Xavier - A Brief History

Xavier Junior High is a middle school for grade 6, 7, 8, and 9 students. It serves the communities of Deer Lake, Reidville, Cormack, Howley, St. Jude’s, Wiltondale, and Pynn’s Brook. Xavier has a reputation for being a very unique and attractive school in several ways. It is really two schools joined by an above ground link tunnel which results in a rambling maze of corridors that gives the school its distinctive character. Secondly, its curriculum is very unusual for a Newfoundland junior high school. It is a combination of traditional Department of Education offerings, combined with a wide student choice in a modular program encompassing performing arts, visual arts, journalism, instrumental music, choral music, home economics, technology, and recreational physical education.

The motto of Xavier Junior High is “Victoria Curam Amat” meaning “Victory Favours Those Who Work”. School colours are red, gold, and white, and all teams wear the name “Xavier”. The original Xavier (now the East Wing) was built in 1963 as the Roman Catholic High School for the Deer Lake-Pasadena areas, and was known at that time as St. Francis Xavier Central High School. In 1974, a new St. Francis Xavier (now the Main Wing) was completed to house Roman Catholic high school students, with the original school being renamed Immaculate Conception and housing primary and elementary students. In 1992, as the result of a joint services agreement, Xavier became the junior high school for students from the integrated and catholic systems and was renamed St. Francis Xavier Junior High. In September 1998 the entire provincial school system was re-structured, and Xavier became the junior high school for all students in Deer Lake, regardless of religion. To reflect its new identity, the school’s name was officially changed to Xavier Junior High, the name it now holds.