Holy Child College
Holy Child College is a Catholic College for girls in Lagos,[1] it was set up on 9 April 1945 by the Society for the Holy Child Jesus (SHCJ). It is located in South-West Ikoyi on the cusp of Obalende and Keffi; to the front of the College is its brother school St Gregory's College, Lagos.
Holy Child College consists of junior and senior colleges and practises the 6-3-3-4 educational system in Nigeria. The current School Administrator is Rev. Sister Ify Atuegbu, the current Head Teacher of the Senior College is Mrs Asiegbu, while that of the Junior College is Mrs Ezeanya.
The College is the first Day/boarding school owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos. It operates between the hours of 7:30am and 3:30pm. The school uniform is a burgundy mortar-board, a cream blouse, a burgundy skirt for seniors and a burgundy pinafore for juniors, white socks, and brown shoes.
Its educational system is based on the Nigerian policy of the UBE system, where the girls sit the JSS and SSS exams as well as the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations.
History
The Society of the Holy Child Jesus was founded by Reverend Mother Cornelia Connelly who was born in Philadelphia in 1809, she set up her first Convent in Derby, England, in 1846 at the request of Pope Gregory XVI. The Society was founded for the "spiritual works of Mercy" of which education was a major focus. It has branches in Calabar, Abakaliki and Jos in Nigeria, as well as Ghana, Cameroon, Chad, United States, England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, France and Brazil.
The Reverend Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus came to Africa in 1930, their first school being set up in Calabar. The Society founded Holy Child College, Lagos, in 1945 at the invitation of Archbishop Leo Taylor, who wanted a good Catholic secondary school for the girls in his archdiocese.
The College started on the 9 April 1945 with two classes of 15 girls each and four nuns as full-time teachers. To increase the number of students, a new class was admitted each year. By the time the foundation set had completed the six-year programme, the student population had increased from 30 to 200 in 1950. The foundation students mostly came from ' Popo Aguda '(meaning Catholic Lagosians in Yoruba), who were Brazilian returnees and old Lagos families such as the Trezises, Da Rocha, Vera Cruz, Pereira, Soares and Pedro, as well as other prominent Nigerian families such as Apena, Akran, Alakija, Nwosu and Okoli.
Holy Child College offers an all-round academic education as well as Sports, Oratory Skills, Latin, Art and Drama, Etiquette and Deportment. Everything in the College is done Ad Majorem Dei Gloria - to the Glory of God.
The school motto and call is Facta non Verba, or "Action not Words".
References
- ↑ "HOLY CHILD COLLEGE". Retrieved 9 October 2016.