Brent International School Baguio (1909-2009)
Celebrates 100 years
“A Legacy of Learning” In March 2009, Brent International School Baguio is celebrating its Centennial – 100 years as an institution with 100 years of a proud tradition of academic excellence. The original Brent School was named after its founder, Bishop Charles Henry Brent, the first Episcopal Bishop of the Philippines. The school began as a boarding school for boys in 1909 on a sprawling twelve hectare campus set 5,000 ft. above sea level in the northern mountains on the largest Philippine island of Luzon.
were admitted on the basis of character as well as scholarship, and this paved way for Brent to become even more international in nature and outlook. A number of years later, after many new facilities and growth in enrollment, the school’s existence was challenged again with the devastating earthquake that hit Baguio in July 1990. After immediate rebuilding and rehabilitation, the school opened for classes by August of that same year! That event was a testament to Brent Baguio’s determination to rise from the ruins and overcome hardships. On 15 March 2002, the Philippine National Historical Institute granted Brent School the distinction of being a National Historical Site – the second site to be recognized in Baguio City! To this day, Ogilby Hall on the Brent campus holds the distinction of being the oldest wooden building in Baguio still in use for its original purpose.
Baguio School 1909 First Students Brent School has faced many challenges over the past 100 years as it has continued to remain true to its calling. It struggled through the First World War with very few students. In 1925, a girl’s boarding house was added and Brent became the first coeducational boarding school in East Asia. During World War II, the school was closed as Japanese forces used the campus for a hospital and as a military officer’s residence. During that period, the school functioned as best it could from the internment camp known as Camp Holmes. The start of a new era in the school’s history came with the reopening of Brent School in November 1947. At that time, students
As Brent School was celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary in Baguio in 1984, a group of parents from the international community in Manila successfully requested the creation of a Brent Campus in Manila, and thus began Brent International School Manila. Growth of the Brent philosophy continued as the next Brent School opened in Subic Bay in 1994 with Father Gabriel Dimanche as the Headmaster. Today, Brent has three separately incorporated international schools with a total enrolment close to 2,000 students. The original Brent Baguio has 280 students, Brent Manila, now twenty-five years old, has 1,200 students, and the fifteen-year-old Brent Subic has 450 students. While separately incorporated, all three schools operate with the same mission statement and the same educational philosophy. Additionally, all three schools have one Headmaster, Mr. Dick Robbins. Headmaster Robbins was tasked with bringing the schools together as far as the educational programs and academic offerings in each location are concerned, and that initiative is in its final stages.
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