St. Mary’s School was built in 1946 by the Catholic Church. It is situated between two townships namely, Nyanga and New Crossroads. It admits children from both townships and Philippi Informal Settlement another nearby township. 

 

In 1947 the school received a small government subsidy but was withdrawn in 1954. Classes went from Sub A to Std 6 with an enrolment of 500 pupils. Between the years 1972 and 1990, the Dominican Sisters were involved in the school both in leadership and

in the classroom. A past pupil of this school (St. Mary’s) took over the leadership in 1990.

 

At the same time of the introduction of the new Education Bill, negotiations were being carried out between the Church and Western Cape Education Department concerning the status of the school. These negotiations resulted in St. Mary’s becoming a public school on private property in July 1996, under the following conditions: 1) government rents the property while the owner maintains the property; and 2) teachers are employed by the government and the pupils are looked after by the government.

 

St. Mary’s is a primary school that caters for Grade R to Grade 7 in dual medium education (i.e. isiXhosa and English) which is provided in line with the Education Department’s requirements. The school is steadily growing. We have two classes per grade. Grade R – Grade 7. The number of learners has grown over 600 from 2005.

 

The school is involved in different programs that help our learners namely:

• Amy Biehl Foundation – for communication skills.

• Art Therapy – for learners with academic disability