Founded by Archbishop Francis Redwood SM, St Patrick's opened on 1 June 1885[3] with nine day-boys and twelve boarders.

Plans in 1929 envisaged the college moving to a more suitable site at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley,[5] but a high demand for education eventually led to a split in 1931: the original establishment continued and the boarding section moved to become St Patrick's College, Silverstream,[6] thus allowing room for the expansion of day-student numbers on the Cambridge Terrace site in central Wellington city.

In 1979, St Patrick's College shifted from its Cambridge Terrace site to a new facility near Kilbirnie Park in Evans Bay.

"[8] The same article mentions that "some old boys of St Patrick's College Wellington have spoken of being molested by Father Fred (ed: Francis) Durning, who had top positions at the school in the 1940s, 1950s" and in the early 1980s.

[9] In 2016, St Pats alumni Father Peter Hercock was sentenced to 6 years and 7 months jail for rape and sexual abuse of four Wellington girls during the 1970s and 1980s.

[10] In a 2002 article in the New Zealand Herald, a former Marist priest and St Pats staff member Chanel Houlahan, spoke out critically about the Church's approach to dealing with cases of sexual abuse, stating that he was "encouraged by the church's change of heart in confronting sexual abuse, but it now needs to be made safe for the people.

[12] St Patrick's College bases its education on Catholic and gospel values embodied in the Marist tradition and philosophy, which regards each student as a unique individual.

The school fosters growth within a nurturing and sustaining environment in six facets: spiritual, academic, cultural, emotional, physical and social.