Pompallier Catholic College

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Pompallier Catholic College is a Catholic co-educational secondary school located in the suburb of Maunu in Whangarei, New Zealand. It is one of nine secondary schools within the Marist network. Pompallier Catholic College is named after Bishop Jean Baptiste Francois Pompallier who led the first group of Catholic Missionaries from Lyons, France, to New Zealand. The patron saint of the college is John the Baptist. Students of Pompallier Catholic College are colloquially known as Pompallians.HistoryPompallier College is named after Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier who led the first group of Catholic Missionaries to New Zealand, arriving in the Hokianga with Fr Servant and Br Michel a Marist Priest and Brother in 1838. He was the first Catholic Bishop of New Zealand; Bishop Pompallier of the Diocese of Auckland.The school was founded in 1971 after fund-raising among Northland parishes. It started as a private Boys' Boarding School owned and administered by the Society of Mary. The school became co-educational in 1977, closed the boarding facility in 1981 and in the same year became a state-integrated secondary school owned by the Diocese of Auckland and administered by a Board of Trustees. An Attached Intermediate was opened in 1995 and Form 1-7 status was achieved in 1997. It is now known as a Year 7-13 state-integrated co-educational secondary school.