Bishop Anstey High School

Bishop Anstey High School
Bishop Anstey High School Crest
Location
145 Abercromby Street Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago
Information
Type	Anglican (Government-assisted) high school for girls
Motto	Non sine pulvere palmam ( Not without dust the palm-No reward without effort)
Patron saint(s)	St. Hilary
Established	1921
Color(s)	Red, black, navy blue
Website	bahs.edu.tt

Bishop Anstey High School (also called Bishop Anstey or St. Hilary's), is a government-assisted all-girls secondary school in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, that was founded by the Anglican Bishop Arthur Henry Anstey and opened on January 13, 1921. The school is governed by a Board of Management appointed and chaired by the Bishop of Trinidad and Tobago. Its assets are controlled and managed by a corporate body known as The Bishop Anstey Association.

The founder's intent was to ensure that girls should be given the same opportunities to an exceptional education that had already been given to boys for nearly a century; girls should be given such educational opportunities regardless of their racial and/or socio-economic background; girls of all religious persuasions should be welcomed, but taught according to an Anglican ethos in order to encourage them to fulfill their true potential.

The school's first principal was Miss Stephens, known to the girls and their parents as "Madam". In order to realize the founder's intent, Miss Stephens established a social and academic rigour that, over the years, has become the school's hallmark of tradition and excellence.

The Bishop's Girl: Local legend says that Bishop Anstey High School produces the "Bishop's Girl". Criteria established for this designation are as follows: intelligent, strong-minded, decisive, well-balanced in her pursuit of academic as well as aesthetic explorations, comfortable with the realities of social change and willing to take risks to achieve whatever may be important to her. The "Bishop's Girl" traditionally believes that her sister-Hilarians are kindred spirits. As such, they will challenge her intellectually and at the same time support her in facing down the barriers she will (inevitably) encounter as she makes her way through personal growth towards success and public recognition.

School Song = Non Nobis Domine

School Hymn = Who would true valour see

The original uniform was a heavy long serge pleated skirt, shapeless white blouse - that had to fall nine inches below the waist - knickers, black laced-up shoes, a red and black striped tie and a broad-brimmed Panama hat.

The social revolution that seemed to take place in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1950s was also marked at Bishop Anstey by a significant change in the school uniform. During this time, the original uniform was replaced with a fashionable six-gore moygashel linen skirt (which was easier to launder), a smart white blouse that sat on the hip, the red and black striped tie that usually sported a huge "Frank Sinatra" knot, casual softer shoes with white socks and the pièce de résistance - the BAHS hat. Made of heavy navy blue wool, this hat was contributed to the uniform when it was brought back from England by a much-admired History teacher, Valerie Kelshall.