La Salle Green Hills


La Salle Green Hills is a private Catholic school run by the Philippine District of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was established in 1959 by the De La Salle Brothers led by Brother H. Gabriel Connon, FSC primarily to provide more slots to students wishing to avail of the then very popular De La Salle primary education offered in Taft Avenue, Manila.
La Salle Green Hills offers primary and secondary education. It is a member of the De La Salle Philippines, the association of all Lasallian institutions in the Philippines, namely De La Salle University in Manila, De La Salle Araneta University in Malabon, University of St. La Salle in Bacolod, and the La Salle Academy in Iligan.
La Salle Green Hills was given a clean seven-year accreditation by the PAASCU in 1991 and 1998, thus making it the first high school institution in the Philippines with this distinction. Both Grade School and High School departments of La Salle Green Hills were awarded Level III accreditation—the highest possible level—by the PAASCU and FAAP.

History

In the Early 1950s, the Brothers of De La Salle College-Manila led by Brother H. Gabriel Connon FSC, acquired a six hectare lot on Ortigas Avenue in Mandaluyong to relocate the De La Salle Novitiate from Baguio and to accommodate increasing requests for admission to the then De La Salle Grade School on Taft Avenue, Manila.
In July 1959, La Salle Green Hills opened its door to two preschool-level sections and one section each for elementary school units one and two. Its first Brother-Director was Brother Alphonsus Bloemen FSC who first came to teach in De La Salle College in Manila in 1940. On August 24, 1960, La Salle Green Hills, Inc. was registered as non-stock, non-profit corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In August 1964, the high school was established. In 1968, when the De La Salle High School – Manila was made defunct, graduates of the De La Salle Grade School were transferred to the La Salle Green Hills High School, making La Salle Green Hills the high school of De La Salle University – Manila, until the establishment of the co-educational De La Salle-Santiago Zobel School in 1978. The De La Salle Grade School – Manila was phased-out in 1984, after which its grade school graduates were given an option to study either at LSGH or at De La Salle Zobel in Ayala Alabang Village .
La Salle Green Hills was first accredited by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities or PAASCU in 1971 and was given a three-year accrediting grant. La Salle Green Hills received three-year accreditations again in by 1974 and 1977. After which, La Salle Green Hills was given a better five-year grant in 1982 and 1987 after two accrediting visits. Accrediting visits in 1991 and 1998 were given seven-year accreditations making it the first and only high school in the Philippines to be granted two seven-year accreditations. After the seven-year accrediting grant that was given to La Salle Green Hills in 1998, the school was surveyed in September 2005 and was granted a five-year accreditation. In June 2008, the La Salle Green Hills Grade School was granted a Level III accreditation by PAASCU, making it the first and only school in the Philippines certified as such. And in late 2008, the High School was granted Level III accreditation from the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines, the highest accreditation given to any basic education institution in the Philippines.
On June 8, 2009, La Salle Green Hills celebrated its golden jubilee, and in 2011 celebrated together with the rest of the De La Salle schools in the Philippines the centennial celebration of the De La Salle Brothers in the Philippines.
The school announced in May 2020, that it will begin admitting female students for senior high school. In March 2021, the school announced that it will begin admitting female students for all levels.

Departments

Grade School

The La Salle Green Hills Grade School is a Catholic elementary school. It offers education for students from the kindergarten level to the sixth grade. Its facilities and classrooms are located within the St. Joseph the Worker Building, St. Brother Miguel Febres Cordero FSC building, and the St. La Salle building. The Grade School shares the athletic facilities with the High School. The Grade School has the distinction of being the first grade school in the country to receive a Level III accreditation from the PAASCU.
The curriculum for the LSGH-GS focuses on basic elementary education, in which Language, Filipino, Christian Living, Science, Art, Music, Computer, and Arithmetic are introduced in Kindergarten 1 and 2. Language Arts, Science, Filipino, Music, Christian Living, Reading, Mathematics, Araling Panlipunan. Physical Education is taught in Grades 1–6. Students from Grade 5 and 6 get to pick their Friday Club from a list of multiple clubs.

High school

The La Salle Green Hills High School is a Catholic secondary school that is divided into the Junior High School and the Senior High School. Its Junior High School is located within the St. Brother Mutien Marie FSC building aside from the Arts and Technology classrooms which are located at the St. Benilde Gym's mezzanine, and the top floors of the St. Joseph the Worker building and Central House. Its Senior High School is located within the St. Brother Arnold Reche FSC and also houses related facilities. Previously an exclusive all-boys' school, its Senior High School opened to female students in 2020, then eventually to all levels in 2021.
The curriculum of the LSGH-HS focuses mainly on college preparatory education in which English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Christian Living, and Filipino make up the academic subjects while Arts and Technology, Computer, and Physical Education and Health, and Robotics make up the co-curricular subjects which are all taught from Grade 7 to Grade 10. The majority of graduates from the LSGH-HS move on to study college at De La Salle University Manila, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde also in Manila, University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and Ateneo de Manila University.

Campus

The school is situated on a six-hectare campus fronting Ortigas Avenue, across from Wack-Wack Village and golf course.
Image:LSGHcampus.jpg|thumb|right|St. Benilde Gym, Baseball field, and Track Oval

St. Benilde Gym/cafeteria

Probably the most well-known building on the school grounds, construction of the dome-shaped structure began in 1967. Mr. Gines Rivera is the building's architect. It houses the main basketball courts on the second floor and the cafeteria on the ground floor. The mezzanine houses most of the Computer and Arts & Technology, Drafting and Culinary Arts classrooms of the La Salle Green Hills High School. Aside from sports, the main gym area is also used for graduations, community masses, concerts, and other events. Since 1986, it has been used as the venue for the presidential election ballot counting by NAMFREL. Students under Grade 7 are not allowed to enter during recess or lunch.

Classroom buildings

  • Saint La Salle Building
The St. La Salle Building houses the Grade 6, some computer labs and many special classrooms, the Grades 2, 5 and 6 art and music rooms, the annex library, the accounting office, the Presidents' Office and the other canteen.
The 3rd floor of the St. La Salle Building houses one of the four campuses of the De La Salle University Manila Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business, of which LSGH is designated as the "Ortigas Campus".
  • Brother Arnold Reche FSC Building
The Brother Arnold Reche FSC Building houses the Senior High School Department's classrooms. It also houses the Quadrangle 1, which is the school's garden. It has a library, chapel, clinic, the Senior High School guidance counselor's offices, the Senior High School science lab, the Senior High School's prefect offices and a staircase leading to the Father Martinez Activity Center, or FMAC.
  • Saint Brother Miguel Febres Cordero FSC Building
The building is located behind the St. La Salle Main Building, and houses the Grades 2–5, some of the Grade 6 classrooms and the Grade School Principal's office. It houses two music rooms, two activity rooms, a rehearsal room, and the LC3 Prefect's office. The basement floor of the building accommodates the SPDO, SC, The Archives, the conference room, and the Table Tennis courts. In the middle of it is called the Quadrangle 2.
  • Saint Brother Mutien Marie FSC Building
The Saint Mutien Marie Building, or the High School Building, houses the Junior High School Department, from classrooms to the administration offices. The classrooms are organized with each year level occupying one level starting with the 7th on the second floor. The ground floor includes the HS library, administrative offices, the HS chapel, and the Maria Pilapil Hall.
  • St. Joseph the Worker Building
The St. Joseph the Worker Building houses the students and faculty of the Kindergarten department, and is divided into the Kinder 1 building and the Grade 1 building. The Kindergarten playground is also situated here.

Other buildings

  • Central House
This was the first building in 1959. It was here that the first classes of LSGH were held. Today, it is the residence of the FSC Brothers of LSGH, this is more commonly known to the students as the "Brothers' House." The Central House also contains the offices of De La Salle Philippines. It is usually off-limits to all students except for the HS Science Laboratories on the fourth floor.
  • Brother Rafael S. Donato FSC Center for the Performing Arts
The Brother Rafael S. Donato FSC Center for the Performing Arts is the home of both the grade school and high school theater arts departments of La Salle Green Hills. The former St. Joseph's Auditorium underwent a complete renovation in 2004 and was renamed as the St. Joseph's Theater. It was then dedicated in March 2007 to Brother Rafael Donato FSC, who died in Bagac, Bataan, on November 2, 2006, 2 weeks after his 50th anniversary as a De La Salle Brother. It has orchestra and balcony sections which can accommodate 628 persons and its newly installed lighting and sound systems make it the best-equipped medium-sized performing arts venue within the San Juan and Mandaluyong–Ortigas area.
This has also been the venue of productions by the Grade School's Junior Actors' Guild and the High School's Cue Drama Club. Cue Drama stages productions every year.