| Sacred Heart Cathedral School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Guildford Terrace, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand | |
| Coordinates | 41°16′27″S 174°46′47″E / 41.2742°S 174.7797°E |
| Information | |
| Type | State Integrated; Full Primary (Year 0-8) |
| Established | 1850 |
| Ministry of Education Institution no. | 2985 |
| School roll | 228 |
| Socio-economic decile | 9 |
Sacred Heart Cathedral School is a New Zealand primary school located in the suburb of Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand.
was first established in 1850, under the name St Mary's School, by Philippe Viard, first Catholic Bishop of Wellington.[1] From 1850 until 1861 it was staffed by the Sisters of Mary, a group of religious sisters under the direction of Bishop Viard. These four sisters had arrived with the bishop from Auckland and were: Catherin McCann (Sister M Cecelia); Mary Anne McGarvey (Sister M Joseph); Elizabeth Walsh (Sister M Teresa); and 14 year old Sarah McGarvey (Mary Anne's sister).[2] From 1861, when they first arrived in Wellington, the Sisters of Mercy took over the school and were on its staff until the end of the Twentieth Century when the staff became entirely lay.[3]
The existing main building of the school was completed in 1892 and was designed to accommodate 300 children.[4] When St Mary's Cathedral was burnt down in 1898, that school building (St Mary's Chapel) served as the Thorndon parish church until the new Sacred Heart Basilica was completed in 1901. Later the playing area of the school expanded into the former site of Bishop Viard's residence ("Viard House") towards the Basilica,[5] which was officially made the Wellington Cathedral in 1984. The ample size of the wooden school building enabled its later redevelopment in 1975 by building new classrooms inside the existing roof.[6] Other substantial buildings were added in the first decade of the Twenty-First century.
The school became an integrated school in 1983. Its character has also changed from being a purely local school with the pupils coming from the local parish to a central-city school with the vast majority of its pupils come from parishes other than Sacred Heart parish, Thorndon.[7]