Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,
It has been an exciting week as we have shared the plans for the St Joseph's relocation with the community and those of you with students at the College will know that work has begun to clear the site and relocate the Property Manager's workshop so that ground works for that work can begin.
At the same time, we have been delving into our school's history in preparation for the 100 year anniversary of our College. This has been an enlightening endeavour and the more I read and explore our school history, the more I see those who have governed the College in the past and indeed those who have governed the whole of Catholic Education in North Otago have always done that in a very responsive and holistic manner.
St Kevin's College is an amalgamation of several schools. Originally it was set up in 1927 with strong backing from Bishop Whyte and the Dunedin Diocese. There was already a boys boarding school for younger students in Oamaru called St Thomas' Academy (pictured). If we think about the transport arrangements which had to be made to get students from farms into the big smoke of Oamaru at that time, we can see why boarding schools were the choice of the day.
Girls were educated at St Thomas' between the time that the younger boys moved to SKC (yes, we did used to have year 7 and 8 students once) and before borders moved out to Teschmakers (formally known as St Patrick’s Dominican Girls School) where they remained from the 1930's through until the merger with SKC in 1983.
The little school we now know as St Joseph's today began life as a few rooms in the Catholic Presbytery and was staffed by Dominican nuns. Later a school was built that was called St Patricks and run by two Chrisitan Brothers who commuted into the school from St Kevin's College. In 1973, this school was closed and the younger students went to the newly established St Joseph's school while the older boys went to the St Kevin's College site where a third school called St Johns was operated at the end of what was then a driveway which stretched out to what is now the main road.
Our latest iteration in placing St Joseph's School on our current site is part of a long standing tradition of doing what is best for our young people at a particular time . Right now, our focus and our reason for relocating the school is very much about making the most of our resources and being able to easily and simply develop our charisms, strengthen our Catholic identity and practically work together. We have a very strong vision for our future and I for one am very excited about playing my part in this next chapter for Catholic Education in North Otago.
Have a great weekend
God Bless
Jo
No comments:
Post a Comment