Bishops College (Newfoundland)

Bishops College is a high school located in central St. John's, Newfoundland. It is next to another high school called Booth Memorial High.

Bishops College has French Immersion and English stream programs and is well into its fifth decade as an educational institution, is located in St. John's, NF, Canada. It offers grades 10 to 12 to a total student population of about 600 and operates under the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Education curriculum. Bishops College is under the trusteeship of the Eastern School District

Over the past two decades Bishops College has been proud to nominate its teachers for one of the most prestigious awards an educator can receive – the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence. Bishops College has been even more proud to announce successful nominees year after year. Winners include Bonnie Campbell, Yvonne Dawe, Carolyn Morgan, Claire Frankel, Renee Boyce, Brian Vardy, Pat Wells, Jim Moore, Brenda Rowe-Bartlett, Sharon Whitt and Garland Jennings. To have so many winners from the same school has been unprecedented nationwide.

History

Before 1787 the Church of England in Newfoundland was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, and then later the diocese of Nova Scotia. It was not until 1839 that the first Bishop of Newfoundland, Rev. Aubrey George Spencer, was consecrated. Bishop Spencer laid foundations upon which his successors built. He extended the work of the church, established a school for the training of clergymen (afterwards Queen's College), and laid the foundation stone for the building of a cathedral in St. John’s. Under his successor, the Right Rev. Edward Feild, education continued to be encouraged, and orphanages founded.

Bishop Feild founded a collegiate school for boys which in 1894 became Bishop Feild College. He also established Bishop Spencer College, a diocesan school for girls. For 100 years these schools were homes to boys and girls from the Church of England. Bishop Feild College was the College for all Anglican people in Newfoundland. To that end Feild Hall was erected near present day St. Thomas' Church to house the "outport" boys whose parents could afford to send them to Feild. Bishop Jones Hostel (Rennies Mill Road) was the girls’ accommodation.

The present Bishop Feild School, the old Bishop Feild College, was erected in 1926 and opened in 1928. The school recently celebrated its 165th anniversary.

In 1959 B.C. Bishops College was built by The Anglican Church necessitating a diminishing of the old Bishops Feild college to a Junior High. Why this was done is open to speculation but some believe it was a turning away from the British Model of comprehensive schooling to the American model of a tripartite system of primary, elementary, and high schools).

In 1972 a further decrease in Feild's status came when Junior High Schools like Macdonald Drive, Macpherson and I.J. Samson were built. Thus Feild became a Primary/Elementary School and by 1986 it was a French Immersion School.

The First amalgamation

Formation of the Integrated School Board, which was called the Avalon Consolidated School Board, occurred in 1969. This amalgamation brought together the United, Anglican, Presbyterian, and the Salvation Army. At this time Bishops College was no longer a school for Anglican male and females but for most Protestant religions.

The Second Amalgamation

In 1995 the people of Newfoundland voted 54% to reduce the denominational system in Newfoundland and by 1998 a provincially run system was set up. Gone was 277 years of denominational education. Bishops College, along with Booth Memorial became the schools serving the west end of St. John's and Kilbride area. Feeder schools for Bishops were Cowan Heights Elementary and I. J. Samson Junior High. In 2005 a change in the feeder system brought St. Matthew's Elementary and Hazelwood Academy, feeding into Beaconsfield Junior High and then to Bishops College.

Archive and Heritage Project

The 50th Anniversary Committee digitized the 50 yearbooks which are available online for students, alumni and members of the public to view in PDF format. http://www.bishops.k12.nf.ca/archive/yearbooks.html

Barons Bulletin

The school produces newsletters four times a year and they are available online since 1998. Staff and students contribute news items so the community can be informed about school programs and successes.

http://www.bishops.k12.nf.ca/bulletin/index.htm

Mascot

The Mascot for Bishops is The Bishops Baron, sometimes depicted as Snoopy dressed as the Red Baron. Ironically, the Red Baron hated Canada and was killed by a Canadian.

References

http://www.bishops.k12.nf.ca/bishhist/index.htm