History
St John's College was established in 1941, on Frederick St, Hastings (the current site of St Mary's Primary School). It was founded by the Marist Fathers in response to the lack of Catholic education for young men in Hawkes Bay. It was also to be a brother school to the already established all girls Sacred Heart College, Napier, some 20 km north.
Enrollment proved so popular that the school needed to expand, so in 1946, with an allotment of donated land, St John's College moved to its present site on Jervios St, Mayfair. Old boys recall that on the day of the move, they carried the school furniture, back and forth to the new premises over 3 km away, and still had to attend afternoon class. The roll grew more slowly after that. Part of the problem was the transportation of students from around the Hawkes Bay region as many students from Napier found it difficult to reach school before school bus lines were established. There were even calls to make both Sacred Heart and St Johns co-ed, to prevent Napier boys travelling to Hastings and Hastings girls traveling to Napier. Today this issue is non existent, although around 40% of St John's College students come from the Napier area.
In 1975, St John's College was "integrated" into the state system under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975 "on a basis which will preserve and safeguard the special character of the education provided by them".
Over time St John's quietly expanded with the addition of new buildings and land. The 1990s saw drastic changes with the completion of 'The Centre' (the school gymnasium), the music suite and geography room, and the purchase of the old Firth industrial land to expand the playing fields. This gave St John's an additional rugby field, a new area for cricket nets, and another drive way towards Karamu road with additional car spaces. Since 2000 several remodels have been undertaken and includes the construction of the new technology wing.
St John's College celebrated its 50th Jubilee in 2001 which was easily the colleges biggest event ever. An abundance of old boys returned for the weekend and included several speakers and functions as well as a variety of activities and inter house competitions for the students.
Read more about this topic: St John's College, Hastings
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