Our History

During the Japanese occupation of Sarawak, the priests of British and Dutch nationality were detained at the Batu Lintang concentration camp. The school building was taken over by the Japanese who paid rental to the Catholic Mission for use by the navy and army. St Joseph’s School started again in 1945 after liberation from the Japanese.

In 1946, Sarawak became a British colony. The British administration wished to see an expansion in the field of education. With the expansion envisaged and due to the heavy demand of their missionary work, the Mill Hill missionary priests felt that they could not carry out both ministries efficiently and effectively.

They decided to hand over the running of the school to the services of the world renowned Christian Brothers (or Brothers of St John Baptist de la Salle or the La Salle Brothers) in 1950. Br Patrick O’Donovan, a veteran educationist with the proud record of 40 years of devoted service in Malaya, took over the directorship of the school. Most of those who were privileged to experience this changeover must have felt it was another case of “The old order changeth, giving place to the new.” But it was not quite that; for, as Br Patrick very aptly remarked in his reply, “the Mill Hill Fathers have borne the burden of the heat and the day; they have sown the good seed, and we, the Brothers, have come merely to reap the harvest.” Visit the website of the Christian Brothers.

The Brothers set up a Prefects’ Board and a House System for studies and sports. The school motto, “Ora et labora” was introduced. The school song was borrowed from St Joseph’s Institution from Singapore, having been composed by Br Marcian, an Irishman teaching there. He adapted the school rally from an old Irish song called “O’Donnell Abu.”

Since the introduction of the common entrance examination for promotion to Form One and the government policy of providing places in Form One for only 30% of Primary Six leavers, there was a need for a private school to absorb those who could not enter Form One. Many were quite good students.

Therefore, in 1962, the private St Joseph’s School was opened in the afternoon in the classes used by the Primary School in the morning. It was clear from the beginning that this could not continue for long and it must get its own premises apart and distinct from St Joseph’s School.

This school was relocated to Jalan Stampin Timur in 1966 under the name of St Patrick’s Private School in honour of Br Patrick, the first La Salle principal. This school was to continue to function until December 1992. By then, because of automatic promotion from primary to secondary school and most students being promoted from Form 3 to Form 4 in government and government-aided schools, the intake of students into St Patrick’s had fallen greatly. During its twenty six years of existence, St Patrick’s School served its purpose very well and helped many deserving boys and girls to get a secondary education which they might not have obtained otherwise.

In 1963, a separate building for the Primary School was opened.

In the early 1960s, St Joseph’s School became part of the Malaysian government-aided school system.  With this system, the management of the school was slowly taken over by the Malaysian Ministry of Education. In 1973, with the introduction of the Sarawak Service Scheme, teachers in government-aided schools were absorbed into government service on the same term as teachers in government schools, and therefore became subject to transfer to other aided schools or government schools. By this scheme, the Catholic school authorities lost control over the recruitment and appointment of teaching staff which came under the control of the Education Department.

Another change in the education scene in the 1970s was the change in the medium of instruction. When Sarawak formed Malaysia with partners from the Malay Peninsular, it was agreed that English would remain the medium of instruction in all schools for the first ten years at least and this policy would then be subject to review. The change to Bahasa Malaysia was introduced into Primary One classes throughout Sarawak at the beginning of 1977, reaching Form Five only in 1987. That is why St Joseph’s School in Bahasa Malaysia came to be known as Sekolah Rendah Bantuan (SRB) and Sekolah Menengah Bantuan (SMB) St Joseph. Later when both schools became fully government-run, they are known as Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) St Joseph.

In 1988, Br Columba Gleeson retired as Principal, bringing to an end the 35 year administration of the La Salle Brothers, as well as the era of the Fathers and Brothers in the administration of the school.

Like the Mill Hill Fathers before them, the La Salle Brothers were forced by changing circumstances and necessity to relinquish the administration and management of the school. Among these were the increasing age of the Brothers in Kuching, the lack of vocations to the La Salle congregation and changes in the education and immigration policy.

From then on, the school has always had a lay person as principal.

A substantial number of past and present leaders of Sarawak and Malaysia are “products” of St Joseph’s School.  More than 100 years on, this same school is still producing outstanding SPM and STPM graduates.