St Bernard’s Middle School

St Bernard’s Middle School

St. Bernard’s Middle School has always aimed at creating a happy, caring and safe environment conducive to the acquisition of the appropriate skills, concepts, social values and self-confidence, necessary for the full development of its pupils both as individuals and as members of the wider community.

School History The area now used as St. Bernard’s Middle School was once owned by Juan Mateos. A colourful figure in Gibraltar’s Spanish past, he turned his large townhouse in the area into a refuge for the sick. Despite having actively defended Gibraltar from Barbary pirates he was moved by the plight of sick sailors and local inhabitants.

The area now used as St. Bernard’s Middle School was once owned by Juan Mateos. A colourful figure in Gibraltar’s Spanish past, he turned his large townhouse in the area into a refuge for the sick. Despite having actively defended Gibraltar from Barbary pirates he was moved by the plight of sick sailors and local inhabitants. Indeed he raised most of the money needed himself which led to the Bishop of Cadiz to get the Order of St. John to take over the running of the hospital in 1591. The hospital now carried the name San Juan de Dios, colloquially known as the ‘hospital on the hill’.

With the capture by the British and Dutch in 1704, most Catholic places of renown were taken over by the military and San Juan de Dios took the name of the ‘Blue Barracks’, its name derived from the beautiful blue tiles it had from the earlier days. The military used it as a store until the mid 19th Century when it alternated as a hospital for the Army and Navy. It ultimately housed the first companies of the Solider Artificers, responsible for digging the first tunnels in the Rock. The building was heavily damaged during the Great Siege (1779-1783) and the site remained derelict.

The site was redeveloped into the Colonial Hospital at the behest of Governor Sir George Don who had to remain abroad a ship for a few months due to an outbreak of Yellow Fever. Local Gibraltarian architect Giovanni Maria Boschetti designed what was eventually known as the Civilian Hospital, later renamed as the Colonial Hospital, Its facade dates from an 1882 renovation, the plaques bearing the snake of Aesculapius also date from this time.

The name St. Bernard’s Hospital was chosen by Hospital Chaplain Lous Orfila in 1963 at the request of the local government seeking a change from the dated ‘colonial’ tag. St Bernard of Clairvaux had been the patron saint of Gibraltar since the days of the Spanish reconquest on the 20th August 1462. The site was to carry this name until the move to the new hospital. St. Bernard’s Middle School carries on this proud tradition into a new era.