St Cuthbert's College, Auckland

Infobox NZ school
name =St Cuthbert's College
badge =
motto ="By Love Serve"cite web |url=http://www.stcuthberts.school.nz/files/college.asp |title= Mission Statement |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work= Our College |publisher= St Cuthbert's College]
type = Private, Single-sex (NE, Year 1-13) with boarding facilities
established =1915
address =Market Road, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand flagicon|New Zealand
coordinates = coord|36|53|14|S|174|46|45|E|display=inline,title
principal = Lynda Reid
head_label =
roll =1470cite web |url=http://www.stcuthberts.school.nz/files/home.asp |title= Home |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007|publisher= St Cuthbert's College]
decile =n/a
MOE =68
homepage = [http://www.stcuthberts.school.nz www.stcuthberts.school.nz]

St Cuthbert's College is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for girls, located in Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand.

The college is named after Scottish monk St Cuthbert, and currently caters for approximately 1470 students from New Entrants (four-year olds) and Year One to Year Thirteen (five to eighteen-year olds), including 135 boarders from Year 9 to Year 13.

St Cuthbert's is regarded as one of the best schools in New Zealand, with "Metro" magazine placing it first in its controversial ranking of Auckland's top 25 schools in 2006.cite news| first = Miles| last = Erwin| title = Principals angry at top-25 list| url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10393672| work = National| publisher = The New Zealand Herald| date = 2006-07-30| accessdate = 2007-12-11 ] It has regularly topped the academic ranking table based on Year Eleven (NCEA Level 1/School Certificate) and Year Thirteen (NCEA Level 3/Bursary) examinationscite web |url=http://www.educationpages.co.nz/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=13072&Itemid=3 |title= St Cuthbert's College |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007|work= Secondary schools|publisher= Educationpages.co.nz] and performs strongly in sporting and cultural encounters.

The school is affiliated with the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA),cite web |url=http://www.agsa.org.au/members.php?PageID=11&Group=Country&Country=New%20Zealand |title= Member Schools |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007|work= New Zealand|publisher= The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia] the New Zealand Boarding Schools' Association (NZBSA)cite web |url=http://www.boarding.org.nz/northland.asp |title=New Zealand Boarding Schools - Northland/Auckland Region |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007|work= Directory |publisher= The New Zealand Boarding Schools' Association] Independent Schools of New Zealand (ISNZ),cite web |url=http://www.isnz.org.nz/main.cfm?id=2778&lid=287 |title= St Cuthbert's College |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007|work=ISNZ Member Schools |publisher= Independent Schools of New Zealand] and is an overseas member of the Assocition of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA).cite web |url=http://www.ahisa.com.au/Display.aspx?tabid=2237 |title= Overseas |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007|work=AHISA Schools |publisher= Assocition of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia]

History

The College was established as the Auckland Presbyterian College for Ladies Ltd in 1915, when a group of Presbyterian fathers purchased Mt Eden Collegiate, a private school for girls, and appointed Miss Isobel Macdonald as the school's first Principal. Miss Macdonald chose the motto, "By Love Serve", and renamed the school St Cuthbert's College as the Trust Board has suggested that a shorter and more distinctive name was required. Since 1918 the College has celebrated St Cuthbert's Day annually in March.cite web |url=http://www.stcuthberts.school.nz/files/special.asp?MenuID=2&PageID=598 |title= History of the College|accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work= Campus Life |publisher= St Cuthbert's College]

In 1925 the College moved to its present site in Epsom, and subsequently a development of the school's facilities began.In 1932 three school houses were established, Dunblane, Elgin and Melrose, each named after places of significance in the life of St Cuthbert.

In 1936 the winter uniform was changed to Black Watch tartan, after the then principal, Lavinia Clouston, had seen the uniform at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney. Black Watch tartan also has been the summer uniform since 1966.cite web |url=http://www.stcuthberts.school.nz/files/generic.asp?MenuID=2&PageID=754 |title= Blackwatch Tartan|accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work= Campus Life |publisher= St Cuthbert's College]

School Motto

The St Cuthbert's College motto is "By Love Serve". The motto was chosen to encourage students to share, respect the needs of others, accept different viewpoints and negotiate peacefully.

The school verse comes from 1 Corinthians 13 chapters 1 -13 and is consistent with "By Love Serve"

Boarding

St Cuthbert's College accepts both Day students and Boarding students. Boarding students from Y7 to 13 live in one of St. Cuthbert's four boarding houses: Dunblane, Elgin, Melrose or Iona. The Boarding Community at St Cuthbert's College is very diverse. Boarders come from Asia, the Pacific Islands and a range of other overseas locations, as well as from both urban and rural New Zealand.

Curriculum

Academic

The senior curriculum is based on mainstream academic subjects. At Year Nine and Year Ten, core subjects such as English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science are compulsory and are complemented by optional language and business subjects. At Year Eleven a student may drop social studies and science and can choose from three optional subjects. By Year Twelve, only English is compulsory and at Year Thirteen a student may take five subjects of her choosing.

Optional languages include Maori, Japanese, Latin, French and Spanish. In the social sciences, Social Studies is compulsory at years nine and ten, and is split into the optional subjects of History and Geography at year eleven. Classical studies, Art History, web design and media studies are also available from year twelve. Similarly, Business Studies is optional at years nine and ten and is split into Economics and Accounting at year eleven. Science subjects available are Chemistry, Physics and Biology and Behavioural Science at Year 12 only.

Physical Education

Physical education is compulsory for all students from Years one to Eleven.

In Year 10 the students take part in a four week experience at Kahunui, a large outdoor living space in the Bay of Plenty bush, where the girls participate in physical activities and school work.

House system

The college houses are named after British monasteries and other notable religious places:
*Dunblane (Yellow) Named after the Dunblane Cathedral
*Elgin (Green) Named after the Elgin Cathedral
*Iona (Purple) Named after the Scottish island of Iona
*Kelso (Blue) Named after the Kelso Abbey
*Lindisfarne (White) Named after the island Lindisfarne off the north-east of England
*Melrose (Red) Named after the Melrose Abbey

Notable Alumni

Alumnae of St Cuthbert's College are commonly referred to as Old Girls, and may elect to join the schools alumni association, the Old Girls' Association. Some notable St Cuthbert's Old Girls include:
*Christine Fletcher - Former MP and Mayor of Auckland
*Katherine Faith (Willow) Macky - One of New Zealand's leading composers of folk-style music and songs (also attended Iona College)cite web |url=http://folksong.org.nz/captain_cook/ |title= Willow Macky Q.S.M.|accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work= The Ballad of Captain Cook|publisher= New Zealand Folk Song]
*Margaret Orbell, CNZM - Anthropologist and authorcite news| first = Miles| last = Erwin| title = Obituary: Margaret Orbell | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=252&objectid=10398058| work = National| publisher = The New Zealand Herald| date = 2006-08-26| accessdate = 2007-12-11 ]
*Kim Noakes - Current New Zealand Black Stick

References

ee also

*List of schools in New Zealand
*List of boarding schools

External links

* [http://www.stcuthberts.school.nz St Cuthbert's College Website]