Queen Margaret College is an independent Presbyterian all-girls high school/college in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The school was started in 1919 at 53 Hobson Street, Thorndon

Thorndon

Thorndon is an inner suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It combines residential accommodation and the home of government, and is located at the northern end of the Central Business District...

, Wellington. It was previously the location of Scots College, Wellington

Scots College, Wellington

Scots College is a private boys' primary and secondary school located in the suburb of Strathmore Wellington, New Zealand. The College comprises both the primary and secondary institutions - the primary school section is typically referred to as the Preparatory School and has its own Head Teacher...

, now the school's brother school. The land currently occupied by the school was previously occupied by Māori from the Pipitea Marae. Over the last 85 years, QMC has grown to over 600 students from Preps to year 13 and employs around 90 staff.

The School's namesake is Queen Margaret

Saint Margaret of Scotland

Saint Margaret of Scotland , also known as Margaret of Wessex and Queen Margaret of Scotland, was an English princess of the House of Wessex. Born in exile in Hungary, she was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England...

, who was married to King Malcolm

Malcolm III of Scotland

Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...

. He features in Macbeth

Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

, being one of Duncan

Duncan I of Scotland

Donnchad mac Crínáin was king of Scotland from 1034 to 1040...

's sons, who flees after his father was murdered.

Students are organized into five houses - Berwick

Berwick Castle

Berwick Castle is a ruined castle in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England.The castle was founded in the 12th century by the Scottish King David I. In 1296-8, the English King Edward I had the castle rebuilt and the town fortified, before it was returned to Scotland...

 (blue & silver), Braemar

Braemar

Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an altitude of ....

 (blue & yellow), Glamis

Glamis Castle

Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public....

 (red & blue), Lochleven

Loch Leven Castle

Loch Leven Castle is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven, in the Perth and Kinross local authority area of Scotland. Possibly built around 1300, the castle was the location military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence...

 (red, green and black), and Stirling

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep...

 (black & yellow). They are named after castles in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, a nod towards the Scottish heritage upon which the school was built.

External links

• Official website
• ]http://www.livingheritage.org.nz/schools/intermediate/queen-margaret-college/history.htm]