Fatima College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fatima College is a government-assisted, selective Roman Catholic boys' secondary school in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It was established in 1945 and has an enrollment of some 895 as of 2006.
Prominent alumni include cricketer Brian Lara and Olympic athlete Ato Boldon.
The school was established and is run by the Holy Ghost Fathers, an international Roman Catholic sect. Past teachers include former archbishop of Trinidad, the late Most Rev. Anthony Pantin (1959 - 1964), Clive Pantin (principal to 1982), steelbandsman Ray Holman and television / radio personality Maurice Brash.
[edit] History
Fatima College’s motto is Nitendo Vinces – by striving you shall conquer.
The College of Our Lady of Fatima began on the compound of St Theresa’s Intermediate School, Petra St Woodbrook, on January 1st, 1945. The first members of staff were Fr. John E Byrne, the first principal of the college, Michael McCarthy (prefect) and Mr Andy Cockburn, layman now a priest. Fr Byrne, had supervised the building expansion at St Mary’s in his capacity as bursar.
Work on the present site at Mucurapo Road began in February. By September, classes shifted to the new site and on December 1st Archbishop Ryan formally blessed and opened the new college. By the time Fr Byrne retired in 1955, the Eastern and Western wings were completed, a chapel and three classes were constructed, and the Maraval River had been diverted to accommodate the Assembly Hall.
Father James Ryan was the next principal. He introduced West Indian History on the curriculum and oversaw the construction of the sports field, with tennis and basketball courts.
In the beginning Fatima’s existence was mainly in the shadow of its brother college St Mary’s. The curriculum, the sports meetings, the Old Boys Union and even the uniform was all the same. Change came as Fatima got its own uniform, sports meeting and Old Boys, as well as an Inter Col victory in 1965. In 1966, Fr Girod organized the first Mayfair, which continues to be a huge success to this day and is held on the first Sunday of May at the College grounds.
Clive Pantin, who had been teaching at the college since 1954, was the first layperson to be appointed Principal in 1972, he was assisted by vice Principal Fr Farfan, introducing novel changes that were required during this era. The curriculum was diversified to include Art, Physical Educational, Industrial Art, Technical Drawing, and Accounts. Additionally classrooms, a cafeteria, library and workshops were built to meet the physical demands of these changes. The first time female teachers joined in the early 1970s.
The school was the first in Trinidad to offer computer science with the establishment of a computer lab in 1983. This initial lab comprised of 26 Tandy Color Computer IIs, later replaced by PCs (8088) running DOS 3.3.
Clive Pantin retired from Fatima after 9 years as principal; he entered politics and later served as Minister of Education. Mervyn Moore became the fourth principal of Fatima College in 1981. In 1982 Fatima captured four open scholarships, three additional scholarships and the President’s Gold Medal. Two years later Kyle Rudden repeated this feat. In 1987 for the first time female students attended Fatima College, though these girls were taught only one subject and officially remained students of their respective schools. The school got a further boost with the building of a new science wing and extension of the library. Robert Amar funded the project which was dedicated to the memory of his father, Boland Amar, founder of the Amar Group of Companies. The facilities were furnished with some $70,000 dollars worth of funds collected by efforts of students staff and alumni. In 1992 Fr Gregory Augustine, an alumnus, was welcomed to the college as manager. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary the dress uniform grey pants, white long-sleeved shirts and a blue tie with the college crest, was reintroduced.
The current principal is Mr Anthony Garcia. Vice-Principal- Mrs Anne Gomes-Phillips.
In 2005 Fatima College won their 3rd Intercol victory.
