About Us

Our Founder - Father Nicholas Barre (1621 - 1686)

The CHIJ school was founded in 1662 in France by a priest called Father Nicholas Barre, particularly for poor French girls. A community called 'The Sisters of the Christian and Charitable Schools of the Holy Infant Jesus' was formed by Father Barre to help him run the school.

The Order founded then spread to Malaya and Singapore. The CHIJ Sisters first arrived in Penang in 1852. In 1854, Mother Matilde, and three Sisters of the Order arrived in Singapore and started the Infant Jesus Convent in Victoria Street. Over the years, more schools were established by the HIJ Sisters.

CHIJ Our Lady Of Good Counsel is but one of its branches of eleven schools.

The Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel, as the school was originally called, was established in 1960 in a single building block with its main school gate at Cooling Close, Serangoon Gardens. At that time, the school was built to cater to the schooling needs of the families living in Serangoon Gardens as well as in the rural areas of Yio Chu Kang and Seletar Hills.

Soon, because of an overwhelming enrolment, an extension was added and this was completed in 1964. The school became a full school in 1967 when the primary classes graduated into secondary ones.

In 1970, the Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Joseph's Convent, another IJ school at Hillside Drive, changed from full school status to primary school and secondary school respectively. The secondary pupils of the school were transferred to St Joseph's Convent while the primary pupils came over to the Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

In the mid 1980s, the school was renovated and extended again and the main school gate was relocated to Burghley Drive. The extension was completed in 1988 to become the beautiful school it is today.