About Sacred Heart
Headmistress' Welcome
I welcome you to the Sacred Heart School of Halifax website. As Headmistress I have the opportunity to know each of our three school divisions well and to appreciate the full scope of a Sacred Heart education from entry at age four to graduation. Sacred Heart educates the whole person — intellect, spirit and body — preparing our students to take on roles in their future families, communities and the world.
Our school, founded in 1849 by the Religious of the Sacred Heart, is part of the international network of Sacred Heart Schools dedicated to common goals that emphasize faith which is relevant to today's world, respect for intellectual values, personal growth, the building of community as a Christian value, and a sense of social justice which impels to action.
Our student body is diverse, embracing students from many parts of the world. We have a unique structure that serves the developmental needs of students from four years to high school graduation. Our elementary school (Junior Primary to grade six) offers a co-educational learning environment, and in grade seven our girls move into Sacred Heart High School and our boys into Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart. All three divisions of Sacred Heart School of Halifax are located on our Spring Garden Road campus, across from the Public Gardens in downtown Halifax. Sacred Heart offers the only independent school single sex educational option in the Atlantic Provinces. We know from long experience that adolescent girls and adolescent boys benefit from educational approaches tailored to their different learning styles and preferences.
We are an old school whose students learn to appreciate the great traditions and values of the past. At the same time our faculty members embrace the best of modern pedagogy and technology. Students are welcomed and nurtured as they are guided through a challenging environment, which prepares them for post secondary studies. Equally important is the breadth of co-curricular experiences students choose from as we help them develop awareness of the wider community and prepares them to engage the wider world.
As you tour our website you will get some sense of our school's vitality. I invite you to visit us during the school day when you can see our students and faculty in action and get a better understanding of the Sacred Heart educational experience. I look forward to meeting you and welcome your questions by e-mail, by phone or in person.
Yours sincerely,
Patricia Donnelly, MA, M.Ed.
Headmistress
pdonnelly@shsh.ca
Patricia Donnelly has been Headmistress of Sacred Heart School of Halifax since 1999. Her graduate degrees are from the University of Notre Dame (English) and from the University of Toronto (Educational Administration). Before coming to Sacred Heart, Patricia worked in the Catholic School system in Newfoundland, as a high school teacher in both girls' and co-educational schools, as a principal, and as teacher and administrator in a programme for gifted students. Her extra curricular involvement is in Sacred Heart's debate programme. She is married to Brian Casey, and has two daughters, Ana, and Deirdre (class of '09), both of whom are involved in post-secondary studies.
