Our History
The Preparatory School, 1959
The original ‘Old Mission School’ circa 1938
The Preparatory School, 1959
St. Andrew’s began its life in the late 1920s/early 30s as one of a group of small private schools run in Blantyre, Limbe and Zomba.
In 1937, an agreement was signed between the Church of Scotland Mission and the Nyasaland Government for the establishment, in Blantyre, of a Primary School for European children. The Government advanced (on loan) the sum of £2,500 and the Church of Scotland Mission agreed to give use of their land and build the school.
Building commenced in 1938, and St Andrew’s was selected as the name for the new school. The school opened in May with 14 pupils. At that time, both the primary and secondary schools were on the same plot. The original site is the current Maiwaitu Laboratory site.
As numbers grew, it was decided to split the school. Construction started in Nyambadwe in 1955 for the new High School and in 1957, building of the new ‘junior’ school began in Sunnyside.
The current St. Andrew’s school was officially opened on 11th July 1959, under the name of St. Andrew’s Preparatory School.
The country achieved full independence, as Malawi, in July 1964 and control of the school was ceded to the new Government. Two years later, Malawi became a Republic and in 1977, St. Andrew’s was made a Government School under the auspices of the ‘Designated School’s Board’ and the school crest was changed.
The school crest incorporates both the St. Andrew’s Cross and the Nyasaland Shield. The cross refers to St. Andrew, one of Jesus’ apostles who was crucified on an ‘X’ shaped cross in Greece, 70AD. The Nyasaland Shield shows a rising sun and a leopard, a creature who is both common and troublesome in such a hilly country as Malawi.
The school’s motto is ‘Disce Prodesse’, which means to ‘Learn to be of Service’. It is intended to convey the hopes that children leaving St. Andrews will become educated citizens in the widest sense of the term, with a full sense of responsibility to the communities in which they live.