Some History

In July 1951 the Official Board of the Aramalaya Presbyterian Church appealed to the Presbytery of the Canadian Mission Church for a Boys' Secondary School to be sited on Sherriff Street, Tunapuna.

Two years later the Naparima College Board, which was governing the only Canadian Missionary Secondary Boys' School in the country at the time, was instructed by the Presbytery to proceed with plans for a programme of secondary school expansion, giving priority to the oilfield area and the area in the vicinity of Tunapuna.

Rev. E. T. Lute, Principal of Naparima College began consultation with the Director of Education, Mr. I. Hopkins.

In January 1954 Messrs. Clarence Darsen, Earle Kalloo, George Jitman, Harold Sukbir, Charles Kalloo and C. M. Chatee, all members of the Aramalaya Presbyterian Church held a Meeting with Rev. Dr. H. F. Swann to persuade the newly arrived Secretary of the Board of Overseas Missions of the United Church of Canada Dr. D. A Gallagher to open a Secondary School in Tunapuna on the compound of the Missionary Buildings on Sherriff Street.

The committee of Missionaries agreed to release the Buildings and on 27th September, 1954 application was made to the Colonial Government for the recognition of a Provisional Assisted Secondary School in Tunapuna.

On Monday, 17th January, 1955 the School was opened under the Principalship of Rev. H. F. Swann, B.A., B. Paed. It was called Naparima College, Tunapuna Branch, with an enrollment of 44 students and two teachers Mr. Effle Mohammed, B. Sc. And Mr. S. Alisharan, Teacher I. The Church Hall on Sherriff Street was used as the classroom and the portion of the grounds and cow-shed were Used for games.

Naparima College, Tunapuna Branch remained on this site until September 1957. In this year the Principal, Staff and Students entered he present site at the top of El Dorado Road. In November 1957 the government granted the college Permanent Status as a Government assisted Secondary School. It was not however until the arrival of Dr. Stephen Moosai-Maharaj as Principal in 1962 that the name was changed to Hillview College. Dr. Stephen Moosai-Maharaj also gave the college its motto and composed the words for the College Song.

Since that time the college has grown tremen­dously, both physically and educationally.  In 1959 the Science   laboratories were built and the number of classrooms increased.

In 1967 an extension to the Main Hall was made to accommodate the Staff, and a further extension was made in 1996 to create offices for the Administration and Clerical Staff. In 1986 a modern air-conditioned library, named in honour of Mr. Stephen R. Seepersad (Principal 1975-1988) was constructed. In 1 993 a Sixth Form Block was built, and in 1 999 the pavilion, named in honour of Mr. Richard Kokaram (Principal 1 989-1999) was constructed.

Our first National Scholarship winner was Deochan Harricharan in 1980. Since that time the college has produced many National Scholarship winners and twice topped the country in the Advanced Level Exams, winning the coveted President's Gold Medal. Our heroes on those occasions were Vinai Roopchandsingh (1989) and Darryl Ramoutar (1999).

In addition the college has had tremendous successes in National College Quizes, Essay competitions and Public Speaking competitions. In 1991 Ricardo Singh won First Place in the Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition.  Hillview College has also excelled in many sporting activities, especially cricket, football, volleyball, swimming, table tennis and athletics.

More than 70% of our graduates move on to tertiary education, not only at the three campuses of the University of the West Indies, but also at prestigious universities in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Since 1992 girls have been admitted to the sixth form, and they have been making a tremendous contribution in all spheres of college life.