Philadelphia High School for Girls

Philadelphia High School for Girls
Address
1400 West Olney Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
Information
Type	Public magnet school
Motto	Vincit Qui Se Vincit (She conquers, who conquers herself)
Established	1848
School district	School District of Philadelphia
Principal	Dr. Parthenia Moore
Grades	9–12
Gender	Girls
Enrollment	> 1000
Website	http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/girlshigh/

The Philadelphia High School for Girls, also known as Girls' High, is a public university-preparatory magnet high school for girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. As its name suggests, the school's enrollment is all female.

Established in 1848, it was one of the first public schools for women. It is a magnet school in the School District of Philadelphia with a competitive admissions process. Vincit qui se vincit (she conquers who conquers herself) is the school’s motto. The school is located at Broad Street and Olney Avenue in the Olney section of Philadelphia.

In 1848, The Girls Normal School was established as the first secondary public school for women in Pennsylvania. It was also the first municipally supported teachers' school in the U.S. The first instructional session was held on February 1, 1848. By June 1848, there were 149 enrolled students which was an incredibly large enrollment for a school at that time. The school continued to grow forcing a move in 1854 to Sergeant Street between Ninth and Tenth Streets.

In April 1854, the name of the school was changed to the Girls’ High School of Philadelphia. By June 1860, 65 graduates had received diplomas bearing the Girls’ High School name. In 1860, the name of the school was again changed to The Girls’ High and Normal School to better define the "design of the institution" as a school for an education confined to academic subjects and for future teachers.

In October 1876, a new school which "for convenience and comfort will probably have no superior" was constructed at Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets. At the time it was surpassed in size only by Girard College and the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1893, the High School and Normal School were separated into two distinct institutions. It was at this time that the institution became known as the Philadelphia High School for Girls. The school offered three parallel courses: a general course of three years with a possible postgraduate year, a classical course of four years, and a business course of three years. In 1898, a Latin-Scientific Course "was designed to prepare students for the Women's Medical College, Cornell, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Barnard, or such courses in the University of Pennsylvania as were open to women."

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