Former Christian Brothers school building, now Gibraltar’s Prior Park School.
Christian Brothers School in Gibraltar began after the Brothers arrived in 1835 and founded a Catholic school. It later became a technical school, then Gibraltar Grammar School in 1950. After comprehensive education reforms, it closed in 1977. The refurbished Sacred Heart Terrace building now houses Prior Park School, a Catholic independent secondary school.
Christian Brothers School was a longstanding Catholic educational institution in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It originated when the Christian Brothers arrived on 28 October 1835 and set up a school there. At that time about 260 pupils relied on a mock school at Gunners’ Parade, and reports described the children as extremely ignorant, without knowledge of the English language, complicating the Brothers’ use of English textbooks. Others suggested the difficulty arose because the Brothers could not speak Spanish and the children had not learnt English. The new school was explicitly Catholic, in contrast to the public school in Flat Bastion Road and the Methodist school run by William Harris Rule and his wife. The Brothers became associated with the building at Sacred Heart Terrace, constructed in 1884 with funds from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Gibraltar and the Government of Gibraltar, and extended by 1891. The school functioned as a technical school in the 1930s and became Gibraltar Grammar School in 1950, with further extensions in the 1960s. Comprehensive education in the 1970s led to its closure and abandonment in 1977. The Brothers received the Freedom of the City on 25 June 1977 and soon left Gibraltar. The refurbished building is now used by Prior Park School.
