St Joseph’s School is located in Tenaru, Guadalcanal Province of the Solomon Islands.
St Joseph’s was established in the late 1940s as a boys’ school, becoming co- educational in 1972 and supports more than 522 students, 33 Staff (teaching and non- teaching) and the surrounding community. Many of the buildings and classrooms that stand today are original. These building play a vital role in the school and community as they often double as food preparation areas for events and functions, as meeting rooms and emergency accommodation.
AMS has been working in partnership with St Joseph’s school on a range of infrastructure projects including new staff accommodation after many of the existing houses had been rendered completely uninhabitable. AMS has also been working with St Joseph’s to construct a new administration building. The existing building was pulled down and transported from former St Paul’s Aruligo Secondary School to St Joseph’s in 1972. Now thanks to generous donations, particularly from Marist Mission Centre, the school has been able to undertake the construction of the new administration building. This is the first major infrastructure project at the school for over 50 years.
St Joseph’s School is one of only seven National Secondary Schools within the Solomon Islands providing high school education to boys and girls. With a countrywide net enrolment rate at secondary schools of just 42%, it is critical to be able to engage students through qualified and experienced teachers, especially considering that only around 70% of teachers in secondary schools in the Solomon Islands are trained (The World Bank 2012). Students and staff travel from remote villages and islands from all over the Solomons to board at the Marist school.
To support education in the Solomon Islands please click here for our Solomon Islands Projects.