History of St. Monica’s Senior High School

On the main Mampong – Ejura highway was a black and white metal information sign with the inscription, “The Convent of Our lady and St. Monica”. It was not a huge sign. You might miss it if you were just a passerby. As a student, you might also miss it for the first time but not the second time. That small, simple but solid sign summed up with the simple, unassuming Nuns who with the strength and fortitude of character left the comfort of their home in Whitby to give the Ghanaian girl child, a holistic education.  In 1926, Bishop Aglionby, the third Anglican Bishop of Accra “wrote to all Sisterhoods in theAnglican Communion and invited them to join in the mission in Gold Coast”.

Only the Order of the Holy Paraclete (OHP) in Whitby, England, responded favourably and so on 26th October 1926, the Reverend Prioress (head of the Order) and three other Nuns arrived in Cape Coast.
The OHP is an Anglican religious community. It was founded by Margaret Cope who was also known as the Foundress Prioress Mother Margaret (1886-1961) at the Mother House of St Hilda’s Priory, Sneaton Castle, Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Bishop Aglionby thought the OHP should expand the girls’ education in the Ashanti Region, he therefore approached the then Asantehene, Otumfuo Nana Prempeh 1 who asked the Mamponghene Okokyereahene Osei Bonsu I to offer a piece of land to the Nuns to expand what Cape Coast was enjoying. The vast land which is on the outskirts of Mampong in the Ashanti Region belongs to the Okokyereahene Osei Bonsu I, Mamponghene.

The Nuns established seven female institutions in the Gold Coast. In 1926, St. Monica’s School; a basic school in Cape Coast; in 1930, St Monica’s Teacher Training College in Mampong; 1935, St. Monica’s Primary and Middle School; a basic school in Mampong; in 1937, Bishop’s Girls’ School; a basic school in Accra; in 1948, a Maternity Hospital and Training College in Mampong and in 1974, a Babies Home in Mampong. They deemed it necessary to name their schools after Monica, the first female African Saint.

Sister Mabel + OHP was the first headmistress from 1946-1949. She was in charge of both the
Training College and the Secondary School. Most of the students came from Accra Bishop’s
Girls’ School, St Monica’s School in Cape Coast and the St. Monica’s basic and middle Schools
in Mampong.

It was therefore an institution full of girls from mostly Southern Ghana, precisely Accra and Cape Coast. It was interesting to come to a school in the heart of Ashanti Region where Ga was one of the main languages spoken by the students. Most of the Akan students then, learnt how to speak Ga at St Monica’s Secondary School, Mampong-Ashanti.
Sister Ellen + OHP took over from Sister Mabel in 1949 and was the headmistress from 1949-1953. One remarkable thing she did was to form a Drama Group which included dancing. St. Monica’s became a multi-cultural campus where most of the culture and dance of ethnic groups were practiced and displayed. She also formed a debating club in the school.

Sister Francis Claire + OHP took over in 1954 and was the headmistress to 1968. For the records, she was the longest serving headmistress. She served for 14 years. She was also a French teacher in the school. By 1958, the secondary school was well staffed, well equipped and running smoothly. It was her tenure that the secondary school finally separated from the Training College.
In the words of the late Professor Marian Ewurama Addy, who was an old girl, “Saint Monica’s Secondary School in the 1950s and 60s was one of the finest schools in the country. It was relatively small with only one stream of students, approximately 30 students, in each class. We had good teachers, especially in the arts, and not enough teachers in the sciences”.

Sister Stella Mary + OHP took over in 1969. The school had no science Sixth Form. Sister Stella Mary brought new vigor and interest to science lessons and the girls responded well. By the 1970’s the school was in a very good shape and the Nuns were fully in charge of administering the need of every facet of the school. They began to put their heads together on how and when to hand over the school to Ghanaians. Sister Stella Mary who had been headmistress from 1969 stepped down in 1975 and handed over to Miss Grace P. Bonney ( the first Ghanaian headmistress) in 1976. The Nuns of the OHP handed over the school to the government and the Anglican Church in one piece as one of the finest girls’ schools in the country.

Ms. Grace P. Bonney acted as the headmistress before October 1975 and subsequently became the head in 1976. Ms. Bonney was a hard core disciplinarian. She walked stealthily as if she was going to catch a thief when going on inspection during prep in the evenings. Common sense will tell you to behave when you are trying to misbehave, you turn your head and there she was, standing on the corridor and looking straight into your eyes. She was firm in her decisions and took the school to another school level.

Mrs. Mary Akowuah took over from 1988 – 1999. She was a motherly and paid particular interest in every student. Mrs. Dorothy Mansah Offei became the headmistress from 2000 – 2007. She was very conscious of maintaining the academic standards. The school continued to churn out brilliant students in their final examinations. Due to the perennial water challenges in the school, she applied to the GETFUND for a water tanker and a bus and they were duly delivered to the school.
Mrs. Mary Owusu Agyemang became the headmistress from 2007-2014. She will be
remembered for her keen interest in infrastructure. The numbers in the school when she was a student had quadrupled and yet they were using the same facilities. It was during her tenure that another house – Yinkah Sarfo was built and an Annex was added to Daly House. Another floor
of classrooms was added to the original classroom block, a new science block and a computer laboratory.

Ms. Felecia Osei Manu was the headmistress from 2014 – 2018. She completed from where her predecessor left. She completed the new administration block started by Mrs. Mary Owusu Agyemang, paved most of the compound and changed most of the furniture at the library. Ms. Esther Ntodwah took over in May 2018 and is the current headmistress at the school. We wish her God’s blessings and pray that she will, with the support of all Old Girls and the Anglican Church in particular move the school to its pride of place in the very near future.