School History

MISSION STATEMENT

We, the members of the Mt. Alvernia High School community are committed to the development of the whole person. We strive, through mutual co-operation with the home and society to educate and nurture young women preparing them for responsible citizenship.

We aim to achieve these objectives through Christian principles in the spirit of St. Fransis of Assisi.

OUR HISTORY
Mt. Alvernia High School was founded in Montego Bay Jamaica in 1925 as St. James Academy by the Fransiscan Sisters of Allegany at the request of the Roman Catholic Church to provide education for the Catholic girls of the area. A small boarding school, it was soon renamed Mt. Alvernia Academy.

Although the original goal of the founders, Mother Theophane and Mother Alacoque was the education of the economically poor, responding to the needs of the society, the school expanded to include students from all religious as well as socio-economic levels of the community.

In 1939, Mother Antoninous OSF suceeded Mother Theophane as Principal. The school population was only twenty-seven. In 1943 a centre for the Music examinations of the Royal Schools of Music was established at Mt. Alvernia and soon after, the school was considered capable of presenting candidates for the Cambridge School Certificate Examinations.
 
In 1953, Sr. Eloine Marie became Principal of the school and immediately began working towards having Mt. Alvernia established as a grant - in - aid school. the curriculum was further enlarged and qualified teachers with degrees were employed in order to emet the requirements of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture (MEYC). Finally in August 1959, Mt. Alvernia became a grant-in-aid school with an enrollment of 71. Since then, the school population increased even more rapidly and new block of classrooms were erected to keep pace with the growing numbers.
 
In 1971, Sr. Joan Clare was appointed Principal and over the next fifteen years the enrolment increased from 347 to 1,516. A new wing consisting of three floors was built and a third floor was later added to the old wing.

Extra-curricular activities have also flourished over the years and students have participated in several inter-school competitions with success. With the opening of the Montego Bay Community College in 1978, the sixth form was closed.

Since then the school has changed principals three times. Sister Angella and Ms. Hall took the school into the new millenium and upon the retirement of Ms. Hall , Mrs. Cherian took the reigns as principal January 2009.