St Kevin's College, Oamaru

Story

St Kevin's College in Oamaru, New Zealand is a Catholic, coeducational, integrated, boarding and day, secondary school. It was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1927 for boys and became a co-educational school in 1983 when the Dominican Sisters closed down their school at Teschemakers. Although they no longer are on the staff of the college, the Christian Brothers remain its proprietors and so appoint their own representative to the school's Board of Trustees under the New Zealand Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975.The CollegeSt Kevin's College has a roll of over 400 students including approximately 110 boarding students and 300 day students. Its gender composition in 2013 was female 59% and Male 41%. Its ethnic composition was NZ European/Pākehā 80%, Asian 10%, Pacific 6% and Māori 3%. It has a strong Catholic focus.CharacterIn February 1983 St Kevin’s became co-educational. Until 1979 girls boarded at Teschemakers, a secondary school located about 12 km south of Oamaru. St Kevin's College currently has boarding capacity for over 100 girls. Also in 1983, the College was integrated as a College with a "special character" under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975. The special character is broadly the connection of the school with the Catholic faith. Preference of enrolment is given to students who have established a link with the Catholic Church through baptism or membership of a parish. Preference is decided by the appropriate parish priest in each case. A preference certificate from the student's parish is required for each student with their application for enrolment at the school. Under the Act, the school may enrol "non-preference" students but the enrolment of such students is restricted to 5% of the total roll.