History
In August 1879, Fr Jose Pedro Santa Anna de Cunha of St Joseph's Church started a school for poor parishioners. As a result, the St. Anna's School with an enrolment of 6 students opened in Middle Road. In 1886, the school became known as St. Anthony's Boys' & Girls' School. The boys' and girls' school split 15 years later. The first four Canossian sisters arrived to run the Portuguese Mission school, and there the poor and neglected found refuge. The younger girls attended school while the older ones learned sewing and embroidery. The 1900s marked the beginning of a new era for the school. St. Anthony's Girls' School was renamed St. Anthony's Convent in 1906. Subsequently, a new chapel, quarters for the nuns, a kindergarten and first Junior Cambridge class (equivalent to Secondary 3 or 4) were added.
The school buildings survived the war and Japanese Occupation. The Japanese military police took over the school and the sisters were placed under house arrest. When the war ended, the buildings were used to house war orphans. In 1952, the wooden convent was demolished and a 5-storey building constructed in its place. The following year, the new school was officially opened.
In 2002, the School introduced a brand new uniform to commemorate its first year of being a government-aided autonomous girls' school. The year 2002 ended with a watershed historical event of the handover of stewardship of St. Anthony's Canossian Secondary School to its first lay principal in its 108-year history. Sr. Cecily Pavri, being the last Canossian nun to lead the school, handed over the reins of leadership to vice-principal Mrs Jennifer Loh on January 1, 2003.
Read more about this topic: Saint Anthony's Canossian Secondary School
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