Christ's College, Canterbury is an independent, Anglican, secondary, day and boarding school for boys, located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Founded in 1850 at Lyttelton as a school for early settlers, College is the oldest independent school in the country. The college currently caters for approximately 647 students from Year 9 to Year 13. Christ's is an International Member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) represents the Heads of the leading independent schools in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and International schools mainly from the Commonwealth. Christ's College is one of only three member schools in New Zealand. Christ's College was established in 1850 and directly modelled on the pedagogic vernacular of English public schools, such as Westminster School and Eton College. The school was (probably) named Christ's College by James FitzGerald, Canterbury's first Superintendent, after his old College at Cambridge (Christ's College, Cambridge).