Francis Douglas Memorial College

Francis Douglas
Memorial College
Address
201 Tukapa Street,
Westown
New Plymouth
New Zealand
Coordinates 39°04′56″S 174°03′12″E / 39.0821°S 174.0533°E / -39.0821; 174.0533Coordinates: 39°04′56″S 174°03′12″E / 39.0821°S 174.0533°E / -39.0821; 174.0533
Information
Type State integrated secondary, day and boarding
Motto Christo Duce
(With Christ as our leader)
Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic
Established 1959; 59 years ago
Ministry of Education Institution no. 175
Principal Mr. Martin Chamberlain
Years offered 7–13
Gender Boys
School roll 794[1] (August 2018)
Socio-economic decile 8
Website fdmc.school.nz

Francis Douglas Memorial College (or FDMC) is an all-boys state integrated Catholic school with boarding facilities located in Westown, New Plymouth, New Zealand. The college was founded in 1959 under the leadership of the De La Salle Brothers, a religious order of brothers based on the teachings of St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle. It is one of two secondary schools established by the Brothers in New Zealand, the other being De La Salle College, Mangere East, Auckland. The name of the school is dedicated to the memory of Father Francis Vernon Douglas, a missionary priest who was killed while doing missionary work in the Philippines during the Second World War. The school educates approximately 760 boys, 130 of whom are boarders. The 50th Jubilee of Francis Douglas Memorial College was held on Queen's Birthday Weekend, 2009.

Sporting

74% of students participate in at least one sport. The most popular sport at the school is rugby union, other sports include cricket, basketball, soccer, rowing, and athletic events. Annually, the school plays a rugby union match against major cross-town rivals New Plymouth Boys' High School, this being one of the major events on the school calendar.

Music

Francis Douglas Memorial College has a music department where bands develop their talents. Many students have performed and done well in the annual Smokefree Rockquest competition, with bands from the College winning the last two Regional Finals. Students have performed at the G-TARanaki Guitar Festival[2] and were shown guitar skills by Uli Jon Roth.[3]

Teacher(s) in charge of Music:

  • Mr. Tobias Wright

Māori culture

The school runs cultural activities, such as the Annual Inter-house Haka Competition, and school camping trips to a marae.

The first inter-house Haka Competition was in 2010. Students register their names for the activity and each House performs their Haka with the school as an audience. The winning house is chosen by a judge who is a popular figure from New Plymouth.[4]

The school has a school Haka written by an ex-student Hemi Sundgrem which is about the founders of the school, Francis Douglas and the De La Salle Brothers.[4]

Teacher(s) in charge of Māori:

  • Mr. Taare Ruakere

Colours

  • First XV rugby: red jerseys with gold trim.
  • First XI soccer: red shirt, white shorts and red socks.
  • U15 A rugby: gold shirt, blue,yellow,red socks.

The rugby jersey most identifiable as that of Francis Douglas Memorial College is royal blue with a thick red strip and thin gold trim strips across the chest. While this has been popularly adopted as the distinctive rugby strip of the school, it is only used in lower grades of competition.

Boarding

Lasalle House is the Boarding Hostel for Francis Douglas Memorial College. Run by School Principal Martin Chamberlain (CEO) and Managed day to day by awarding winning Dean of Boarding, Heta Smith. Heta won the NZBSA Outstanding Leadership in NZ Boarding award in 2017. The Hostel currently caters for Year 9 -13 students and has approximately 130 spaces available.

In 2017 it was announced in the School Newsletter that the Hostel will have spaces for current Year 7 Students to board in 2018 as Year 8 Students in the Year 9 Hostel supervised by Matt Cursons. Currently, the Year Nine Hostel has 33 beds.

The Year 10 and 11 Dorms are supervised by GAP tutors, Max Ellinghoven and Alex Ide and managed by supervisor Mark Walsh.

The Year 12 dorm is the newest dorm and is supervised by Andy Cowie.

The Year 13 dorm is supervised by Dean of Boarding, Heta Smith.

The Hostel employs its own cleaners, laundry workers, chefs and kitchen hands to manage the day to day operations of the Hostel.

Houses

  • Benildus (green)
  • La Salle (yellow)
  • Loreto (blue)
  • Solomon (red)

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ "Directory of Schools - as at 13 September 2018". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "G-TARanaki 2010 Presents: Youth Rock". 12 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 September 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "Gtaranaki 2010 - Sky Academy". gtaranaki.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Inter-house haka a success". Taranaki Daily News. Fairfax New Zealand. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
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