Continuity and Change Mark 160th Anniversary at Sacred Heart School of Halifax

October 15, 2009

October, 2009
Press Release

Continuity and Change Mark 160th Anniversary at Sacred Heart School of Halifax

Over the last two centuries Sacred Heart educators have developed a world wide network of schools in which meaningful faith coincides with academic excellence. Founded by Mother Mary Peacock in 1849, Sacred Heart School of Halifax ranks among the oldest of these schools in North America.

This year marks the 160th Anniversary of Sacred Heart School of Halifax and the entire community is celebrating its rich history of continuity and change.

As in most Sacred Heart communities around the world, several generations of Halifax Alumnae cherish fond memories of classrooms caringly devoted to the education of girls. But timely transformations have also marked Sacred Heart’s development; as in the late 1970s when boys were invited to enroll in the elementary division.

The School’s 160th birthday has coincided with another new development, the completion and official opening of Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart, the only all boys’ high school in Atlantic Canada. The construction of Fountain Academy has improved access to athletic and educational facilities for students at all levels. Now, all families have the choice of a unique Sacred Heart experience from junior primary through grade twelve.

Reflecting on the School’s decision to open a boys’ high school in its 160th year of operation, Sacred Heart parent, Margaret Fountain said: “For me … it was not a debate of single sex education; girls versus boys; it was my personal belief in family and community.” She said: “It is here that our children will receive the spiritual and academic guidance that we cherish for them and that will prepare them for the world.” Margaret and David Fountain were leading patrons of Sacred Heart’s recent Family Campus Campaign.

Sacred Heart School of Halifax has served families from the golden years of Victorian prosperity, through the hardships of depression, the trauma of war and the immense challenges of twentieth century social change. At the School’s fall 160th Anniversary Reception, Headmistress, Patricia Donnelly, reminded everyone of the words of Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, one of the great Sacred Heart educators at the turn of the last century, who wrote: “Epochs of transition must keep us on the alert. They ask us to keep our eyes open upon the distant horizons….Immobility, arrested development, bring decadence; a beauty, fully unfolded is ready to perish. So let us not rest on our beautiful past.”

Headmistress Donnelly closed the celebration with a toast to “all the Sacred Heart community and to 160 more years of education in Halifax.”