Saint Ignatius College (Zimbabwe)

St Ignatius College, is a high school near Harare, Zimbabwe.

St Ignatius College is a Catholic Jesuit College outside Harare in Chishawasha. (Google Earth location: 17°45'9.40"S and 31°13'20.02"E.) The school is all male for forms one to four and is co-ed for A Level students. The school only accepts students of high academic merit along the same lines as a grammar school by English standards. The students perform well in the national exams with a pass range typically between 98% and 100%.

St. Ignatius College is a full time boarding school with commendable academic, social and behavioural merit. It is related to the St Ignatius' College in England via the Jesuits who founded the college in the early 60s.

Some contributors to the Ignatian tradition of excellence

Several dedicated Jesuit fathers have spent a long time at St Ignatius College and are an indelible part of the history of the College. Father Gregory Xavier Croft S.J. spent most of his working life developing science education at St Ignatius and in Zimbabwe as a whole. He developed some of the best school laboratories for Physics, biology and Chemistry found in Zimbabwe. He was particularly well known for his ability to fabricate equipment for Physics teaching from discarded equipment. In the early 1980s he salvaged batteries (Li-Alkalines) from a Rhodesian boat that was sunk during the 1970s war in Kariba, brought them back to life and used them as DC power sources for more than 15 years. Fr. Croft designed and produced several science equipment items for the Zim-Sci Project that was developed in Zimbabwe in the years of rapid expansion of secondary education in the early 80s. He co-authored Science for Zimbabwe, one of the first science textbooks written after independence in 1980. He retired in 1991 and continued with his passion for Physics at St Alberts in Mt Darwin, then moving on to St Boniface in Magunje. He died peacefully in Garnet House Harare in 2000.
Father Anthony Watsham S.J. was a biologist extra-ordinaire, becoming a world class authority in entomology. He spent much of his free time in the company of animals, dogs, birds and even a baboon 'Bibiana' at one time. A painter of great imagination, he decorated the Jesuit house at St Ignatius with brilliant abstract art. Some remember his extensive beard and soft spoken witty humor. One of his greatest academic achievements was to study and document the tiny spider that lives inside figs. The organism is now appropriately named the Watshamite.

Fr Paul Edwards S.J. who served as Rector for close to a decade in the 1990s, taught Religious Education and coached both swimming and rugby, and additionally patron of The Chess team. Brother Fitz Fitzsimmons, who served as both the school's Senior Accountant, as well as Boarding Master of Junior House, since the college's founding.

The Ignatian tradition of academic excellence was further solidified in the 1990s under the visionary leadership and inspiration of the legendary Headmasters Father Barridge and Edwards. This period saw St Ignatius surpass all its academic records, achieving 100% pass rate at O Level for five years in a row. In the same period, the Quiz Team won two Regional Quiz crowns, as well as two consecutive National Quiz Championships in 1996 as well as 1997, with record points scored in the history of the competition. These years can arguably be considered the purple decade of the college. Under the leadership of Bruce Mubaiwa (GrandMaster), The Chess Team dominated the National Chess scene, alongside the Prince Edward High School team led by Robert Gwaze, (now International GrandMaster). Sport also thrived during these years. Unprecedented success in rugby, under then Coach "Winnabe" Mudavanhu saw the rugby team, the Hounds become a competitive force at the Annual Cottco Rugby Festival.

Life at St Ignatius

Students live together based on their form level: students in forms 1 and 2 live in Junior House; students in forms 3 and 4 live in Middle House; and in forms 5 and 6, male students live in Senior House, and female students live in Mary Ward House.

Student life at St. Ignatius is dominated by three main houses, separate from living accommodations, named Mkasa, Kagwa, and Lwanga. These groups compete with each other within the school for athletic, academic, and extra-cirricular accolades.

Sporting disciplines offered at the college include Rugby, Basketbell, Hockey, Swimming, Volley ball, Soccer, and Tennis.

It is also the alma mater of Dr Nkosana Moyo a former Government minister and a partner of Actis, a London based Emerging Markets Private Equity firm, Dr Julius Makoni the founding CEO of the London listed NMB Bank, and Godfrey Chidyausiku the country's Chief Justice.

Some teachers and Staff that once served at St Ignatius College

Mr Goredema, Mr H Nyakurwa (Shona, one of the longest serving teachers), Mr S Gariwe (Deputy head /Geography), Phil Ainslee, Mr Dafi, Mr Francis Mavhunga (Replaced Fr Croft in Physics), Mr L Madzimure (Biology), Mr Chikuni (TD), Mr Makamure (Maths), Mr Mukondo (Chemistry), Mr Gift Nyanhi (Chemistry) Sister Christopher, Sister Eustina, Sister Jossie, Sister Salome (Mary Ward), Sister Camilla, Sister Joana, Mr John Chaire (Driver and Works foreman), Themba Mfondo (Physics Lab technician and driver), Joseph Gufu (Chemistry), Brother Kizito, Mr Chizunza(Technical Graphics), Mr Zinyemba (Geography), Mr Simeon (Biology), Mr Mugoromi (English), Mr L Madyangove(Headmaster)

The Head of The Prefecture at St Ignatius is known as the School Captain. Among the leading school captains of the last fifteen years are Mazadza (1994), Goodwill Chahwahwa (1995), Takura Zhangazha (1996), Tendai Mutsinze (1997), Munyaradzi Tagwireyi (1998), Munya Soko (1999), Michael Reid (2000), Tafadzwa Mabika (2001), Clive Munemo (2002)....Hubert Washaya (2006), Garikai Matambo (2007)and Danai Katsande (2008)

For a fuller list of former students, please see Saint Ignatius College (Zimbabwe) Alma mater