We are a family school with a maximum roll of 430 as set by our Integration Agreement. At Year 9 level, we take a maximum of 90 students each year, split into three mixed ability classes of 30 students each. Our school has a friendly atmosphere with teachers and students knowing each other well.

Marian College is a Catholic special character school under the State Integration Act.

The preference is for students to be Catholic, which is why the term ‘preference enrolment’ or ‘preference student’ is used.

Your daughter may be eligible for enrolment as a preference student if she:

• Is baptised or is being prepared to become Catholic
• Has a sibling who is baptised Catholic
• Has a parent baptised Catholic
• Has a significant familial adult such as a grandparent, aunt or uncle who is actively involved in her upbringing and can support her formation in the faith and practices of the Catholic Church
• Has one or both parents preparing to become a Catholic.

To confirm your daughter’s status as a preference student, a preference certificate for Marian College is required from a parish priest. We don't have preference certificate forms here at school - please see your local parish office, or the Catholic Education Office website.

Under the State Integration Act, up to five percent of our total student roll may be ‘non-preference’ or ‘non-Catholic’ students, provided there are less than 430 students after all Catholic preference applicants have been enrolled. Any successful applicants must accept that they will be attending a Catholic Special Character school and that their place is conditional on the participation in the Catholic Special Character of the College.​​​​​​​

For students entering Year 9, you can apply to enrol at any time until the deadline date listed on our Enrolment Information page (this date is usually the third week in July the year prior to Year 9 starting).

For Year 10-13 students, you can apply at any time. We operate waiting lists for these year levels.

Our enrolment application system will allow you to apply many years in advance. Whilst it is certainly helpful for us to have an idea of numbers looking to apply for each year, the date of your application (provided it is received before the deadline date for the relevant year) does not factor into any decision making around offering a place. In addition, for a Preference application, the Preference Certificate we require you to supply must be less than two years old at the time your daughter would be due to start Year 9.

Our enrolment application process is all online, and will require you to upload documents electronically. We suggest that you complete the application on a computer rather than a phone. We do not have any paper-based application forms. 

Our online application process is split into two stages:

• Stage One - collecting enrolment information. At this initial stage, we only collect the information we need to make decisions about who will be offered places at Marian College, eg. eligibility criteria, zoning information and any preference details. 

• Stage Two - collecting personal information. This second stage only involves the caregivers of students that have been offered a place at Marian College. We'll send a second form that you will need to complete to provide the rest of the student's personal information, including medical details, residence and caregiver details, emergency contacts and a provide us with copy of your daughter's latest school report.

• We don't ask for, nor require any certificates, references, letters of recommendation, etc.

We are continuing to accept enrolment applications for Year 9, 2026 through to our deadline date of 1pm, Friday 25th July 2025. We cannot accept any late applications, nor include any applications that remain incomplete as at the deadline date.

We will be holding a ballot, if necessary, on Wednesday 30th July, 2025.

All applicants will be emailed to advise the outcome of their application by the end of the day on Thursday 31st July, 2025. 

If there are more applicants within any of the Priority Categories 1-9 (inclusive) than there are places available at the College, they shall be allocated by result of an independently supervised ballot. 

A ballot will be held separately for each Priority Category as necessary.

Successful applicants will have until 11th August 2025 to accept the place offered.

Unsuccessful applicants will have their names recorded on a waiting list within their relevant priority category which shall include the order in which they were drawn in the ballot.

Students on the waiting list may be offered places at a later date of they become available.

The cost of attending Marian College is comparable to other Catholic secondary schools in Christchurch.

In some instances Marian College is more affordable – for example some team sport uniforms are provided and fundraising, subsidising and grants help reduce the costs of school activities.

You can see a break-down of costs on the Fees Page.

Also, some financial contributions to the school are classed as a donation and are tax deductible.

This means you can claim back 33.33% of your contributions using the IR526 tax credit claim form.

Our Finance Administrator can help with working out payments to suit your family - for example, payments can be made weekly, fortnightly or monthly by automatic payment.