Hato Hohepa 3.24

St Joseph's Māori Girls' College was founded in 1867 by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. The college commenced on the property which is now Sacred Heart College, Napier when the Sisters and the Māori Missioner, Fr Reigner SM started a little boarding school for Māori girls at first called St Joseph's Providence, which was opened on 10 October with twenty pupils, The first principal was Sister Mary St John. The college usually had an enrollment of up to 60 pupils each year into the twentieth century. After the Napier earthquake of 1931 St Joseph's was rebuilt on its present site at Greenmeadows and reopened in 1935. The Sisters remained the school's proprietors. In 1982 the proprietors signed an integration Agreement with the Minister of Education and the college entered the State education system. Is the largest Girls' Maori Boarding Secondary School in New Zealand.