Maris Stella High School

Founding

Maris Stella High School was founded in 1958 by the international Marist Brothers to ease overwhelming applications for admission to Catholic High School.^[5] The school begun operations with eleven teachers, running a primary section of 163 students and a secondary section of 124 students. Academic lessons took place in the afternoon at St. Stephen's School in Siglap.^[6]

As enrolment rose, other schools were approached for assistance in lesson grounds. Between 1963 and 1966, Maris Stella High School functioned concurrently at different premises. Among them were Silat Road Government Integrated Primary School, St. Patrick's School, Opera Estate Convent, Tung Ling English School, and Jalan Kembangan Integrated Primary School. Numerous issues plagued the institution, both in administration as well as in conducting lessons, as the premises used were miles apart.^[6] The school also ran pre-university classes between 1964 and 1975.^[7]

Mount Vernon campus

On 22 October 1966, Maris Stella High School moved into a permanent campus at Mount Vernon Road. The campus was built with fifteen classrooms and a four-storey science block. A grand celebration was held to mark the official opening of the new school.^[6] In 1969, the second phrase of the campus development was completed, consisting of an administrative block and a 1600-seat auditorium. In total, these two phases of development cost over S$1.3 million.^[8]

In 1974, the development project for the expansion of the campus was launched. The new five-storey building for the primary section was completed by the end of October 1975, at a cost of about $1.1 million. The new building was officially declared open on 11 September 1976.^[6]

A separate 3.11 hectares site for the primary section was acquired in 1982, which was adjacent to the present school building. A designated three-storey school building was built and opened in 1987, and that year, in order to cope with its large student population, the primary and secondary sections were split into independently functioning entities.^[9]

Attainment of SAP status

By the late 1970s, The Straits Times reported that the school's academic performance was good, having a pass rate of at least 97% in the Primary School Leaving Examination, and a mean pass rate of 90% in the GCE Ordinary Levels. The school was also one of the few Chinese-medium schools in Singapore at that time not facing falling primary enrolment.^[7]

In 1978, the school was selected as one of the initial list of Special Assistance Plan schools. The first batch of nine schools, including Maris Stella High, welcomed its first full cohort of Special Stream students in 1979.^[10] That same year, the school introduced instruction in English for several subjects.^[11] In line with the Ministry of Education's bilingualism policy of the late 1970s, the school introduced English-speaking days and requested students to speak English during assemblies.^[7]

Autonomous status

In 1996, Maris Stella High School became an autonomous school, the additional funds providing extra programmes and facilities.^[6] From 1995 to 1997, the school moved to a temporary site at Mount Vernon Secondary School while the school was rebuilt.^[12]

New millennia

In 2002, Maris Stella High School was designated as a Cluster Centre of Excellence for Information and Communication Technology (ICT).^[6]

On 6 May 2024, it was announced that Maris Stella High School will be rebuilt between 2027 and 2029 with the secondary and primary sections moved into different holding campuses, former Bedok North Secondary School site in Jalan Damai and former MacPherson Primary School site in Mattar Road respectively, in 2027.^[13] It was also announced the all boys primary section will be converted into co-educational with female students intake from 2027 while the secondary section remains as an all boys school.^[13]