has since been repaired and strengthened. Strowan house has now re-opened, and a new chapel has been built which incorporates design features from the original chapel. In late 2014 Erwin house was demolished to make room for a second gymnasium.

Notable alumni

References
  1. "Board of Governors". Retrieved 3 November 2007.
  2. "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  3. "St Andrew's to go fully co-ed". The Press. 2 November 1996. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  4. "Christchurch school investigating after Black Lives Matter posters torn down". RNZ. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. "School handles Black Lives Matter poster removal internally". RNZ. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  6. Bidwell, Peter (2010). Reflections of Gold. Auckland: HarperCollins. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-86950-808-1.
  7. Gadd, David (27 February 2011). "Spirits 'will not be crushed'". Fairfax New Zealand. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  8. "Sir Jack Rumbold". 24 December 2001. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  9. Wilson, Hugh D. (2002). Hinewai: the journal of a New Zealand naturalist. Christchurch: Shoal Bay Press Ltd. p. 1. ISBN 1-877251-20-8.
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