Our History
More than 140 years of faith, learning and community in the Wairarapa, from the first parish school in 1883 to today.
A Story Rooted in Faith and Community
The story of St Patrick’s begins in 1883, when the parish of St Patrick started the first school for the children of the Wairarapa. In 1898, the Brigidine Sisters arrived from Ireland to lead the school, settling at a site opposite the parish church and laying the foundation for the education St Patrick’s still offers today.
Lay teachers worked alongside the Sisters as the years went on, and in 1986 the last religious Sister retired from her position as Principal, passing that role into lay hands for the first time. The Brigidine Sisters continued teaching at the school for almost another decade after that, staying connected to the classroom until 1995.
In 1978, St Patrick’s moved to the site the school calls home today, a building that had previously housed St Bride’s Girls’ College. That same ground now carries forward the story the Sisters began more than a century ago.
Carrying the Brigidine Legacy Forward
The Brigidine Sisters left more than a building behind. The school’s shield, marked with a cross of diamonds, comes from Bishop Delany’s own coat of arms. He helped found the Brigidine order in Ireland in 1807 and chose St Brigid as its patroness, a connection St Patrick’s still carries in its own identity today.
The school motto, Strength & Kindness, has its foundation in the Brigidine Sisters and continues to live on in the words and actions of tamariki, expressed through virtues drawn from the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The Historic Wall
In 2013, Lands Trust Masterton relocated a piece of the original school building as part of an effort to preserve the school’s history. It now stands pride of place at the entrance to the school grounds, a physical reminder of where St Patrick’s began for every family who walks through the gate today.
