WELCOME

It is with pleasure that I welcome you to Star of the Sea Convent. Our school focus is on helping children reach their full academic potential, developing Christian faith and moral character, and acquiring social confidence and responsibility.

​The size and structure of our school allow for each child to be treated as a special individual. The staff at Star of the Sea Convent take their role as mentors very seriously.  They seek to mentor children as they begin to take responsibility for their own decisions, determine their own attitudes and form their own opinions. Assistance is given to children to achieve academically and grow physically, socially and spiritually in a happy, secure environment.

​I trust that reading our website will give you an insight into the school.

​Head of School

Mission

Star of the Sea Convent School is a government school that falls into a special category of having a distinctive religious character; it is a Catholic Dominican Primary School, located on property that belongs to the Cabra Dominican Sisters.

Star of the Sea Convent School:

  • Incorporates the latest educational methods while maintaining the school’s traditions and Christian and moral values.
  • Provides a secure, happy, caring and dynamic learning environment.
  • Maintains small classes, thus ensuring an excellent academic reputation.
  • Encourages social and cultural inter-school interaction.
  • Produces well-mannered, self-disciplined pupils with a solid foundation for a higher education.

Vision

  • To educate and form well-balanced children with high self-esteem who have the ability to adapt to the changing world.
  • To ensure a high standard of education, discipline and Christian values, by maintaining quality teachers and small classes.
  • To foster integrity, commitment, dedication and creativity in all our staff, pupils and parents.
  • To provide a progressive adaptable school that is an example to other schools in the community.

School song

Star that we love, Star of the Sea
Shine blessed light where’re we may be
Show us the way and boldly we’ll run
New battles faced and victory won.
Guide us through life, Guide us through life
Star of the Sea

Star that we love, Star of the Sea
Brightest of all in God’s galaxy,
Richly you shine with sanctified flame
Long as we live, we’ll bear high your name
Forever ours, forever ours
Star of the Sea

Star that we love, Star of the Sea
Graced by our Lady’s sweet clemency,
We will uphold your honour and pride
Ever and Aye in our hearts to abide
Forever ours, forever ours
Star of the Sea

History

STAR OF THE SEA CONVENT SCHOOL
St James, Cape Town, South Africa
ESTABLISHED 1908
Star of the Sea School is uniquely situated along a beautiful stretch of  False Bay  coastline in St. James, Cape Town, South Africa.  It is a school with a long history, its buildings having been completed in 1908. It is a Cabra Dominican School, and there were five Sisters and ten pupils when the school first opened on 24 January 1908. By the end of its first term it had grown to twenty pupils, and it has continued to prosper and grow over the years.

The Sisters were responsible for organising extensions to the original buildings and in 1945 a two-storey block, which currently houses the pre-school, was completed. Numbers had increased to such an extent, especially from up-country pupils needing accommodation, that a boarding school and a senior high school became part of the establishment.  The Sisters, always at the forefront of education, saw the need for a pre-school, and this was established in 1970.

As the population of St James changed it became necessary to close the boarding school and the high school in 1981 and to concentrate on making Star of the Sea a fine academic school for the juniors. As the number of Sisters decreased, there also became a need to pass on the curatorship of some of the Catholic schools into lay hands. At that stage there were 120 children in the main school and about 40 children in the two pre-school classes.

In 1987 boys were allowed to proceed through the higher grades in the school and a milestone was achieved in 1990 when the first head boy was appointed in what previously had been a predominantly girls’ school. In 1993 the first full time male teacher was appointed and today the school is proud to include gentlemen on the staff, acting as role models and providing special care and understanding for the boys, who make up about half of the pupil population.

In 1998, to commemorate 90 years of education along the False Bay coast and to upgrade the facilities at the school, two classrooms were renovated and a playground built. In 2008, the school celebrated it’s 100-year anniversary, a fantastic achievement!

Today, Star of the Sea School operates as a public school on private property, falling into the special category of a government school “with a distinctive religious character”. The owners of the school property, the Cabra Dominicans, ensure that a distinctive Catholic ethos is upheld at the school, primarily through recommendations relating to religious education, staff appointments and the school’s moral policy.

The pupil enrolment in the main school (averaging about 300 over the past few years) governs the number of teachers allocated by the Western Cape Education Department. Additional teachers are appointed by the School’s Governing Body, using the funds generated from school fees. Through great parent support, word of mouth recommendations, advertising and publicity, the school continues to sustain its numbers and maintain a fine reputation.

Star of the Sea is a sound, well-run, caring school, catering to a very broad community – a microcosm of the population of South Africa.  Built on rock, steady as a rock, it should prosper and grow well into the future.