St Peter's College, Auckland

St Peter's College is a Catholic secondary school for boys, located in Auckland, New Zealand, in the central city suburb of Grafton. With a roll of over 1300, the school is one of the largest Catholic schools in New Zealand. St Peter's College was established in 1939 as a successor of Auckland's earliest school and of St Peter's School, founded in 1857. The Outhwaite family, who acquired the land around 1841, donated the site of the college. The Christian Brothers provided staff for the college for 70 years.it is the oldest Catholic boys' school in Auckland still on its original site, and with its original name. For nearly 50 years, the school had direct access to an adjacent railway station, specifically created for the college and known initially as the "St Peter's College station".The school was integrated into the state system along with 240 other New Zealand Catholic schools in 1982. St Peter's has high academic pass rates and is very selective with, on average, three times as many applications as available placements.HistoryThe original schoolsMr Powell's School (1841)Auckland's first school of any sort was a Catholic school for boys. Its first classes were held on 27 September 1841. It was set up by Catholic laymen of Auckland following the first visit of Bishop Pompallier. The teacher was Edmund Powell (who was a leading layman also involved in building St Patrick's Church (soon to be Cathedral)), and classes were first held in his own residence in Shortland Crescent (later renamed Shortland Street) on 27 September 1841. This school appears to have existed only for a short time.