St Patrick's College, Silverstream


St Patrick's College is a state-integrated Catholic boys' day and boarding Secondary School located in Silverstream, Upper Hutt, New Zealand. It was established by the Society of Mary in 1931 when the original St Patrick's College, Wellington was intended to be moved to a larger site more suited to a boarding school. In fact, both colleges survived. Today, they share not only a common history, motto and spirit but also a good natured rivalry and competition in many endeavours. Silverstreamers refer to the mother school simply as 'Town'.
The Silverstream College, quite often referred to simply by the suburb title or 'Stream', is on seven hectares of grounds between the Hutt River and Silverstream Railway Station close to the suburbs of Silverstream and Heretaunga. As a state-integrated school, St Patrick's College is funded by the Society of Mary, Catholic Schools Board Limited and the New Zealand Government.
In the 1980s, St Patrick's record was marred by a member of staff being involved in incidents of sexual abuse involving students. Reports of this sexual abuse were allegedly suppressed by the school Marist priests.
At its foundation much of the original College was transferred from the Wellington site including many of the Marist teachers, much of the memorabilia and the College colours. The brother Colleges today share an Old Boys' Association in recognition of their common heritage. School sports teams have enjoyed success in Rugby union, cricket and athletics. Football, hockey and basketball are popular winter sports at the college. Both Of St Patrick's Colleges also compete against each other in an annual event called “Mc Evedy” similar to the athletics of Old Boys but it is shared with two other schools, Wellington College and Rongotai College. Over the years of the College it has evolved from being primarily a boarding school into a largely day school with a small boarding facility. This demographic shift has resulted from several pressures including the huge increase in number of residents in the local area. In more recent years it has been necessary to cap the roll and introduce an enrolment scheme to ensure an equitable educational outcome for all local pupils. The College celebrated its 75th Jubilee in 2006.
St Patrick's College as a Catholic School bases its educational philosophy on Christian teachings and on the Marist tradition under which the school was founded. In 2012 the St Patrick's College, Silverstream Foundation was established with an inaugural dinner. The Foundation will build a stronger college community where there are many opportunities for Old Boys, staff, parents and friends to become involved in college life.

Demographics

At the October 2011 Education Review Office review, St Patrick's Silverstream had 712 students enrolled. Sixty-six percent of students identified as New Zealand European, 14 percent identified as Māori, ten percent as Pacific Islanders, five percent as Asian, and five percent as another ethnicity.
St Patrick's Silverstream has a socio-economic decile of 8, meaning it draws its school community from areas of moderately-high socioeconomic status when compared to other New Zealand schools. The school was recategorised from decile 9 in January 2015, as part of the nationwide review of deciles following the 2013 census.

Sexual abuse of children

At least four former priests who taught at St Pats have been identified as paedophiles:
For related information see, Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in New Zealand.

Notable alumni (old Patricians or Silverstreamers)

The college encourages former students to join the St. Patrick's College Old Boys Association. The Association is based in Wellington and caters for Old Boys of both the Silverstream and Town colleges. Notable Old Silverstreamers include :

Academia

The school Principal of the college is called the Rector.