The number of Catholic school students in New Zealand continues to hold steady. There are about 160 additional students comparing 2017 to 2018.
This represents a less than 0.1% decline in the total share of students in New Zealand.
This is the first year that non-European/Pākeha students represent over half of students in Catholic schools.
The European/Pākeha student population in Catholic schools is 49.9%, with the next largest group being Pasifika students (15.7%) and Asian and Māori following closely (15.3% and 14.5% respectively).
There are 66,888 students in Catholic schools in New Zealand, which represents 8.3% of the New Zealand schooling network.
Of these, 44% are Y1-6 Primary students, 39% Y9-13 Secondary students and the remainder (17%) Y7-8 Intermediate level students, who may be in primary or secondary schools.
There are 237 Catholic schools in New Zealand, with an average school size of around 280 students.
Most Catholic schools are full primary schools (Y1-8) but they are the smallest schools with an average student roll of around 175.
Most secondary schools are open to Y7-15 and have an average student roll of about 750.
Most Catholic school students are based in the Auckland region. This tracks well with the proportion of the whole school population, Catholic and non-Catholic, in each region.
The Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, West Coast and Southland regions have more than 10% of all students attending a Catholic school (the average for New Zealand being 8.3%).
Diocesan summaries provide a breakdown by Primary and Secondary student population and also show the ethnic make-up for each diocese.
The Auckland and Wellington dioceses, with their more multi-cultural urban populations, have more ethnically diverse student populations, followed by Hamilton and Palmerston North.
An update of this report will be timed to follow the Ministry of Education release of the March roll returns. A downloadable PDF version is available here.
Source
- Supplied: Paul Ferris, Chief Executive Officer. New Zealand Catholic Education Office
- nzceo.org.nz
- Image: nzceo.org.nz