St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College

St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College is a Catholic co-educational secondary school in the Jesuit tradition, located in Burtt Rd, Drury, Auckland, New Zealand.

College
The college is a year 7 to 13 co-educational school. The school's proprietor is the Catholic Bishop of Auckland and it is a State-integrated school. The college commenced operations on 7 February 2024 with 340 students, and intended to grow progressively to 900 by 2028. The establishment of the school was the fruition of the long held dreams of building a school in the Jesuit tradition in service of the South Auckland community. The college was the second Catholic school with an "Ignatian charism" founded in New Zealand. The first was St Aloysius College in Dunedin which opened in 1878 and closed in 1883. St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College primarily aimed to provide Catholic secondary education for students who attended Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School, Takanini, St Mary’s Catholic School, Papakura or St Joseph’s School, Pukekohe.

Funding
Part of the funding for the establishment of the school came from the Harold Plumley Endowment. Other sources of funding were a mixture of debt, land sales, and donations with final establishment cost being between $70m to $80m.

Appointments and development
The first principal of the college, Dean Wearmouth, was appointed in 2022 and the deputy principals, Kane Raukura and Catherine Bamber-O’Malley were appointed later in that year. The planting of the campus commenced in 2022. Enrolments were called for the college's first year (2024) in early 2023 and closed at the end of March 2023 following a high demand for entrance into the school. Expressions of interest for enrolment in school year 2025 could be made to the school. It was confirmed that there would be a Jesuit presence on the campus from the opening of the college. Fr Michael Smith SJ and Fr Eka Tanaya SJ were appointed and commenced their preparations in 2023. Father Tanaya was also appointed as a third deputy principal of the college. Father Smith would work part time at St Ignatius of Loyola College and part time at Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland. The school was designated as a Mass centre for its area.