Verdon College

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title: "Verdon College" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["educational-institutions-established-in-1982", "schools-in-invercargill", "catholic-secondary-schools-in-new-zealand", "secondary-schools-in-the-southland-region", "1982-establishments-in-new-zealand"] topic_path: "society/education" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdon_College" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox school"]

Field	Value
name	Verdon College
logo	Verdon College Crest.png
motto	Rely on God
established	1981; years ago
type	State-Integrated co-educational secondary
affiliations	Roman Catholic, Marist Brothers, Dominican Sisters
chairman	Ian Sutherland
principal	Jarlath Kelly
district	Newfield
chaplain	Fr Jaewoo Lee
roll
decile	6N
grades	Years 7–13
hours_in_day	6
houses
song	The Verdon Anthem
address	210 Rockdale Road
city	Invercargill
state	Southland
country	New Zealand
coordinates
MOE	408
website
::

Verdon College is a co-educational Roman Catholic high school in Invercargill, New Zealand, teaching students from year 7 to 13 (ages 11–18). The College is named after Bishop Michael Verdon (1838–1918) who was the second Catholic Bishop of Dunedin (1896–1918).

In 2024, 86.4% of Year 11 students achieved NCEA Level 1,88.6% of Year 12 students achieved NCEA Level 2, and 78.8% of Year 13 students achieved NCEA Level 3. In 2023, 11 students were given at least one Vocational Pathway Award.

History

Verdon College is a co-educational Catholic secondary school, established in 1982 through the 1981 amalgamation of St Catherine's College (a single-sex high school for girls operated by the Dominican Sisters) and Marist College (single-sex high school for boys operated by the Marist Brothers).

The Marist College site (which became Verdon College) was built on former farmland at the eastern boundary of Invercargill and opened in 1969. The new combined Catholic high school was named after Bishop Verdon. Due to the school's growth parts of the school are located on what used to be Cargill High and Te Wharekura o Arowhenua.

St Catherine's College dates back to 1882.

Bishop Verdon Block

In the mid-2000s, Verdon college acquired a gymnasium and a full-sized S68 design classroom block on the site of the former Cargill High School. A multimillion-dollar refurbishment of the acquired classroom block was completed in 2008 and named the Bishop Verdon Block, mainly for the year seven and eight students. It also contains two computer suites, a library, a science laboratory, and a study atrium.

Enrolment

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The college offers a broad range of educational opportunities for student achievement in the areas of sport and culture as well as a diverse academic curriculum.

As of , the school has an Equity Index of , placing it amongst schools whose students have socioeconomic barriers to achievement (roughly equivalent to deciles 5 and 6 under the former socio-economic decile system).[[File:Verdonproduction2023 castonstage.jpg|thumb|326x326px|Cast members for Annie Jr performing bows]]

Cultural Activities

Bishop's Shield – Inter-school debating, scripture reading, public speaking and drama. They compete against the other Catholic schools in the Dunedin Diocese: St. Kevin's, Oamaru, Kavanagh College, Dunedin, and St Peter's College, Gore.
Inter-house Choir – Houses compete to win house points by performing a set song, as well as a song of their choice.
Inter-house Drama – Competitions are held each year for the best drama performance from each house, with house points going to the winning house.
Inter-house Haka – Each house performs the school haka, as well as a set song and a chosen waiata for house points. The 2022 competition is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFQPZ3ybdnI
Inter-house Lip Sync – Junior (year 7–10) students from each house choreograph and perform a dance routine to a song of their choice. As the competition is held in the second last week of the Junior school year, the winning performers house receives house points that are carried onto the next year.
Music Festival – Students compete in various junior/senior categories including: vocals, instrumental and group.
Production –
- Back to the 80s (musical) was performed in 2017.
- Saturday Night Fever (musical) was performed in 2018.
- All Shook Up (musical) was performed in 2019.
- School of Rock (musical) was to be performed in 2020, however due to the impact of COVID-19 the production was performed in 2021.
- In 2022, a mash-up of previous productions and other famous Broadway musicals such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat were performed.
- Annie Jr was performed in 2023.
- The Wizard of Oz was performed in 2024.
- Newsies (musical) will be performed in 2025
Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival – Each year, a number of students are selected to perform in the regional competition (Southland) against other schools in the area.

Other regional and national cultural competitions that students compete in are:

Chamber Music Festival
ILT Southland Secondary Schools' Jazz Fest
Rock Quest
Sound Quest
Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival

Sport

Sporting Activities

House Athletics Day – Interhouse athletics competition where houses compete for house points.
Southland-Wide Under 18 Competition – Verdon competes with other Southland secondary school First XV rugby teams in a competition spanning from April until August. Notable competition wins include the 2012 in which Verdon beat St Peter's College 15–12 in the final.
New Zealand Secondary Schools Netball – The Verdon Senior A Netball team are regular participants at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Netball competition and have won the nationwide tournament twice.
Quad Tournament – Verdon competes in an annual tournament weekend with St Peter's College, Kavanagh College, St Kevin's College and Roncalli College. Verdon has yet to have won a tournament weekend so far. There are both senior and junior tournaments, both at opposite ends of the winter season.
Swimming sports – Every year, students compete in various water sports for house points.
Year 12 vs Year 13 Rugby League – Each year, the two year groups battle for the unofficial title of the winners of the League Cup. This event is organised by the students.

Sports offered at the College

Verdon offers many sporting opportunities for the students, such as:

Badminton
Basketball
Cricket
Cycling
Dance
Football
Futsal
Hockey
Indoor
Bowls
Netball
Rugby
Softball
Squash
Volleyball
Waterpolo

Aerial Imagery

These images are of the Marist College now Verdon College site. File:1946 aerial image of Verdon College site.jpg|1946 File:1956 aerial image of Verdon College site.jpg|1956 File:1962 aerial image of Verdon College site.jpg|1962 File:1974 aerial image of Verdon College site.jpg|1974 File:1981 aerial image of Verdon College site.jpg|1981 File:1988 aerial image of Verdon College site.jpg|1988 File:2005-2011 satellite image of Verdon College site.jpg|2005-2011 File:2013-2014 satellite image of Verdon College.jpg|2013-2014 File:2017 satellite image of Verdon College.jpg|2017 File:Verdon College 2022.png|2022 [[File:20180521 082256 Richtone(HDR).jpg|thumb|The "Quad" and Dominic Block|326x326px]]

Notable students

Main article: People educated at Verdon College

Ex-pupils of Verdon College or its predecessor schools, St Catherine's College and Marist College.

Dion Bates – Current Southland Stags rugby union player
Dan Buckingham – Olympic Paralympian athlete
John Burke (born 1946) – former mayor of Porirua City (Marist)
Colin Campbell (born 1941) - Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin (2004–2018) (Marist)
Dan Davin (1913-1990) – soldier, writer, publisher (Marist)
Aliyah Dunn – New Zealand netball international
Wendy Frew – New Zealand netball international
Jess Hamill – New Zealand Paralympics competitor and Commonwealth Games shot put silver medalist
Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit – New Zealand netball international
Tom Scully – Professional cyclist
Douglas Sekone-Fraser – 2009 New Zealand Weightlifting Champion, Silver and Bronze in 2011 for the New Zealand Weightlifting Championships and 16th in the Junior World Championships
Hua Tamariki – rugby union player

References

Sources

Pat Gallager, The Marist Brothers in New Zealand Fiji & Samoa 1876–1976, New Zealand Marist Brothers' Trust Board, Tuakau, 1976.
Sister Mary Augustine McCarthy O.P., Star In The South: The Centennial History of the New Zealand Dominican Sisters, St Dominic's Priory Dunedin, 1970.
K P Wanden & G R Latta The Marist Brothers in Invercargill, 1897-1997, Marist Jubilee Committee, Invercargill, 1997.

References

"Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education.
Counts, Education. "Ministry of Education - Education Counts".
Searle, Jamie. (2017-03-24). "Marist Brothers' work celebrated in south".
Paul. "Dedication of the Bishop Verdon Block".
"School Equity Index Bands and Groups".
(25 May 2017). "More national honours for Verdon College pupil Aliyah Dunn". [[Stuff (website).
(19 April 2022). "Aliyah's far from Dunn with Silver Ferns". www.newsroom.co.nz.
Egan, Brendon. (28 June 2011). "Sekone-Fraser realises dream". [[The Southland Times]].

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