St. Joseph's Primary School is an all-girls primary (elementary) school located at Howe Street in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. The school was founded in 1866 by the

Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in 1807. Located around the world, its members perform a variety of charitable works, but they devote themselves especially to missionary work and providing educat ...

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nuns from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is the oldest girls' primary school in Sierra Leone and one of the oldest elementary schools in Africa. Typically, the school enrols girls aged from 3 to 12.

Background

It was originally established as two sister institutions, St. Mary's Primary School and St. Anne's Primary School, which in 1985 were amalgamated to form St. Joseph's. The school is currently situated at Howe Street, Freetown, in the same compound that used to house its secondary school, now known as St. Joseph's Secondary School and formerly known as St. Joseph's Convent in Freetown. Its brother school is St. Edward's Primary School.

Past headteachers

* Mrs Gilpin

House system

The school is divided into several houses, named after the original houses of its predecessor schools, St. Mary's and St. Anne's. *Martha - ed*Column -

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*Leo - ellow*St. Joseph's -

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hite Hite or HITE may refer to: *HiteJinro, a South Korean brewery **Hite Brewery *Hite (surname) *Hite, California, former name of Hite Cove, California *Hite, Utah, a ghost town * HITE, an industrial estate in Pakistan See also *''Hite v. Fairfax ...

Notable alumni

Bertha Conton Bertha Yvonne Conton, Order of the Rokel, GCOR ( Thompson; 31 October 1923 – 1 May 2022) was a Sierra Leonean educator who was the principal, founder, and proprietress of Leone Preparatory School. Biography Conton was educated at St. Joseph's ...

* Agnes Taylor-Lewis - first female Minister of Health in

References

1866 establishments in Sierra Leone Catholic schools in Sierra Leone Educational institutions established in 1866 Primary schools in Sierra Leone Schools in Freetown {{SierraLeone-school-stub