by Located in the Greater Accra Region’s Osu region, St. Thomas Aquinas Senior High School is a public day senior high school for boys in Ghana. Currently, the school is situated in the Accra suburb of Cantonments. It was primarily founded to educate boys from the Accra Archdiocese whose parents were unable to pay for the expensive boarding school tuition at the time. It was one of the five secondary institutions founded in 1952. The school moved to its current, permanent location on Cantonment Street in Osu in September 1963.
The school is located across from the Civil Service Training School and the offices of the European Union. It is sandwiched between the Embassy of Togo to the north and the Cantonment Police Station to the south, and it is easily accessible to Oxford Street, Osu’s main business and administrative district.
Academics
Five academic programmes and nine streams are offered by the school.
Affiliation
STAAGA (St. Thomas Aquinas Accra Girls group), a powerful student group that aims to provide entertainment, social activities, and intellectual exchange, unites Aquinas with Accra Girls Senior High institution, its sister institution.
Motto and slogan
The Latin translation of the school’s motto, Veritas Liberat, which means “The truth sets you free,” is Veritas vos liberabit, which appears in John 8:32 in the Gospel of John.
The word “beebɫ,” which means “there is no time to waste” or “waste no time” in Ghanaian, is used as the motto.
Uniform
The kids are dressed in matching brown Khaki shorts with a white shirt bearing the school’s emblem, Veritas Liberat, which is a prominent engraving that reads, “only the truth can set you free.” Nonetheless, the customary white shirt that the founding fathers wore on Fridays has been replaced in modern times by a light-blue shirt for final-year students and school cloth, a material imprinted with the school symbol.
Awards
According to data from the Education Ministry, the school dominated West Africa in the Advanced Level Certificate Examination for three years in a row, 1972, 1973, and 1974. The school took first place in the London-based World Cadet Championship in 2004. The institution was named Ghana’s All-Around Best High School in 2013.[Reference required] The school won the National Science and Maths Quiz Competition that same year (2013).
2013’s National Science and Maths Quiz was won by the school. The only school that is day only to have won the trophy is St. Thomas Aquinas SHS.
The school won the inaugural Science and Technology Fair in 2013, which was put on by the non-governmental organisation Young Educators Foundation (YEF), which is focused on education. After a four-year break, the school won the 2017 National Science and Technology Fair, which is now supported by the government.
The school kept its 100% pass rate in the 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
When the programme was originally implemented in the second academic cycle, the school took first place in the Moot Court Competition.
The school won the Gender Inequality Debate in 2019.
Chronological list of headmasters
Name Period
January 1952–March 1954: Rev. Fr. A. Elsbernd
Father C. Hotze, Rev. April through April of 1956
Fr. J. Mckillip, Rev. August 1957 – May 1956
September 1957 – September 1958: Rev. Fr. E. Datig
Father M. Lessage, Rev. September 1968 – July 1958
Fr. J. Mckillip, Rev. 1968 September through June
From September 1978 to August 1980, Mr. D. D. Dumfeh
C. K. Koomsom, Mr. September 1985 – October 1980
Father S. K. Batsa, Rev. 1985 September through January
F. K. Bebli, Sr. 2003 September – 2010 March
Francis Ahia, from March 2010 to March 2013.
2013–2016: Mr. James Dapaah Asamoah
January 2016 – August 2018: Mr. Cyril Kwadzo Dadey
Paul Amoasi Baidoo, from November 2018 until now
Postdated accolades and achievements
The academic offerings of the school have grown to include business studies, agricultural sciences, and visual arts by 2012, when it celebrated its golden jubilee.
With a headmaster’s dwelling, a one-story block academic staff residence, a hostel facility, and a student canteen, staff bungalows started to appear on campus.
Notable alumni
List of eminent graduates
Religion, politics, and academia
Former pro vice chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, and vice chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, is Professor John Owusu Gyapong.
Professor George Hagan is a politician and professor who ran for president in Ghana’s 2000 general elections on behalf of the Convention People’s Party.
The University of Professional Studies’ vice chancellor, professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey
Professor Nii Ashie Kotey is an academic who serves as an active justice on the Supreme Court of Ghana from 2018 to the present. He was also the acting director of the Ghana School of Law, dean of the faculty of law at the University of Ghana in Legon, and the former chief executive of the Ghana Forestry Commission. He served as a director of the General Legal Council as well as the Ghana Legal Literacy and Resource Foundation.
1978 year group: Rt. Rev. D. S. M. Torto, bishop of the Accra Anglican Diocese
The Yendi Diocese’s Catholic bishop, Most Rev. Vincent Boi-Nai
The Right Reverend Gabriel Edoe Kumordji
Bishop of Keta-Akatsi Diocese, Catholic
Politician Lord Oblitey Commey is the Director of Operations of The Flagstaff House, the President of Ghana’s official residence and office.
Ledzokuku Constituency Member of Parliament, Hon. Benjamin Ayiku Narteh
Sports and entertainment
DJ Vyrusky Kofi Amoako is the official DJ for Lynx Entertainment and Shatta Wale.
Football player Laud Quartey
Gourmet chef and food stylist Elijah Amoo Addo
Former player for Black Stars and Hearts of Oak, Yaw Amankwah Mireku.
Abel Manomey, a former outstanding athlete from Dreams and the Olympics.
