St. James Academy (Malabon)

SJA facade until its renovation in 2014

St. James Academy is a Catholic school in Malabon City, Philippines, offering primary and secondary education. The school opened in June 1926 as Malabon Normal School under the administration of the Maryknoll Sisters. In 1936, normal school department was moved in Manila, while the elementary and high school remained in Malabon. The school in Malabon renamed St. James Academy in honor to St. James the Greater. In 1980, administration passed to the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Sienna,and last 2010, the administration is passed to the Dominican Sisters of the Trinity. The school is owned by the Archdiocese of Manila and is among the diocese schools of the Diocese of Kalookan. It serves students from the Greater Manila area; which includes residents of Malabon, Valenzuela, Quezon, Kalookan; in addition to residents of Navotas, Obando and Marilao.

History

St. James Academy of Malabon City broke ground from the vestiges of Malabon Normal School, the first Archdiocesan Catholic teacher training school conceived by then Manila Archbishop Michael O'Doherty in 1925 and formally opened in June 1926, with the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic. This was the first Maryknoll community established in the Philippines with St. James Academy as their first institution.

The first grade school graduation took place in 1931 with 20 graduates while the High School had it in 1933. In April 1936, the normal school and pre-school departments were moved to Isaac Peral Street, Manila (present-day United Nations Avenue). This was the nucleus of Maryknoll College, which is known today as Miriam College in Quezon City.

The elementary department remained in Malabon and was renamed St. James Academy, after St. James the Greater, patron saint of Bishop James Anthony Walsh, M.M., the co-founder of the Maryknoll Congregation with the Maryknoll Sisters still supervising the institution. In 1940, the high school department was added to the school.

When World War II broke out in 1941, the school was closed down but classes continued at the private residence of the Punzalan family and managed by lay teachers while the Maryknoll Sisters were interned by the Japanese in Los Baños, Laguna and at the University of Santo Tomas.

When the war ended in 1945, the Maryknoll sisters returned and set up the school again. In gratitude to God for the preservation of the school, the statue of Santo Nino, was erected at the pool garden. The first high school graduation after the war took place on March 26, 1946 with 20 graduates.

In 1960, St. James Academy, being a Manila Archdiocesan school, became an automatic member of the Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association after the Archdiocese of Manila promulgated a decree creating MAPSA. In 1977, Sister Delia Marie Garcia, M.M. (1977-1981), became the first Filipino directress and was also the last Maryknoll head of the school. In 1981, the Maryknoll Congregation, formerly the Foreign Mission Sisters of St. Dominic, veered its charism to full-time missionary work thus, bequeathing their 54 years of management of the school to another St. Dominic-inspired congregation as approved by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena.

On October 20, 2003, in view of the canonical establishment of the new Diocese of Kalookan, St. James Academy became a diocesan school under the aforementioned diocese and a member of Kalookan Diocese Schools Association (KADSA). However, SJA is still a part of Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association, Inc. (MAPSA), the latter being an umbrella organization of all diocesan schools in Metro Manila, Antipolo and Bulacan.

May 29, 2010, marked another milestone in the history of St. James Academy. After 30 years of management by the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, the school was turned over by Most Reverend Deogracias S. Iñiguez, Jr., D.D, Bishop of Kalookan to the administration of another Dominican congregation, the Dominican Sisters of the Trinity.

Presently St. James Academy is an institution accredited by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) which affords quality Catholic basic education to students from the Greater Manila comprising the cities of Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Quezon, Kalookan, and as far as Obando and Marilao in Bulacan.

Through the years, St. James Academy has tremendously changed Malabon's landmark. its physical contour and instructional facilities have met the benchmarks of an excellent learning institution in the 21st century.

Truly, it has put to light it Vision-Mission as "a community living the Gospel values in pursuit of academic excellence at the service of the people of God for the upliftment of the human dignity to attain fullness of life in human society".

Notable Alumni

External links

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