St. John’s College (Select School) was founded in 1887 by Father Cassian Gillett (Jesuit) populated by young men. SJC was first located at the Catholic Presbytery, Holy Redeemer Cathedral in Belize City.

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In February 1896, it moved from the Catholic Presbytery and changed its name from the Select School to St. John’s College under the direction of Fr. William J. Wallace. Due to rapid expansion, the school relocated in the mangrove fields one mile south of the edge of Belize City town. On July 17, 1917, the faculty and students moved to the campus known as the Loyola Park. In the year 1929 there were 90 students enrolled at the College.



In 1931 on September 11, the country of Belize experienced a catastrophic Hurricane (Hattie) were 11 Jesuits died and the campus was deteriorated. The destruction of the campus required the school’s return to the cathedral in the centre of town for “temporary” quarters.



In 1952 St. John’s College finally moved to their new and current campus named after the Central American poet and renowned scholar, Rafael Landivar, S.J.  

In 1947, St. John’s College pioneered an adult evening education with the inauguration of an adult education program, called the Extension School. The first class enrolled of 55 men and 27 women began a program aimed at providing leadership training for people desired a post-secondary education. The roster of students in those early days included the names of men who went on to lead Belize’s independence movement. Under the direction of Fr. John Stochl, it began offering high school equivalency courses in 1965 to young men and women who were unable to attend or complete a regular secondary school program.

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In the year 2012 the school restructured, and The Extension Department was closed in September of that same year.   

In early 1952, in response to the growing need in Belize for higher levels of academic training, St. John’s College expanded its traditional four-year high school program, offering a limited number of post-secondary school courses under the direction of Father Robert Raszkowski, S.J. Over time, these limited offerings expanded into what, in the British tradition, is called Sixth Form, a two-year program leading to Advanced Level Examinations, or simply, the “A-Levels.” These external examinations are set by Cambridge University.

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In the mid-1960’s, SJC broadened the program of studies so that it met the requirements of the Associate Degree awarded by junior and community colleges in the United States. This provided graduates of St. John’s College Sixth Form a choice of further studies: they could enter Commonwealth Universities which require Cambridge “A Level” certificates or Unites States Universities as transfer students into the third year of an undergraduate degree program. In 1960, St. John’s College Sixth Form was granted membership in the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges.

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Jesuit education is a call to human excellence, to the fullest possible development of all human qualities. It is a call to critical thinking and disciplined studies, a call to develop the whole person, head and heart, intellect and feelings.

Jesuit Education



Jesuit education systematically incorporates methods from a variety of sources which better contribute to the intellectual, social, moral, and religious formation of the whole person. In the underlying principle of Tantum Quantum, that which may work better is adopted and assessed while that which is proven ineffective is discarded.



Jesuit education presents academic subjects out of a human "centeredness", with stress on uncovering and exploring the patterns, relationships, facts, questions, insights, conclusions, problems, solutions, and implications which a particular discipline brings to light about what it means to be a human being.

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The Jesuit of Belize has been pioneers of SJC since initiation. The Jesuit Community was was Father Cassian Gillett, one of the four brothers, all British Province Jesuits priests who arrived in Belize in the 1880’s. Father Gillett’s school opened its doors in 1887 with a grand total enrollment of twelve day-students and two boarders.