St. Joseph's Convent, St. Joseph
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St Joseph's Convent, St Joseph, Trinidad and Tobago, founded in 1870 was for many years a privately run school, providing religious education for children of both primary and secondary ages. Few records of the early years of the boarders (mainly Venezuelans) lived in the garret of the three-storey wooden building.
The school was founded and is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny who are inspired by the example of their foundress, Anne Marie Javouhey. The sisters' consecration is expressed in public profession of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and lived in community.
The earliest recorded Principals of the school were Sr. Anthony Eagney who retired in 1943 and Sr. Magdalen Mathieu from 1944 to 1946.
When Sr Mel Kenny took up the post of Principal in 1947, there were 75 children on roll, mainly from the St Joseph area. This enrolment increased annually, but especially in 1953 when the private Secondary School in Curepe was closed and the Convent began to admit students from that area as well. There were 223 children on roll. As the school was not yet registered, in December 1953, when two students were presented for the Cambridge School Certificate, they were entered at St Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain. In April 1954, the school was registered as a Private School with a student-body of 385.
In December 1955, the Boarders' section of the school was closed for lack of personnel and in 1957 a new school was built to accommodate the increased numbers seeking admission. The school was formally blessed on 5 March by His Grace, Archbishop Finbar Ryan and accorded the status of a Government-assisted Secondary School with Sr Mel Kenny as the first Principal.
Sr Theresa Corbie succeeded Sr Mel in 1963 and was followed by Sr Anne Marie Rodriguez in 1973, ably assisted by her Vice-Principal Mrs Thomasine Elie who had replaced Sr Anne Marie during her periods of absence form the school. In 1961 the first students were presented for A level GCE Examinations, offering a wide range of subjects. The school is now dedicated to educating young women from first form to sixth form. Both the Lower and Upper 6th forms contain a select few young men, from Holy Cross College, its brother school, who are unable to complete their Advanced level education at Holy Cross College.
Previous principals of the scchool include Sr Philip Geofroy who replaced Mrs. Hazel B Reis in late 2002.
The Current principal is Mrs. Claire Norville who took over in late 2006.
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[edit] Motto
The motto of Saint Joseph's Convent saint Joseph is virtute et labore which translates to By valour and exertion. The motto is meant to recognize that all things can be achieved when one uses these two principles as guiding lights.
[edit] Houses
The school population is divided into 4 houses. Young women entering in Form 1 are placed randomly into a house, which becomes their home for the duration of their schooling. Their successes are the success of their house and their failures generally let their housemates down. Often, young women request the house in which a relative was a member while they attended SJCSJ.
Each house is led by a Captain and assisted by a Vice-Captain.
There are also two young women who serve as Head Girl and Assistant Head Girl.
The four Houses are as follows:
[edit] Mary Immaculate Queen
Mary Immaculate Queen house is represented by the color blue. It is often called MIQ.
Founded to honor Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth, who is also commonly referred to as Our Lady of Fatima. Many Catholics and others believe that she appeared monthly, for several months, to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal, in 1917.
[edit] Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph house is represented by the color yellow.
Saint Joseph house was founded to recognize the saint of the same name who was the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus of Nazareth.
[edit] Saint Maria Goretti
Saint Maria Goretti house is represented by the color red. It is often called SMG or Maria Goretti.
The house was founded to honor Maria Goretti. At age 11, her neighbor became sexually obsessed with her, and approached her several times with lewd suggestions. She was attacked in 1902 and threatened with a knife; when she would not yield to him, protesting that "it is a sin" and that "God does not want this", he stabbed her fourteen times. The following day, after expressing forgiveness for her murderer, stating that she wanted to have him in heaven with her, Maria Goretti died of her injuries. The murderer jailed and remained unrepentant for several years. One night, he had a dream of Maria offering him fourteen lilies for the fourteen times she was stabbed. Maria was canonized in 1950.
[edit] Blessed Anne-Marie
Blessed Anne Marie is represented by the color green. It is often called BAM.
It was founded to recognize Anne-Marie Javouhey, a young girl who in the 18th century heard the call to teach the faith, to defend the defenceless and to bring the Word to peoples outside of Europe. She was one of the first women to establish missions in Africa. In the New World, she is known as the Liberator of the Slaves, the Mother of the colony in Mana, French Guiana. She is the founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny.
[edit] School song
The school song is:
Chorus:
virtute et labore,
Our motto we sing with pride,
We’re loyal to Saint Joseph,
With the Lord God as our Guide
Verse 1:
Saint Joseph’s Convent, Saint Joseph,
Upon a Hill we stay,
In Safe and Green surroundings,
Looking forward to Each Day,
Saint Joseph is our Patron,
Obedient, Kind and True,
And we too, want to live like him,
Let’s strive and start anew
Verse 2:
We’re all here for a purpose,
To prepare for life,
To learn to live, to learn to love,
To deal with pain and strife
United all in friendship,
That’s how we’ll always be,
To show our true devotion,
For God and all to see
