St. Joseph High School (Guyana)
| St. Joseph High School | |
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Georgetown Georgetown Guyana |
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| District information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | To Know, To Love, To Serve |
| Grades | 7-12 |
| Established | 1897 |
| Accreditation(s) |
Guyana Education System Department of Education - Guyana |
| Schools | 7-12 |
| Other information | |
| Schedule |
M-F except state holidays houses : holitipu _(red) |
M-F except state holidays
St. Joseph High School is a government school on Woolford Avenue in Georgetown, Guyana, serving students in grades 7-12 in Georgetown, Guyana. To be accepted into the school, a student must receive a certain grade in their Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (SSEE). St. Joseph High School is the fifth highest ranking Secondary School in Guyana.
“The Sisters shall feel convinced that no work of charity can be more productive of good to society or more conducive to the happiness of the poor than the careful instruction of women.”
This was the conviction that led the Sisters of Mercy, a community of Roman Catholic nuns, to establish St. Joseph’s Mercy High School in 1897, three years after they launched their mission in Guyana.
The School began with secondary education classes given to a few girls in the Sisters’ Community Room at Dettering Hall, a former Dutch residence, located in the Charlestown ward of Georgetown. In 1899, it became a Boarding School, with Mother Columbia, a trained dramatist, as its first principal. She served for twenty-three years (1897–1920), and, during her tenure, the School produced some of the best dramatic performances in the country.
She was succeeded by Guyanese-born Sister Gabriel Fernandes, who engineered the expansion of the School with the construction of a new two-storied building at the corner of Charles and Holmes Streets in 1925. The new building brought space for more classrooms and a separate Drama hall, where many excellent performances were staged.
To cope with the rapid growth of the School, the Sisters appealed to the Mercy Center in the United States for help, and, in 1935, Sisters Mary Consolata Muldowney, Austin and Clarita were the first American Sisters to join the staff at St. Joseph’s. At the same time, the Boarding facility was closed to make room for the increased number of day students.
In 1938, under the direction of Sister Mary Elizabeth Robinson, a commercial (business) department was added. This demand for this specialty grew so rapidly that an annexe was built in 1939 to accommodate these students. The new three-storeyed structure also accommodated an Infant School department, which admitted both girls and boys. By 1939, St. Joseph High School was recognized by the University of London as a secondary school.
In 1944, the celebration the Sisters celebrated their fiftieth anniversary since their arrival in Guyana, and this event was made more memorable with the award of the coveted British Guiana Scholarship to a St. Joseph High School student, Elsa Gouveia.
As the demand for more classes grew, more expansion took place at the School. In 1950, an Art department was introduced. With all these developments, the School did not receive any financial aid from the government. One of its main sources of fund was the income generated from its annual “Tour Around the World” fair held around mid-year.
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Wikipedia