华文名：圣母圣诞圣婴女校

History

CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity is one of the 11 schools set up by the Infant Jesus (IJ) Sisters in Singapore. Originally known as CHIJ Ponggol, it was renamed CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity in January 2001.

In the mid-1950s, Rev. Mother St John, who was then the IJ Reverend Mother Superior, realised the pressing need for an English-medium girls’ school in Ponggol. The Archbishop of Singapore provided land for the project, and CHIJ Punggol was thus set up in 1957.

At its inception, the school in Ponggol came under the wing of St Joseph’s Convent. The first class of the school started in January 1957, well before the school building was actually completed. This was a Primary One class taught by Ms Magdalene Goh, a teacher from St Joseph’s Convent, and the class was located in Holy Innocents’ Chinese Girls’ School. Over the year, this one class grew into three; by the time the school building was ready at the end of the year, the three classes were ready to move in.

Over the next 60 years, the school grew, both physically and in terms of enrolment. This resulted in it acquiring first a building vacated by Holy Innocents’ Girls’ School in January 1988 and then in December 2000, moving into a new school building built at the former Montfort School site on Upper Serangoon Road. Later in 2019, the school completed another building project to provide its students with an additional classroom annex and an indoor sports hall. Through the years, the school population has grown from its initial class of 38 pupils in 1957 to its current 1,424 girls in 44 classes.

However, throughout all its physical changes, one thing always remains constant: the school remains focused on providing a nurturing and supportive learning environment where its pupils are developed to their fullest potential through learning experiences and programmes with strong emphasis on character development and alignment with the IJ Mission. Embodying the IJ Spirit, students of CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity are ready to serve others and make a difference.