St Andrew's College, Christchurch

This article is about the school in New Zealand. For other similarly named institutions, see St. Andrew's College (disambiguation).
St Andrew's College
Address
347 Papanui Road
Strowan
Christchurch 8052
New Zealand
Coordinates 43.5081°S 172.6138°E / -43.5081; 172.6138
Information
Type Private, fully reg. (Years 1–13)
Motto Fides et Patria
"Faith and Country"
Established 1917
Ministry of Education Institution no. 318
Chairperson Felicity Odlin
Rector Christine Leighton
Chaplain Paul Morrow
School roll 1603 (April 2023)
Socio-economic decile 10
Website stac.school.nz

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. The current rector of St Andrew's College is Christine Leighton.

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

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.

Recently the school has opened three new buildings including a fitness centre and a new library. The school expects to open a new theatre complex by November 2023.

Rectors

The following is a complete list of the rectors of St Andrew's College:

Name Term
1 Sydney Rushbrook Dickinson 1917–1919
2 Alexander Knox Anderson 1920–1934
3 John Bibby Mawson 1934–1947
4 Leslie Walter Stewart 1948–1962
5 Ian Galloway 1962–1982
6 John Rentoul 1982–1994
7 Barry Maister 1994–2001
8 Nigel Fairbairn 2002–2004
9 Harvey Rees-Thomas 2005–2007
10 Christine Leighton 2007–present

Notable alumni

Main category: People educated at St Andrew's College, Christchurch