St. Peter's Boys Senior High School

St. Peter's Senior Secondary School
The school crest Dignitati Hominum (For the Dignity of Mankind)
Location
Nkwatia, Kwahu, Ghana
Information
Type	Public Secondary/High School
Established	1957
Head of school	Board of Governors
Grades	Forms [1-3]
Enrollment	Yearly
Number of students	1500+
Color(s)	Yellow and Green
Athletics	Track And Field
Mascot	Crocodile
Nickname	Persco
Affiliation	Catholic Church (Divine Word Missionaries,SVD)
Patron Saint	Peter Claver
First Headmaster	Fr. Clement Hotze
School Anthem	Youth of St. Peters
Website	Perscoba.com

St. Peter's Senior Secondary School is a Roman Catholic Boy's Senior High School in the Eastern Region of Ghana.^[1] The school was established in 1957 by the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD). The school is located in the town of Nkwatia on the Kwahu Ridge.

History

The idea to establish PERSCO started in 1956 when a delegation approached Fr. Cletus Hodapp of Society of the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) with a proposal of establishing a school in Nkwatia. After a meeting between the then Nkwatiahene Nana Asante Yaidom III and his elders and Bishop Joseph Bowers of Accra, a decision was taken to start the school and the present location was given by the people of Nkwatia. Fr Clement Hotze was appointed as the first headmaster of the school on 10 January 1957. Classes began on 5 February 1957 at Mr Onwona Farkye’s house with 36 students and 2 tutors, Mr Agyare teaching the sciences and Fr Hotze teaching the art subjects. In 1958, the first science block was built with the help of labour from the Nkwatia people, followed by the SVD house, the offices and the dining hall in 1960. In September of that same year, PERSCO received approval from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to present science candidates. The first speech and prize giving day was held in June 1961 and the first class of 15 fifth formers passed out. In October 1964, the school enrolled 15 students to start its first form six class. November 1964 marked a turning point in the life of the school when Rev. Fr. Linzenbach, SVD architect and director of planning Steyl (Rome) arrived to stake out plans for a new dormitory block to be jointly financed by the bishops of Germany and SVD. In June 1965, the class of fifth formers who sat the ‘O’ Level Examinations were the first to get 100% pass in the history of the school and the school has since then been recording impressive performances in all examinations. The first old boy of the school graduated from the then University of Science and Technology. In December 1969, the great hockey team of the school won its first Eastern Regional Championship and retained the laurel for three consecutive times. After 10 years of WEAC’s approval for science candidates, the school received approval for ‘O’ Level Art courses, followed by ‘A’ Level Business courses in 1972. Agricultural Science and German courses also received approval in 1974 and triple stream ‘O’ Level was begun and Music in 1975.

Academic Side (Class Side)

The academic side of the school popularly referred to as the 'Class Side', is the site of classroom blocks, science laboratories, a computer laboratory and the administration block.The classroom blocks houses the General Arts, Business, Agric and Science classes.

The laboratories are used for science practicals in the mandatory science courses of Physics, Biology and Chemistry.

Since the school is noted for its prowess in the Science field a larger number of students are admitted to pursue the Science program hence a greater number of Science classes.

Dormitory Site (Dorm Side)

The school has two dormitory blocks namely; the old and new dorms, that house 6 houses.All six houses are named after Roman Catholic Saints who were either Black,African or associated with Africa or Black people.

Claver House

This house is the first house on the ground floor of the old dormitory block.It is named after Peter Claver who is the patron saint of the school. Members of the house are identified by their house's colour;green.

Luanga House

This house shares the ground floor of the old dormitory block with Claver House.This house is named after Charles Lwanga one of the Martyrs of Uganda.Luanga House is one of the two houses in the School named after the Ugandan Martyrs. This house's colour is yellow..

Porres House

This is the first house on the first floor of the old dormitory block.Porres house is named after Martin de Porres. Navy Blue is the house's colour and the house has a commanding view over the school's football pitch and classroom blocks.

Augustine House

Augustine house named after St. Augustine of Hippo arguably one of the most influential Christian Scholars and philosophers the world has known. Augustine house is the second house on the first floor of the old dorm.Bright red is the colour of the house.

Foucauld House

Foucauld House is the only house on the ground floor of the new dorm. The house named after Charles de Foucauld a French martyr who was killed in Algeria. The house colour of Foucauld House is purple.

Kizito House

Kizito House is the second house to be named after another Ugandan Martyr. The house is the only house on the first floor of the new dorm and the 6th house of the school.The house's colours are light blue.

Academics

The school offers mainly, three programs of studies. General Arts, Science and Business.The school has been known to be a 'Science School'. Until the introduction of the computerized placement system by the Government for the placement of Junior high graduates into secondary schools,the school conducted placement examinations for its first years.

This placement test was to make sure only the best students were selected to the science programs. St. Peter's is known to have produced one of the highest number of medical doctors in Ghana currently. The school has been winners of the National Science and Maths Quiz twice, first in 2000 and in 2005. The all-conquering team of the class of 2000 - comprising Raymond Avornyo, Bernard Anim and Jones Gyedu - made history not only as the first to win it for the school but also the first to take the prestigious NSMQ trophy to the Eastern Region of Ghana. Bernard and Jones are medical doctors currently practicing in Ghana; Raymond went on to become a highly-successful prolific computer software/apps developer in the States. The school has also been runners up in 1998, 2002,2004 and 2006 whilst placing third in 2003. In 1997, a past student of the school - Benjamin Abban - was adjudged the best science student and the overall best student in the SSSCE exams by the West African Examination Council. He was later given an award for the Best Engineering Student of the 2003 graduating class of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology by Unilever Ghana. In 2005 two old students of the school, Osei Benjamin Acheampong and Nana Sefa were both awarded the Best Level 200 students in Humanities and Science respectively at the University of Ghana.Many other products of the school have received marvelous awards from local and international universities especially Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The school is famous for its excellent academic performance and for consistently producing one of the very best WAEC examination results each year.

The school also has a large number of its students going on to the nation's traditional universities, private universities and universities in the United States and United Kingdom.

Sports

The school has sporting facilities for various sports. There is a football pitch,athletics oval, basketball&volleyball courts, hockey pitch and tennis courts. The school has had a history of excellence at Inter-Schools and colleges sports events held yearly, with past students holding records in various sporting disciplines. Students have also gone on to represent the Kwahu zone in the Super-Zonal sports festivals.

The school has undoubtedly produced the best basketball players in the Kwahu zone.In 2000 inter house games two records were set by a guy call azeebaba of 3Arts1, breaking a 10years old record in long jump and the new records also broken in 10min later by the same azeebaba. Between 2000 and 2003 the school has been the sole representative of the Kwahu zone in Basketball at the Super Zonal games.

Features of the school

Palm plantation

Palm plantation

The school has two large palm plantations; one at the entrance of the school and the other at the mid-eastern side of the school. Apart from being a free source of palm fruits used to feed the student body, the plantation at the entrance also serves as a place where students receive and entertain their visitors.

School chapel

School chapel

The Chapel building can accommodate the entire student population.Sunday mass is attended by the entire student body and Catholic staff members. Catholic residents of the township also worship in the chapel. There are regular visits from the Bishop of the Koforidua Diocese under which the parish falls. Mass is frequently officiated by the School Chaplain and sometimes by other priests who are usually members of the teaching staff.

School crocodiles

Crocodile

The school has two crocodiles which are considered as important components in the school's tapestry. The crocodiles are almost like the school's mascots and also serve as a tourist attraction as many first time visitors to the school head toward the crocodiles' enclosure first before going on to take care of their businesses. The crocodiles are the sole responsibility of the school's wildlife club.

In the late 70's the school also had the famous Baboon monkey with its cage between the swimming pool area and the first domirtory blocks. The Baboon were able to sometimes escape from their cage to the dormitory area.

References