|
The history of the Thames School goes back a long way to before 1912 when the Sisters of St Joseph's took over from the Sisters of Mercy. |
|
|
There were originally two schools established by Father Nivard Jourdan OFM who had been sent by Bishop Pompallier to found the Parish on 18th October 1867. Both schools were run by lay teachers and catered for the children of the goldminers, many of whom were Irish, and for the children of the trades people who flocked after the diggers in the wake of the goldrush. |
|
|
|
ERO Quote: The special Catholic Character of the school is well embedded and permeates all aspects of the school. |
|
The history of the Thames Parish undoubtedly shows the firm commitment and zeal which the early settlers had for Catholic Education. The Sisters of Mercy took over these schools in 1874 and in time, the St Thomas Aquinas Boys school became known as the Beach School. The girls school, St Brigid's was in Grahamstown. |
|
|
St Francis of Assisi Church was built in the 1950's |
|
|
This was the situation when the Sisters of St Joseph arrived in Thames in 1912. In 1913 the Beach School was closed and the Sisters of St Joseph staffed the new co-educational school of St Francis which was built on the present day site in 1923. This served the Thames Catholic Community until 1986. |
|
| In 1986 the present school was built and since 1989 has been staffed by lay Principals and teachers. This school has had many internal alterations over the years but the biggest change was the addition of the fourth classroom in 1993, which meant that along with 4 classrooms, the school had a classroom sized library. Then the addition of the playground at the end of Room 5 in 2007 created a wonderful structure which was built with the upper body strength of the senior students in mind. The next major change has undoubtedly been the addition of the new administration block which was opened in 2008 and has added a new staffroom, office areas, sick bay, photocopier and server room, - not to mention a public foyer! St Francis School is now onto its next development, the area between the junior classroom and Parish is being developed and will hopefully include a reflective garden, junior playground, new deck off the library, shade and fruit trees! The children are really excited with this and have an active part to play in the development. The future looks good!!! | |
|
|
|
|
The new addition in 2008 |
The new administration block was officially opened in 2008 by Bishop Patrick Dunn |
|
For more information on St Francis Parish please go to their website at http://www.coromandelcatholic.org.nz
|
|
