Notre Dame Girls Senior High School

NOTRE DAME GIRLS SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

1. INTRODUCTION:

Notre Dame Girls Senior High School began as a private school in 1987.  The school was absorbed into the public system in 1997 as a government assisted Senior Secondary School.

The school is situated at Fiapre, Sunyani, Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana.

2. VISION/MISSION STATEMENT:

The co-founders shared a vision that the renewal of society depends to a great extent on the family, in which the mother, t

•  Girls School

he first educator, has a key role.  Therefore, the school aims to give a sound, balanced, disciplined education, which will enable young women to develop to their fullest potential and provide them with knowledge and skills needed to assume their rightful role in society.  It is expected that the graduates from the school will contribute to the reduction of poverty and the promotion of socio-economic growth and development.

3. BRIEF HISTORY

Notre Dame Girls Senior High School has a very humble beginning.  Through the invitation of the late Most Reverend James Kwadwo Owusu, the Bishop of the Catholic Dioceses of Sunyani and the inspiration and indefatigable efforts of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the school opened on 28^th September 1987.  The first cramped temporary premises of the school were in a renovated technical school near St. Patrick’s Primary and Junior School behind the Christ the King Cathedral in Sunyani.

The school has passed under the leadership of four substantive Headmistresses, the first three of whom were School Sisters of Notre Dame.  The pioneer Headmistress was Rev. Sr. Joan Schaeffer, SSND with Rev. Sr. Mary Busson SSND as the Assistant Headmistress.  The tow were joined by to Rev. Sr. Therese Nowakoski SSND and Sr. Dorothy Ann SSND and three lay personnel as the teaching staff.  The student intake was only thirty-seven.

The plan was to lovate the school in Fiapre where thechief and the Fiapre community had donated the land.  Progress on the Fiapre site developed very slowly due to limited funds. Construction commenced in 1992 and only in January 1996 did the new Notre Dame Girls Senior School open for classes at the present site.

The foundations tone laying ceremony was performed by the late James Kwadwo Owusu, the then Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sunyani in September 1996.  Rev. Sr. Joan Bellew SSND was the Headmistress assisted by Rev. Sr. Mary Leonora Tucker, SSND.  The student enrolment stood at 197.  The school continued to grow by leaps and bounds and quickly registered itself on the map of established famous schools by its outstanding success in academics, sports and cultural pursuits.

The Headmistresses who followed later and vigorously pursued the traditions of the founding members were Rev. Sr. Vivian Zoller, SSND who succeeded Rev. Sr. Joan Bellew SSND. Rev. Sr. Vivian Zoller SSND handed over to the present Headmistress, Ms. Margaret Lucy Donkor in October 2003.  The student population for the academic year 2009/2010 was six hundred and eight students.

IMPORTANT SCHOOL DATES:

May 9^th                                           Founder’s Day

September 28^th 1987                     The birth of the school

December 12^th 1997                      The foundation stone was laid at the current site at Fiapre

May 31^st 2003                                Fifteenth Anniversary celebration

September 28^th 2012                     Silver Jubilee celebration

4. ACHIEVEMENTS:

Some of the modest achievements that Notre Dame Senior High School has chalked over the past year include the following:  Notre Dame School’s internal and external results have efforts of a dedicated staff and a high discipline on the part of students.

Beside a steady improvement in the academic results, the school has made significant inroads in co-curricular activities in the region as wee as in the nation.   In 2002 the school placed 2^nd in the Northern sector competition after losing to Opoku Ware at the 45^th Independence Anniversary Debate Competition.  In the same year, our students participated in a Business Initiative drive and one of our students went on for national competition.

In 2004/2005 academic year, NODASS Debate Club was the Regional champion of a contest organized by the Ghana AIDS Commission, receiving a coloured television for the school among other awards.  Notre Dame School was the Regional champion in a quiz competition on RAISING AWARENESS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF COCOA TO GHANA organized by Parks and Gardens at Sunyani Polytechnic.  The school also took first position in a quiz competition on PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT organized by Parks and Gardens.  Two students, Vera Adusei Pokua and Junliana Nsiah, represented the Brong-Ahafo Region on Ghana’s National Women’s Soccer Team in Sunyani Secondary School.

On 11^th December 2005, Notre Dame School dedicated and blessed the first Peace Garden and Peace Pole in Ghana.

Notre Dame School has been excelling in co-curricular activities.  The school has been organizing inter-house athletics and games competitions annually as part of the co-curricular activities in the school.  After the inter-house athletics competition, the school then selects the excelling students to represent the school in the inter-school athletics and games competition.

In 2008 and in 2009 inter-schools Athletics competition, Notre Dame took the first position consecutively.  It then represented the zone in the supper-zonal competitions in those years taking first and third positions respectively out of 41 schools.  In addition, Notre Dame has been representing the zone in handball and volleyball in the supper-zonal competitions.

On 27^th February 2007 a student, Agnes Agyemang-Barnie, received a Mary Purcel Travel Grant for Girls and represented Notre Dame and Ghana in the United Nations 51^st session of the Commission on the status of Women in New York City, USA.

In 2007 one of our students, Nichole Yelipoie, won the AFS Cultural Exchange Programme to study in the USA for 2007/2008 academic year.  In 2009/2010, five students:  Zangina Winpouh Priscilla, Zakaria Rashida, Issahaku Zeinatu, Seidu Catherine Laaripuoh and Mumuni Abiba qualified to study in the USA for the academic year 2010/2011.

The Human Rights Club of the school took first position in the Zonal and Regional Quiz Competition organized by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice.  The Club placed fourth in the nation and won a fax machine for the school.

5. SCHOOL FACILITIES:
6. Notre Dame Girls High School is a Boarding/Day school with the following facilities:
7. Fifteen classrooms (with five classrooms to be completed)
8. Three Science Laboratories
9. Dining Hall
10. A computer laboratory with internet services
11. A sports field
12. ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES
13. Business (Accounting Option): Business Management, Business Mathematics & Principle of Costing, Principle of Costing, Economics
14. Home Economics: Management in Living, Foods & Nutrition, Economics, Biology
15. General Science: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Elective Mathematics,
16. General Arts: French, Asante Twi, Christian Religious Studies, Economics, Government
17. STAKEHOLDERS:
18. The Catholic Diocese of Sunyani
19. School Sisters of Notre Dame
20. Ghana Education Service
21. Notre Dame Girls Old Students
22. Parents Teachers Association
23. Sunyani West District Assembly