St. Denys High School – Pakistan:

Today I am writing about another school located in Murree Pakistan which was established long before the independence by the then bishop of Lahore for spreading education. The school is located on Kashmir Point in Murree a very famous hill station in Pakistan.

The school was established in March 1882 by the then bishop of Lahore Rt. Rev. Valpy French. During the first twelve years the school was administered and run by the Sisterhood of St. Denys. Initially the school was located at mount Oswald but was moved to Lockwood and finally to the Tonley estate where the school still exists.

In 1901 the school became the local centre for the Trinity college of London Music examinations and Miss Necker was the first local secretary. It is worth mentioning that she was instrumental in making this possible and worked hard for the school to become the centre.

In 1947 Pakistan became independent and the deaconess of St. Hildas were asked to take over the school and administer it and Miss Wakeman was appointed the principal. Long service has been the distinctive characteristics of the school and it is worth mentioning that the first three principals of the school served for more than fifteen years each. After the independence Miss Stallard and White guided the school through new era and set the standards that are maintained even today.

Avery brief history of the personalities who served as the principals is as follows; Miss Wiltshire (1882-1895), Miss Perry (1896-1900), Miss Sampson (1900-1905), Miss E. Traill-Christie (1906-1908), Miss M. Bealey (1909-1917), Miss Waterman (1918-1927), Miss Haig (1927-1942), Miss Stallard (1943-1958), Miss M. White (1960-1980), Miss Vera Chapman (1981-1982), Miss Millicent Andrews (1983-1989), Mrs. Shireen Sarfraz (1990-2001), Mrs. Zarina Salik (2002-2003), Mrs. Sarah Cecil (2004-2006) and Mrs. Noreen Suleman (2007- to date).

The school celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1982 and 125th anniversary in 2007.

A tragic incident took place on November 3, 2009 when fire broke out in the school. Since school was constructed mainly of wood the fire spread quickly and engulfed the entire building resulting in the destruction of entire school. Since school staff and administration quickly evacuated all the students no loss of life occurred. Efforts are being made to reconstruct the school and even donations are being requested.

The school has rich history and very high standard of education. The school has maintained a very high quality of education and alumni and has emerged as a strong institution and institutions never die. Hopefully the school shall be reconstructed and shall continue to serve the people.