Last updated October 2026
St Mary’s Catholic School is a state-integrated, co-educational full primary school for Years 1 to 8 at 901 Frederick Street, Mahora, Hastings. It opened in 1957 and had 289 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
It has no home zone, so any student can apply. The school’s site describes a Catholic special character within the Hastings parish, with daily prayer, regular Mass in the school chapel and preparation for First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion alongside the parish. It also lists kapa haka, a Bikes in Schools programme with a limestone bike track and pump tracks used as part of physical education, teams in sports from netball, hockey and cricket to flippa ball, volleyball and tennis, a short Little Learners programme for enrolled pre-schoolers, and before school, after school and holiday care through K.A.S Care.
At a glance
- Principal
- Paul Wallace
- Address
- 901 Frederick Street, Mahora, Hastings
- Phone
- 06 876 6421
Home zone
No home zone: any student can apply to enrol. If more students apply than there are places, the school decides how places are offered.
Who goes here
Share of the 289 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a School Report from May 2025. ERO found the school is still working to bring every learner to a high level of success and is improving its teaching, with a large majority of students at or above the expected level in reading, writing and maths, although results are not yet equitable across all groups.
Attendance is approaching the government’s 80% regular attendance target. Structured literacy and maths programmes are well embedded across all classes, staff and students model a culture of inclusion, newcomers including a growing number of English language learners are welcomed well, and students who need extra learning support are looked after well.
ERO had concerns about the quality of the school’s planning for improvement and said it would talk with the Ministry of Education about support.
The agreed next steps are a strategic and annual plan with a few measurable targets for lifting achievement, stronger leadership in using assessment information, schoolwide systems to track and report every student’s progress, and an attendance plan.
ERO also found two compliance gaps, in risk assessment for education outside the classroom and in records of identity checks when staff are appointed, which the board was taking steps to fix.
Read the ERO reports for St Mary’s Catholic School (Hastings)
Enrolling
There is no home zone. Most places are preference enrolments, which need a preference certificate signed by a parish priest or another authorised agent of the Bishop. The school’s enrolment page sets out the faith-based criteria for preference and asks families to commit to supporting their child’s faith formation and the practices of the Catholic Church.
A small number of non-preference places are held on a waiting list that families reapply to each year. The school says attendance dues set by the proprietor apply and are not voluntary. Enrolment packs are available from the school office.
Schools nearby
Where students go next
Based on home zones around the school’s own address. Families can apply to any school, and your own address decides which zones you are in.
In Mahora
St Mary's Catholic School (Hastings) is in Mahora. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Mahora guide →Questions parents ask
Is St Mary's Catholic School (Hastings) zoned?
No. It has no home zone, so any student can apply to enrol.
What years does it teach?
Years 1 to 8.
How many students go there?
289 at 1 Sep 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
No. It is in the donation scheme, so it only asks for donations for school camps.
What is its Equity Index?
421. The Ministry of Education’s Equity Index estimates the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, from 344 (fewest) to 569 (most). It is used to share out funding, not as a measure of quality.
Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
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Sources and data notes 1
- School facts: School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 23 Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0). NCEA results, roll history and stand-downs: Education Counts, school leavers 2023 to 2025, stand-downs 2025, rolls 2021 to 2025 (CC BY 4.0).