Saint Andrew's School, Inc. or Saint Andrew's School (SAS) is a

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of the Cathedral Parish of St. Andrew managed by the Diocese of Parañaque. It is located in

Parañaque Parañaque, officially the City of Parañaque (, ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

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, Philippines. The school offers Primary Grade School (toddler, nursery, kinder, grades 1 to 3), Middle Grade School (grades 4–6), Junior High School (grades 7–10), Senior High School (grades 11–12; STEM, ABM, HUMSS) and Special Education.

History

The Augustinians

St. Andrew Parish was established by the Augustinian missionaries who landed in a fishery village during the

Spanish era The Spanish era (), sometimes called the era of Caesar, was a calendar era (year numbering system) commonly used in the states of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th century until the 15th, when it was phased out in favour of the ''Anno Domini'' (A ...

in the Philippines to

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and spread

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to the land. These missionary friars ministered over Palanyag for almost four hundred years.

The CICM Missionaries

After the Augustinians came the missionaries of the ''Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae'' (CICM), otherwise known as the

Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary The CICM Missionaries, officially known as the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary () and often abbreviated as C.I.C.M, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in 1862 by the Belgian Cathol ...

. Joseph "Pare Jose" Van Runckelen, born at

Kortenaken Kortenaken () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Hoeleden, Kersbeek-Miskom, Kortenaken proper, Ransberg and Waanrode. On January 1, 2014, Kortenaken had a total populat ...

, April 16, 1883, was assigned as parish priest of St. Andrew Parish in October 1915. With the donations and help from the people of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, Van Runckelen established the said school on June 27, 1917, and titled it after

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

, the

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the parish. Incorporated in his newly established

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

were four of his colleagues from CICM. One of the first teachers in the school is Eleuterio de Leon who had been Mayor of Parañaque.Brief History of St. Andrew's School. (1992). ''75th Foundation Anniversary of St. Andrew's School Annual''. In 1932, Van Runckelen expanded the school, and with Gloria Aspillera-Quintos, he founded the

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

department. The new department started with 32 students (20 boys and 12 girls) and ended up to seven (four boys and three girls); moreover, the seven were the first high school graduates dubbed as ''The Magnificent Seven''. Upon the death of Van Runckelen in Parañaque on October 24, 1934, Antonio Van Overveld took over as head of St. Andrew's School from 1934 to 1937. In his period, the school was relocated from the original, which is present site of St. Paul College of Parañaque, to the Parañaque convent building, where the school is presently located. After Van Overveld, Adolfo Cansse became school director from 1937 to 1952.

From co-educational to "exclusive for boys"

When

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out in 1941, the school was closed. After the war, the school re-opened for school year 1945-1946 through the efforts of Cansse and notable faculty members. However, the school opened only the first year class and it was exclusively for boys. St. Paul College of Parañaque, a neighboring school, offered education only for girls. Cansse, as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

, expanded the school by building the gymnasium and more classrooms in 1949. Louis Thys, school director from 1952 to 1977, made several improvements in the school such as a three-story building of different facilities and the library on the second floor. The school hymn, composed by Francis Dandan, was first sung by the graduating class of 1976.De Leon, Raymund Gerald & Ayo, Gilbert Gabriel. (1992). St. Andrew's School Hymn. ''75th Foundation Anniversary of St. Andrew's School Annual''. Also, 55 typewriters were acquired, resulting the inclusion of the

bookkeeping Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. T ...

subject for third year and

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and

typing Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone, or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting recognition, handwriting and speech ...

in the fourth year

curricula In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

. Foulon soon became the school director from 1977 to 1991. In 1979, the annual publication of ''The Andrean'' was initiated. Joseph Gevaert, the last CICM school director, managed from 1991 to 1993.

Religious to diocesan, and the revival of coeducation

The year 1994 marked the transition of the parish's and school's administration from

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. Romerico A. Prieto, the first diocesan parish priest of the parish became school director from 1994 to 1995; followed by Manuel Sebastian (1995–1996) and Manuel Valenzuela (1996–2004). Valenzuela made numerous developments to the school: the construction of a new building for the preschool and elementary departments, a new gymnasium, computer rooms, laboratories for physics, chemistry and home economics and other facilities. In 1999, the

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

department, later dubbed as the ''Center for Early Childhood Education'' (CECE), was founded by Valenzuela and Gertrudes F. Bautista. Also in the same year the

coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

al status was revived. It started in the CECE department (S.Y. 1999–2000) and the elementary department (S.Y. 2000–2001)

The birth of a new Diocese

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

created the new Diocese of Parañaque, an offshoot of the

Archdiocese of Manila In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, on December 7, 2002. He appointed Jesse E. Mercado, an auxiliary bishop of Manila, to become the first bishop of the diocese. Manuel Gabriel then became school director from 2004 until October 2011. Augusto C. Pulido is the current director of the school St. Andrew's School gained an award from the Consumers and Marketing Executive in the Philippine Marketing Excellency Awards for being ''The Most Outstanding Catholic School for Boys (Parañaque)'' in May 2006.

Contemporary

In the late 2005, the gymnasium was demolished to make way for a six-story building with the gymnasium at the top floor. The construction was finished early 2007. The High School Department opened its doors for girls in 2006 as the coeducational status prospered. In 2007, the school supported the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

's project, Alternative Learning System Accreditation and Equivalency (ALS A&E), together with ''Pag-unlad ng Kabataan sa Kapatiran ni San Andres'' (PKKSA). The project fosters alternative education to out-of-school youths and adults in relation to the "Christian and missionary formation" of the school. In February 2008, one hundred learners from SAS registered to take the national test. 16,000 from 80,000 examinees passed, and 27 passers were from SAS. Also, passers of the ALS A&E test graduated and received their high school diploma

School life and culture

School hymn

Francis Dandan, the

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of the school and the St. Andrew Parish Choir (SAPC), came upon an idea of composing the school hymn for he noticed graduates leave the school without an

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

song since the school was established. In 1976, he asked the English teachers, with the help of Odelia Cruz, to submit a poem about the school and that he composed the music for the chosen piece. Dandan based the lyrics from the works of Edith Ferrer, Maximo Marcelo and Paul Foulon. After several revisions, the hymn was completed on March 6, 1976, and it was taught to the graduating class for them to sing it on their

commencement A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called commencement, congregation, convocation or invocation. The date of the graduation ...

exercises. Thus, the batch of 1976 was first to sing the ''St. Andrew's School Hymn''. St. Andrew's School Hymn
Beloved St. Andrew's
The knowledge we obtain
From the Lord God above
Through thy guidance and love.

You inspire our will
To reach our Golden Goal
Love God and Country
Proudly we proclaim. Refrain:
Hail St. Andrew's
Endless fountain of wisdom
We do pledge a life of serving love. The bright and shining morning
Comes in our life
We the Andreans give respect
To thy enlightening command. We shall cherish you
from here and afar
With you the darkest road
We'll walk unafraid.

Publications

* ''The Andrean'', the annual publication * ''The SAS Courier'', the official student publication (English) * ''Ang Mensahero'', the official student publication (Filipino)

School Directors

*Joseph Van Runckelen, 1917-1934 (founder) *Antonio Van Overveld, 1934-1937 *Adolfo Cansse, 1937-1952 *Louis Thys, 1952-1977 *Paul Foulon, 1977-1991 *Francis Gevaert, 1991-1994 *Romerico A. Prieto, 1994-1995 *Manuel F. Sebastian, 1995-1996 *Bayani G. Valenzuela, 1996-2004 *Manuel G. Gabriel, 2004-2012 *Rolando R. Agustin, 2012-2018 *Allen C. Aganon, 2018–2020 *Augusto C. Pulido, 2020–Present

Notable alumni

* Andrew Ford "Andrew E." Espiritu - Filipino rapper, record producer and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

* Mario Teodoro "Ted Failon" Etong - Former

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

news anchor,

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radio announcer, and former congressman of

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...

Jaime Fresnedi Jaime dela Rosa Fresnedi (born April 27, 1950), also known as Jimmy Fresnedi, is a Filipino politician, lawyer, and businessman currently serving as a member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing the lone district of Muntinlup ...

- Former mayor of

Muntinlupa Muntinlupa (), officially the City of Muntinlupa (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population o ...

; now incumbent congressman of

* Edward S. Hagedorn - Former mayor of

Puerto Princesa City Puerto Princesa (, American Spanish: , European Spanish: ), officially the City of Puerto Princesa ( Cuyonon: ''Siyudad i'ang Puerto Princesa''; ), is a highly urbanized city in the Mimaropa region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 cen ...

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

*Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle - Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, former Archbishop of Manila, current Cardinal-Bishop of Albano

Affiliations

*Diocese of Parañaque Parochial Schools Association *Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association *Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines *Association for Supervision Curriculum and Development

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Andrew's School, Paranaque Schools in Parañaque Educational institutions established in 1917 Catholic secondary schools in Metro Manila Catholic elementary schools in Metro Manila 1917 establishments in the Philippines