ACatholic institution with an English curriculum and Chinese studies, Xavier School continues educatingChinese-Filipinos as part of its original mission to evangelize them and promote their integration into Philippine society. Through its Grant-in-Aid program, the school also offers financially challenged but otherwise qualified students an opportunity of attaining a Xavier education.
Unlike other Chinese schools in the Philippines, Xavier School was founded as anall-boys institution. Its San Juan campus continues to admit only male students. Its newer Nuvali campus iscoeducational.
ManyJesuit missionaries who were expelled from China in 1949 found a new home and mission in the overseas Chinese communities in the Philippines. To facilitate their evangelization of the Chinese communities, the Jesuits decided to set up schools. One of those schools was in downtown Manila. Begging for donations by going door-to-door in Chinatown, Fr. Jean Desautels, S.J., a French-Canadian Jesuit who was part of the China mission, received financial aid from Basilio King and Ambrose Chiu, two Chinese-Filipino businessmen who wanted to help set up a Jesuit school for the Chinese.
After soliciting the necessary funds to buy a piece of land for the school campus, the Jesuits proceeded to negotiate with land owners in downtown Manila. At 3:30 pm on December 15, 1955, Fr. Desautels closed a deal and purchased a land, an hour and a half before the 5:00 pm deadline set by its seller. The group of Jesuits led by the late Frs. Jean Desautels, Louis Papilla, and Cornelius Pineau went on to found a School and named it Kuang Chi School afterPaul Hsü Kuangchi, a 16th-century Chinese nobleman and Minister of Rites during theMing Dynasty who converted to Christianity and supported its spread in China.[4] On June 6, 1956, in a converted warehouse in Echague, Manila, the school opened its doors to its initial batch of students – 170 children of Chinese immigrants in the Philippines. The school was renamed later on as Xavier School afterSt. Francis Xavier, co-founder of theSociety of Jesus and one of the first leaders of Jesuit missions in China
The school celebrated itsGolden Jubilee in 2006. Hoofy, the school's mascot, was in attendance during the celebration. In 2022 The school commenced face to face classes by starting HYFLEXS.[5] In 2023, Fr. Joseph Haw, SJ was elected president of the school and in the following year, assumed the position of school president after the end of the term of Fr. Aristotle Dy, SJ.
Being a Jesuit school helped establish the school's reputation. In 1960, Xavier School transferred to a 7-hectare property in Greenhills, San Juan, then only an area of rice fields and grasslands. Within a decade, the outlying areas became home to many Xavier families. The campus is a complex of 12 buildings housing over 4,000 students from nursery to high school.
Admission to Xavier School is extremely competitive. Generally, students enter Xavier as kindergarten students, but may also enter as high school freshmen (Grade 7), by taking the Xavier High School Entrance Examination. Transfer students are occasionally accepted but the requirements are incredibly high.[9]
In 1973, the school put forward a contest to create a mascot. From several nominations from various students, the Stallion was chosen to represent the students that the school bred. Years later, the official caricature of the school Mascot, Hoofy, was created in the school year 2002 to 2003. It was designed by David Gonzales of the class of 2005.[11] A life-size model of Hoofy goes around campus, is available for performance at special events.
Xavier's Dance X is the champion of the 2006 Skechers Street Dancing competition (High School division).[12]
The Xavier Football club won 3rd place in the 2006 Alaska Football Cup.[13]
The Xavier School team, composed of David Hwang, Zachary Sy, and Philbert Tan, all of Batch 2019, bested hundreds of students across Southeast Asia in the 2017 University of Technology Sydney (UTS) International Technology Innovation Competition. Representing the Philippines, they won the Judges' Choice Award for Streetflow, a smart streetlight system.[14]
The Xavier Debate Team, the school's official debate club, boasts an impressive track record in national debate tournaments. At thePhilippine Schools Debate Championship (PSDC), the largest debate competition in the country, the team has claimed championships in 2007, 2012, 2016, and 2017, with grand finalist placements in 2006, 2011, 2018, 2019, and 2025. Additionally, at theNational Asians High School Debate Championship (NAsHDC), the second largest debate tournament in the country, the team won consecutive titles in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and were grand finalists in 2005, 2019, and 2024.
Sometime past noon on November 12, 2014, a Grade 11 student from Xavier High School was seen sitting on the ledge on the fifth floor of the school building. The school authorities immediately called the San Juan City Rescue Team, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for help. After about an hour of speaking to the authorities, the boy agreed to get back inside the building.[15] Based on the police investigation, the boy wanted to jump off the building due to family problems.[16] The incident was recorded by ANC as authorities are seen attempting to convince the boy to not jump. The video and the news article published by ANC news has since been since deleted as of December 20, 2021. Many speculate this to be forced censorship by Xavier School authorities to protect the reputation and name of the school.[17]
Just after the Grade School closing ceremony on March 20, 2024, a fire broke out in the main campus building. No injuries were reported and the fire was out within an hour. A Facebook post by the school stated that the cause of the fire was yet to be determined, and as of February 2025, the cause of the fire has not yet been disclosed.[18]
Media related toXavier School at Wikimedia Commons
